30/04/2015

30/04/2015; 20:41:

29th began with a shock- the front page of the national edition of Hindustan Times’ weekly education supplement had an article that spoke badly of the IPM programme- the article had been driven by a distraught student who had left the programme, after our 1st year. Such negative press had to be dealt with, as soon as possible- also, it had to be ensured that none of us go around making any remarks that may be misinterpreted. An e-mail from the Director followed; that helped cool things down for we were then aware that it was being dealt with at an appropriate level.
29th was the last day when we had actual classes, for the 9th term- the last term of the 3rd year! We had a Development Economics Quiz that was rather difficult and only 30 minutes long. Lunch was followed by PR classes. We had an assignment to present- an organization that’s facing a scandal or one that’s looking to launch something new was to be picked and a PR campaign prepared to help them combat the situation / reach stakeholders effectively. We picked up the currently hot issue of #BlackLivesMatter, following killings of unarmed black men at the hands of the police, in the USA. The police needs to win back public faith and rebuild lost trust. That’s exactly what our solution aimed to do- now that I think about it, we should probably see if we can actually get our ideas implemented! Other scandals picked up included the FlipKart Big Billion Day fiasco, KFC’s problems in China, Malaysia Airlines and their missing aircrafts, the idea of Car-Pooling and the recent LensKart goof-up in wake of the Nepal Earthquake.
We had a class at 5 p.m. which was our last exclusive ‘IPM’ class. The next time we’ll find ourselves attending a lecture on campus, it’ll be with the new PGP guys, not all our IPM batch anymore.
A group photograph was thus clicked at the end of class followed by some nominal celebration.

Later in the evening, I spent some time with the newly selected Media Comm. team. At around 10 p.m., I sat down to hold interviews for the Utkarsha team. Since Utkarsha wasn’t very big last year, there wasn’t really a specific team organizing it; this year, however, a team will be selected. I held interviews for the Head of the Media & PR team as well as the Head of the Logistics Team. Two coordinators for Utkarsha were chosen, earlier in the week.

I got the hostel a little after 2 a.m.; we talked for a while, since it was kind of our last few days as just our IPM batch.

I got up early this morning (surprisingly) and made my way to F-104 to have a look at the PR Quiz papers. We spent some time talking to the PR professor, before retreating to the hostel. The IPM SAC Treasurer is in the process of wrapping up the accounts for this year; he’s been making phone calls, confirming expenses and matching what the club/committee coordinators have to say with his records.

Post this, I wrapped up some pending interviews from the night before. This was followed by a trip to the Pi-Shop; we spoke to the newly selected vertical heads of Atharv, sharing with them all what could have been better; we also discussed ideas for expansion.

Some food later, I was back here, typing this!