Vipul Pandhi is a renowned event management personality who is the Founder and Managing Director of Workaholics Event Solution Pvt Ltd.
Pandhi explained the factors behind the constant growth witnessed by the event management industry globally for the past 30 years. According to him, education is very important to understand the basics. He added, “Earlier, people used to start from the scratch, and they were not able to relate fast. Education is important to understand strategies.”
He also talked about the power of observation, which helped him develop his business and it is required in everyday life. He related his experience in the field of event management with this observation power. He said, “On multiple occasions, before the start of any onstage event, artists won’t arrive on time. Therefore, one needs to learn how to do crisis management. This skill of crisis management is required in the event industry.”
In the event management industry, a variety of professionals with different skill sets are required, starting with graphic designers, creative thinkers, experiential marketers and the event guru. He further said that there is a requirement of a lot of creative people in this industry. Also, these creative people should have the experience to visualize event day preparation to convince the client to get the contract in the initial meeting.
“Everybody here needs to visualize everything and think about the situation accordingly. We have to keep our guests in mind and plan everything. For example, when guests enter, their experiences matter – whether there will be an elephant showering water or there will be 1,000 musicians playing music. Everything is done after critically analyzing the event. In this industry, convincing skills and making public relations is very important,” said Pandhi.
According to him, event management is all about “selling a dream”, and the entire team in the management industry has a very important role to play. “We need to have perfect plans for events. Work in the event industry depends on the type of events. For example, if it is a wedding ceremony, there have to be floral decorations; if it’s a promotional event, there have to be a lot of celebrities. Event management is not only about earning money but bringing smiles on the faces of your clients and making their dream come true”, he explained.
He emphasized that every aspect of the events needs to be conceptualized and planned according to the need of the client or brand. Every aspect of the workflow of the event showcase brand positioning and these are conceptualized by conceptualizers who create the total framework of the event.
Vipul Pandhi talked about marketing as another important aspect of event management. The marketing department plays a pivotal role in any event management company. He explained, “One should have excellent communication skills in the marketing field. Through this communication, you can create an impact on the client, and the client develops a trust-bond with you. A friendly attitude makes marketing people convincing to clients, and it becomes easier for marketing people to understand the clients’ needs and present accordingly.”
Pandhi advised that before one joins a company, he or she should analyze whether the domain will improve in the next five years or not. “We have to keep questioning whether we are doing exactly what we wanted to do. This profession helps people shape up their personality.”
Pandhi believes that event management makes one a good human being as people get opportunities to open up in this industry. The domain has seen many shy people turning extroverts in a couple of months.
Speaking on what should be the scenario for the industry after Covid-19, Pandhi said, “Covid-19 isn’t constant. It will be eradicated one day. We should be ready for what to do after six months. We need to keep learning and improve ourselves. We have to make the best use of time and sharpen our creativity.”
During the lockdown, people had two choices. Some used this time to watch Netflix, YouTube and other OTT platforms to entertain themselves. On the other hand, some people made full use of this time and upgraded themselves, said Pandhi indicating the best path to be picked by the young aspirants.
According to him, in any profession, if one is able to present himself/ herself and influence people all the time, he/she will be the winner. Event managers are like soldiers who need to sweat more and shed less blood during the war, said Pandhi in his parting shot.
The author, Priyadarshini Banerjee is associated with Adamas University Media School.
