We are in an age when marriages, birthdays and several social events are organised by professionals calling themselves event managers. Clients only have to state the theme and they can get the event they want at a price they must be willing to pay. From the beginning of November up until the end of the year there are weddings galore that are held at different venues in Shillong. In fact there is a constraint for the usual wedding venues, so much so that unlikely spaces are chosen for wedding receptions. Event management is a specialised activity and there are special institutes that provide training which also include internships with established companies. Managing an event means handling it from end to end so that the clients are not left wanting for anything. These days marriages and birthdays are not the only events that are planned and executed to precision. There are concerts, seminars and workshops, meetings, business pow-wows, film festivals, visits of dignitaries et al that are planned and executed by event management firms.
Event management includes the process of planning and co-ordinating the event from end to end and includes budgeting, scheduling, site selection, acquiring necessary permits, coordinating transportation and parking, arranging for speakers or entertainers, arranging decor, event security, catering and emergency plans, particularly maintaining a stable power supply. The musical event NH 7 Weekender organised this year in Shillong was first initiated by Vijay Nair through his event management company – Only Much Louder (OML) in collaboration with the local firm event management firm called Springboard Surprises started by Keith Wahlang. The team pulled off an excellent musical extravaganza this time.
Then there is Avenues led by a young, self made entrepreneur, Mark Stone Laitflang. Several young people are now trained under these entrepreneurs and can perhaps do their own start-ups. This is one area where Government has done very little in terms of skill building. In fact the state-sponsored skill building programmes don’t take into account the strengths of our youth but come with a pre-fixed model. Greater innovations in Government run programmes are needed to skill our young men and women so that they become confident entrepreneurs in the fields they are most interested in, rather than being pushed into professions where they have to work for someone else or continue to depend on depleting government jobs.
