Ever heard of unconference?

CHENNAI:  For those of you wondering what an Unconference is, it is simply a meet where unlike  general conferences, in which the subject and the topic are fixed, the participants are allowed to choose the topics that they want to have discussions on.Such an unconference was recently held as part of the TiE Super Start-up Saturday at The IIT-Madras Research Park. The event witnessed active participation from various groups of people including youngsters and aspiring entrepreneurs. The event, apart from Unconference sessions, also had panel discussions and a speaker session.The day began at 9 am with registration and networking and introduction to the ‘unconference’ sessions. Dorai Thodla, who was the ‘Unmoderator’, began by telling the group of about 30-35 entrepreneurs that he was a back-up question bank – one the audience should turn to, in the event of they running out of questions. Dorai Thodla, who was part of all these ‘unconference’ sessions says, “Unlike general conferences, where the subject and the topic are fixed, in unconference sessions, it is the participants who choose the topics that they want discussions on, and subjects that need to be touched upon. So, moderating, here, is very much unlike other seminars or conferences. It was amazing to see the energy and enthusiasm from the audience, most of whom were aspiring and budding entrepreneurs, who all had a vision in their respective ventures and clarity of thought with respect to their goals.” The four unconference sessions had three different tracks, namely, the Business Track, Technology Track and the Peer Review Track. The speaker session covered the topic, ‘Knowing how to value your venture’ by B Vivek, Vice President, Barclays Securities.The panel for the unconference sessions included recipients of the TiE Stree Shakti Awards for Women Entrepreneurs namely Saundarya Rajesh - Avtaar Career Creators, Saloni Malhotra – Desi Crew, and Sree Vidhya – Ravindra Services private limited. Says Saundarya Rajesh, “I found the TiE panel discussion to be different – in the sense, just like Unconferences which are popular in the TiE forum, so too, this was a sort of Unpanel!  When I was asked in what way being an entrepreneur had changed my life, I responded that I had both consciously and unconsciously begun using the same management principles that I use at work, in the home space too. For instance, we all worry about attrition in our start-up businesses – but as a woman-entrepreneur, you have to worry about attrition on the home front too! Your maid, cook, driver – all your domestic staff - need to be motivated to help you manage your worlds. “Similarly, to a question on what was the toughest time in my life, I recalled an instance when during the peak of recession, I had to pitch to the head of a company the idea of employing returnee women professionals. At the best of times, this was seen as a ‘favour’, something that you did as part of CSR – corporate social responsibility and here I was in the thick of job cuts, asking a head honcho to take a ‘risk’ by engaging women professionals from our network. But the strangest thing happened – when the CEO realised that I was actually suggesting a mechanism whereby employees could be clock-watchers in the nice sense of the term, he agreed! He needed productive, committed employees, and women from the AVTAR I-WIN network, needed a break! Most importantly, we needed the revenue inflow badly at that time and signing on this company was just about a God-send for us, not to mention the several hundred women who subsequently obtained opportunities in that organisation.”