Planning Celebrations Silver, Golden and Platinum Jubilees

Planning and Managing Silver, Golden, Platinum and Diamond Jubilees

T. V. Rao

Many Associations, Organizations and others celebrate various jubilees. Normally they start with a Silver Jubilee at the end of 25 years, then Golden Jubilee at 50 years, Diamond and Platinum or Centennial Celebrations at 60, 75 and 100 years. L&T, Bank of Baroda, IIMA, IIMC, IITs, NHRDN are some of the organizations that celebrated various Jubilees in the last few years.

A well planned celebration is half the work done. A plan lays the foundation for good work. The celebration has to be yearlong and should have multiple objectives. Such celebrations pave the way for review, renewal, rededication, rebuilding, rebranding, reenergising or recharging the members and also help re-charting the path for the future. The jubilee celebrations should be a yearlong during the 25^th or 50^th or 60^th or 75^th or 100^th year. They should contain a variety of activities as illustrated below.

I am writing below my thoughts on the same out of an experience of my association with IIMA’s Golden Jubilee Celebrations four years ago. I was asked to chair the Planning Committee for the IIMA Golden Jubilee celebrations four years ago in 2010. I thank IIMA for giving me the opportunity. Perhaps one of the reasons for the choice was my long association with IIMA and I am one of the very few living faculty who worked with all the Full time Directors of IIMA. I didn’t have the good fortune of even meeting Dr. Sarabhai (Founder and first honorary Director) but has the fortune of working closely with Ravi Matthai first full time Director. I worked very closely with Ravi Matthai and learnt a lot from him on IIMA. He stepped aside as Director when I joined to work with him.

I tried to put all 35 years of my association with IIMA and took my job seriously and came up with a good plan with the help of the team we had.  Along with three other faculty members we planned the Golden Jubilee year. In planning itself we involved other faculty, students, alumni and other stake holders and collected their views. The extracts from the power point below give some ideas about how to go about the same. I give below some of the lessons learnt from this.

1.       These celebrations are normally start and end as celebrations but very few people see them as serving multiple purposes. If the celebration ahs to be successful it has to be planned. All strategic individuals of the past, present and future need to be involved. In my view the most important purpose the celebrations serve is to review, renew and re-pledge the vision, values and mission of the body and also used to evaluate and rework the course of action for future besides celebrating the accomplishments.

2.       There should be a team to plan. The team should involve other stake holders and evolve a plan and then seek budget for the same and mobilise the budget if necessary.

3.       In planning the purpose is the most important thing. Normally many purposes get served by such celebrations. These include:

a.       Review, renewal and re-pledging the commitment to the vision, mission and goals of the organization

b.      Charting out new direction course of action etc. on the basis of the review and renewal

c.       Celebration of accomplishments and honouring those who contributed (living  and dead) by memorials, books and such other tributes

d.      Recognising all those who built the organization or association and documenting the same.

4.       The celebration should be yearlong and not just end with one event. The yearlong celebrations may start with a grand start and culminate in a grand finale

5.       The celebration

IIMA Golden Jubilee Celebrations: 2010-2011

The following presents in some detail the plan Submitted by IIMA Golden Jubilee Activities Planning Committee consisting of Professors. Atanu Ghosh; Abraham Koshy, G Raghuram , and T. V. Rao (as Convener).

They used the following methodology:

•       Met a few times; Collected information from other institutions and organizations; Sent out a communication inviting suggestions from Faculty, Staff, Alumni, and students and analyzed and used their responses.

•       The final plan was suggested with some detail of the recommended processes and time lines. The following are some details.

Objectives

•       To showcase IIMA’s accomplishments and contributions and celebrate the same.

•       To showcase the output, accomplishments, and contributions of the Institute to various sectors like the Government, Industry, NGOs, and International Communities in terms of research, education and training, and  management practice across the last 50 years.

•       To recognize the contributors (Individuals and Institutions) to the growth and development of the Institute.

•       To initiate and launch new activities that are befitting the excellence of the Institute and that lead to increased participation of the Alumni and other constituents.

•       Making the yearlong celebration a memorable one for IIMA community in particular and society at large in general ….. . Making a durable impact.

•       To contribute to the fund mobilization effort being undertaken by various constituents of the Institute and enhance the Institute’s corpus.

Process of Golden Jubilee Celebrations as Planned by the Committee

•       To be done on a grand scale with excellence and meticulous execution. Hence needs involvement of a large number of committed Faculty, Alumni, Staff, Students, Board, Society, Key Industry and supporters.

•       Golden Jubilee Apex Committee: Three to 4 Faculty, Director & Dean (Ex-officio), 3 to 4 Alumni, 1-2 Staff, Students reps, 1 or 2 Board/Society members: Role:  Finalizing plan and implementation schedule, Overall coordination, Fund mobilization and usage (or ensuring the activities to be self financing to the extent possible), Execution.

•       Driving must-do events by identifying appropriate coordinators, champions.

•       Encourage, accept, guide, and disseminate information about independent proposals that come  in line with the objectivities and activities outlined here.

•       There could be lot of other committees (country based, city based, interest group based, etc.)

•       Put a process in place (criteria) for guiding all activities  (example: criteria for recognizing those who contributed to the development of the Institute or content and coverage of the film or the book) and ensure that the process is followed.

Key Events Planned

•       Design and standardization of Golden Jubilee Logo, Portal, and IIMA Branding

•       Grand Inaugural Program

•       Release of IIMA Golden Jubilee Commemorative Stamp and Coffee Table Book

•       International conferences on select themes

•       Film on IIMA   

•       Book on “50 Golden Years of IIMA”

•       Institution Building: The IIMA Experience  

•       Launching of  faculty development program for IIMA Alumni interested in teaching at IIMA as visiting faculty

•       Launching of Archiving System : Documentation,  etc.

•       Starting a Golden Jubilee Fund

•       Golden Jubilee lectures series – by eminent personalities from various walks of life.

•       Society Conference highlighting the contributions of IIMA faculty

•       Faculty Thought Leaders series

•       Case Studies of top 50 Distinguished Alumni, 50 IIMA Alumni CEOs, 50 organizations where IIMA had made difference, 50 NGOs Influenced by IIMA, 50 Innovations in Government, Top 50 management practices, Top 50 cases, 50 electives, etc.

•       Honoring Contributors

•       Alumni reunion for all groups and Alumni Chapter celebrations

•       Launching of 50 Golden Years of IIMA: Exhibition: Inaugural Day

Plan Outline

•       Inauguration and Kick off

•       Portals and web sites

•       Branding and Event Management

•       Academic Events

•       Showcase accomplishments

•       Review, reflection, and renewal

•       Future plans

•       Conferences and seminars

•       Student events

•       Alumni events

•       Faculty and area based events

•       Honoring people and celebrations

•       Books, publications

•       Media management

•       Fund raising

•       Alumni activities and events

•       Staff based events

•        Board and Society based events

Preamble: Where and How Has IIMA Contributed and Made a Difference?

•       Research (highlight outstanding researches from the beginning of the Institute)

•       Institution Building : Highlight Institutions built or supported: NIBM, IIFM, IIHMR, AHRD, NHRDN, ISABS, Doon School, IPP, SEBI, IRMA, etc.

•       Institution Building by supplying Directors for other IIMs

•       Management Practice – Highlight outstanding consultancy projects and contributions

•       CEOs – Publish and hold a conference of all CEOs and entrepreneurs produced by IIMA

•       Hold a conference of all outstanding management practice carried out by managers or alumni of IIMA

•       Hold a conference of all the NGOs and other not-for-profit bodies set by IIMA alumni

•       Government : showcase the work done with Mussourie Academy etc. (Involve all the ex-faculty of IIMA like V R Gaikwad, V L  Mote, Samuel Paul and create a virtual office and newsroom; also provide physical space and facilities)

•       Faculty Contributions

•       Fellow Contributions

Inauguration,  Kick off and Branding

•       To be started by the PM in December 2010 (Take help of Dr. Rangarajan and V S Vyas in PM’s Advisory Council)

•       Obama’s visit to be explored and Harvard to be involved (useful for Branding) Either to Ahmedabad or in Washington (Alumni to assist)

•       Other International groups to be involved – Exhibitions, Comments, Sponsorships, Documentation highlighting contributions (example: what were IIMA contributions to Commonwealth, FAO, World Bank, etc.)

•       Commonwealth Secretariat (Mohan Kaul)

•       World Bank (V S Vyas, J K Satia, S. Paul, PNK, Ashok Subramanian, others)

•       UNDP

•       FAO and other intergovernmental agencies

•       Other countries to be involved

•       Role of international universities to be explored

•       A permanent exhibition of IIMA Contributions to be organized. It could be made a mobile exhibition or e-exhibition.

Portals and web sites

•       Special Portal to be prepared showcasing all accomplishments, books, publications, etc. of IIMA and with facility for e-payments

•       Web sites to be put up or portal to be linked to various alumni chapters

•       Alumni chapters to be encouraged to undertake various activities

•       Portal to be designed and managed professionally

•       Portal to be maintained for at least three to five years and preferably for life.

•       Coffee Table Book and such other books to be on the portal with e-book and e-payment facility

Branding and event Management

•       Event Management to be done by professional event management teams

•       Alumni contributions to be explored for this purpose

•       Branding to be done

•       Campus to be cleaned up : Branding to be introduced in all publications and displays

•       Web site to be recast on the basis of the feedback so far

Academic Events

•       Showcase accomplishments

•       Review, reflection and renewal, and future plans

•       One event from each stakeholder group on activities and roles for the future

•       Faculty reflection and planning for the next 25 to 50 years, revisiting the mission, vision, etc.

•       Future Plans from CFD

•       Conferences and Seminars: International and National to be organized

•       One on Management education

•       Student events: Chaos, etc. to be done on grand scale for Golden Jubilee Year

•       Alumni Events: Lectures, seminars by outstanding Alumni

•       Faculty,  area and center or group based events to be considered

•       Honoring/Recognizing  people and celebrations

•       Honoring the Founders and Early Supporters: Society members; Board members; Faculty; Research Staff; Staff ( all categories); Architects; Donors.

•       Honoring those who did us Proud

•       Alumni managers from PGP (all one and two year programs from early years); Alumni CEOs; Alumni Managers from MEP, 3-TP, and other long duration Programs; Managers who implemented innovative or professional management practice

•       Honoring Institution Builders and fellows who made outstanding contributions:  Ex-Directors and Chairmen

•       Cultural Programs along with honoring day (December 2010 round one and December  2011 round 2)

•       Institutions influenced by IIMA or Influenced IIMA (IIMB, TAPMI, IRMA, IIFM, NIBM, Harvard, Adani, AHRD, NHRDN, AMA, AIMA,  etc.)

•       Organizations that Implemented and used IIMA – Influenced by IIMA (L&T, SBI, Railways, SCI, MHRD, NIEPA,  etc.)

•       Government Agencies and Public  Policy:  Railways, MHRD, Health Ministry, 

•       NGOs and Others: Shristhi, Innovations Foundation

•       Padma Award Winners: Dr. Rangarajan, Vyas, IG Paul, Banga, CK Prahalad, Bakul, Anil Gupta, Mallika,  Others to be found out

Books, publications, and exhibitions

•       50 Golden Years of IIMA

•       Film on IIMA

•       Research at IIMA: A Book highlighting all the significant research contributions across the years

•       IIMA and Management Practice: Area based and center based book highlighting how Management Practice has been improved by consulting work, etc.

•       Coffee Table Book: (Compilation to be kept as a part of the exhibition including all that has been collected by the team)

•       Publication highlighting international collaborations and exchange programs: Duke, Commonwealth, Exchange programs, Glasgow, Egypt, African countries, Sri Lanka, Kenya,

•       Special issues on Vikalpa: HBR type books to be released; Explore tie up with HBR or Wharton for better dissemination and branding

•       PGP, Consulting, MDPs, Exchange, Research

•       Book on IIMA. (Suggested titles: 50 Golden years of IIMA; IIMA, Multiplier effect of IIMA, Professionalizing management; IIMA etc.) The book should contain IIMA contributions in various fields and in various ways. It could include brief cases of 50 CEOs produced by IIMA, 50 Entrepreneurs, 50 outstanding cases, 50 organizations where IIMA has made an impact; 50 Academic Institutions where IIMA made an impact, 50 innovations or academic contributions by IIMA faculty, 50 Alumni who made a significant impact etc. This book may run into several volumes and has to be work by a group of people as no one may be able to do. This should document all details and contributions of IIIMA in the last 50 years.

•       Film on IIMA: Coverage to include: All Ex-Directors; Ex-Chairpersons; Key Alumni – CEOs, Government, NGOs, Academics India, International academic (example Wharton, Penn, Harvard, Stanford, Insead) , Education, Health and other social sectors, Heading Institutions, World bank, Commonwealth, FAO); Faculty across ages (young, old, current, retired), Padma award winners etc.; Institutions set up by IIMA; Staff; Library, computer center, centers and areas, activities - all to be represented ; How the Institute had evolved; PGP, various PGPs, MEP, FPM, 3TP, FDP; Social Inclusion: CMA, cooperatives, student  involvement in education, Pedagogy, case method, group work, contemporary courses; average shelf life of new courses is five years

Media management

•       Film on IIMA: Take help of HRD Ministry to make it a films division release; Telecast on Media; Plan Interviews on accomplishments; Tie up with: NDTV, Eco Times, Hindu, Financial Express, etc. Get film industry and other industries involved

•       CDs and DVDs to be developed highlighting the contributions of IIMA; Alumni activities and Events

Other Activities

•       Have an Alumni reunion of all batches; Chapters to plan one mega event each for fund raising

•       Mobile exhibition of IIMA

•       Exchange students to be highlighted over the years

•       Have a one-day seminar on the campus, of IIMA graduates who are CEOs.

•       Organize celebration of alumni chapters across the world, with main celebration at Ahmedabad.  Messages from the Director and Chairman can be shown live through video conference.

•       Highlight things which IIMA and the alumni network have done for the society at large and the tangible results achieved through them.

•       Organize lectures / talk shows by the best of alumni / faculty to share real life experience in simple language.

•       In the activities to be covered, include the activities of IMPACT, a charitable organization promoted by the IIMA alumni in 2003 for providing primary education and literacy to the girl child from disadvantaged sections of the society.  Currently there are 10000 girls studying in about 345 learning centers spread across 5 States.

•       Highlight the contribution of alumni as NGOs in the social, healthcare, and primary education sectors, public distribution system, etc.

•       Compiling a quantitative study of the IIMA alumni working in the social sector, with profiles of a few prominent people would be a great way to create role models and inspire others to start giving back to the society.

•       Create an annual, endowed ‘Memorial Lectures’ on Frontiers of Management Theory and Practice to be delivered every January in different locations in collaboration with the IIMA Alumni Association.-…faculty like RJM, MN Vora, Pulin, Udai, Labdhi, SKB, Kamla, BG Shah,  CK Prahalad, etc. …

•       IIMA has a bad reputation as far as its relationship with its alumni is concerned.  Even initiatives from alumni themselves fail to elicit a positive response from the Institute.  There is an urgent need for the Institute to do whatever it takes to improve its relationship with the alumni, including those who were here Others

•       Start a Alumni FDP for promoting teachers among Alumni

•       Staff Based events  and Society Based and other events

•       Take up a social initiative project where the need and social impact are high. (Jawaja to be revived)

•       Have a poet like Javed Akhtar write a poem on 50 years of IIMA to be sung by eminent music personalities at the final event.

•       Organize an annual essay competition on professional management, career development, ethics, CSR, along with other professional bodies like AIMA, ICAI, ICSI, etc. 

•       Development of a code of conduct for managers and corporate (cf: Cadbury Committee in UK)

•       Look at adopting one village every year (through NGO or any other model) and make it 100% literate.

•       Introduce a Golden Jubilee Award for other universities /institutes / management students within the country for best research in the management field.  This will help create a communication channel through which they can learn the best practices at IIMA

•       Think of projecting IIMA’s direct and indirect contribution in promoting (through processes / ideas) sustainable development in agriculture and other sectors.

Fund raising

•       Golden Jubilee Fund to be raised; Estimate of expenditure to be drawn up;  Recommend an allocation of Rs. ….. to begin with by the Board; Set up an Alumni Fund for meeting operating expenses of the Institute and encourage alumni to contribute 1% of their annual salary to the Fund; Re-do the alumni website and seek funding from the alumni. Some of the alumni who are young entrepreneurs can be used to reach out and connect with alumni and seek funding from them.  The networking that this affords will encourage them to engage themselves to keep connecting with people

General

•       Have mementoes like watches, coffee mugs, ties, T-shirts, etc. to be given to felicitate those who have made substantial contribution to the Institute.

•       Make some good commemorative merchandise available.

•       A face book  account can help market the merchandise and generally create a meeting point online.  You Tube can be used to upload the videos of the panel discussions, conferences. A twitter account can be set up to send 1 tweet per day for the entire year.  The 365 tweets can be pre-planned to create a relevant brand image.

•       Compliment the staff for being so much better than those in many private companies.

•       It will be nice if IIMA could come up with 50 suggestions to make India grow at 15% for the next 10 years.

•       IIMA students and alumni could engage themselves in adventure activities like mountaineering expedition, cycling / motor cycling expedition, hot air ballooning, hang gliding, desert safari in the Thar or a long hike in the Himalayas which could contribute to national integration and also help them understand local / regional conditions and lifestyles.

•       Get special postage stamp and first day cover released to commemorate the occasion.

•       Organize an iima trek to the base camp of Everest as part of the celebrations.  (amit chowdhary’s – afp 06-07 company in nepal, “hmb adventures”, will handle all arrangements.)

•       bring out a book around the theme, ‘celebrating case method: a journey so far’ where authors of cases could be asked to select one of their cases and describe various nuances the case might have generated.

•       organize an “exhibition on 50^th anniversary” in Dubai and other centers with some theme seminars / competition for high school and college students there which would be great to celebrate and market brand iima there. alumni there would be happy to volunteer help.

•       the new website of the institute has many flaws.  there is need to redesign the site.

•       the institute may think of starting a quarterly issue of articles by iima faculty or previews from Vikalpa research papers modeled on the lines of knowledge@wharton or Mckinsey quarterly which could go as a mailer to all those who register.

•       the celebrations should also highlight the involvement and contribution of staff.

•       have an online initiative to make the programme available more broadly to a wider audience globally and create deeper engagement with stakeholders through a new iima golden jubilee website that not only highlights celebratory content, but allows alumni to post their memories and interact with each other.

•       PLAN FOR FIRST DAY COVER and POSTAL STAMP.

•       LIGHT AND SOUND SHOW BY PROFESSIONAL MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT COMPANIES DEPICTING THE ACHIEVEMENTS AND GLORIES.

•       GOLDEN JUBILEE SOUVENIRS/ T- SHIRTS/BLAZERS

•       FIRE AND CRACKERS WORK

•       ESTABLISHMENT OF GOLDEN JUBILEE COMMITTEE AND INFORMATION ABOUT THEIR CONTACT NUMBERS SO THAT WE CAN EXTEND REQUISITE HELP.

•       ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF ALUMINI REGARDING THEIR ATTENDANCE AND PLACE OF STAY.

•       ESTABLISHMENT OF LIASIONING CELL AT AIRPORT AND RAILWAY STATION FOR HELPING OUTSTATION VISITORS.

•       ESTABLISHMENT OF GOLDEN JUBILEE WEB SITE AND ITS BLOG.

•       ADVERTISEMENT IN NATIONAL DAILY/ TV/MEDIA REGARDING ITS CELEBRATION

•       FELICITATION AWARDS TO DISTINGUISHED VISITORS

•       VETERAN MATCHES

•       GOLDEN JUBILEE VOLUNTARILY CONTRIBUTION CELL TO BE FORMED AT AN EARLIEST TO DESPATCH THE STATUS TO ALL ALUMINIS

Calendar of events

•       1. Kick-off Function:                        December 11, 2010

•       2. Strategic Mgt.Forum Conf. :   December 15-17, 2010

•       3. Alumni Reunion:                          December 25-26, 2010

•       4. Board Meeting:                            December 27, 2010

•       5. Marketing Conference:            January 5-7, 2011

•       6. Conference on Data Analysis January 8-9, 2011

•       7. Doctoral Colloquium:                                 January 2011 

•       8. Chaos:                                              January 2011

•       9. Sanghursh Sports Meet:          January 2011

•       10. Society Meeting                        March 2011

•       11. Convocation                                March 2011        

•       12. Insight                                           October 2011

•       13. Confluence                                  November 2011

•       14. Research Seminar                     Date to be decided

Honouring the Founders:

If Dr. Vikaram Sarabhai or Ravi Matthai was to be alive and IIMA invites them for their Golden Jubilee Celebrations how will they invite and what role will they give them?

Options:

1.       Call them to light the lamp and inaugurate the celebrations or to be there on the grand finale to close the event

2.       Invite them to share their vision, mission, values and idea behind and give message for the future generations. (Helps to understand how the present activities integrate into the original mission, vision and values and also helps to chart out new directions and activities to achieve the vision, mission and values. Helps members to renew and re-energise and re-engage themselves)

3.       Involve them to share their experiences on Institution building and draw lessons for the future (This helps current members and future institution builders and strengthens the culture and values envisaged from the beginning. Helps renew and re-pledge to values and hard work and what the Institution stands for)

4.       Invite them to comment on the current situation and give their view and critical assessment of the Direction in which the Institution is going (I know for sure what Ravi would say. He will praise all that is going on, highlighting some of the activities close to the mission and vision, and find reasons if any for any deviation and justify them and give some new directions with full support to what is going on and insert some significant directions for future: philosophy is support and help build and give subtle messages)

5.       Invite them to give a big award and confer a new title on them befitting their stature. (They will be least interested in such things as they have had enough in their life)

Any other thoughts you have?

Now that they are no more what is the best way of honouring them? I assume in honouring them you are honouring your won Institution as they don’t need any honors any more.