On the plenty to do side of life there are events to hold, marketing and organizing of these events to be done, and continuously trying to innovate ways to break through the clutter of the million other events that happen at the same time and threaten to draw people away from the infinitely more entertaining Theatre Club events (ahem… no modesty). My favourite example is that of the “Goel Dining-top Programme*” (GDP). It all started with the planning for (possibly) the first Just-A-Minute session at ISB. We were sitting on one of the benches in the atrium trying to find ways to build the curiosity in the batch** and amidst all the storming came the idea of putting half an A4 sheet on each dining table in Goel with information about the event – sitting there from breakfast to dinner and possibly seen by 95% of the campus. In terms of reach it was sheer brilliance, but we did get feedback about difficulty reading it, the paper quality, water falling on it and smudging the content etc… The kicker here is what happened next. Within a week the Marketing Club came up with in improved version – easier to read and took better care of the water problem, but like the Theatre Club’s attempt it was black-and-white. Exactly one week after that, the GMC club came out with a colour version of the GDP.

But this is Marketing 101 and from crappy beginnings we all evolve sophisticated techniques to ‘build the brand’. Being ISB, competition is fast to evolve and catch up and possibly every club president*** gets a good taste of competitive paranoia – and a few sleepless nights wondering whether the number of speakers will be greater than the number of attendees.

But over and above all there is to DO, there is plenty to think about. I’m talking strategy – the life-blood of ISB. It’s no secret that starting from “Competitive Strategy” in Term 2 with Prof. Kale to “Strategic Innovation Management” in Term 8, strategy would find itself in some subject or the other. And as you do more of it, you start seeing the patterns and the universal applicability of some of the concepts that you learn in these strategy courses. But what does all this have to do with theatre you may ask?

Plenty! The problem is simple – theatre, as a commercially viable art, is dying. It’s being overtaken by movies, gaming, concerts, TV-viewing, and even sleeping. I will not go into the details of how theatre works or what its cost structure and margins are, but rest assured that there are very few groups in India that are able to:

1. sustain themselves
2. make a profit
3. GROW!

The third one is important. There are some inherent limitations in the way that theatre is delivered (or in theatre as a platform itself) that make it difficult to grow. Some aspects of this problem were discussed in a lecture with Ms. Vanita Kohli (part of a Media elective course) and some interesting insights were put forward. But the problem remains – what can be done to make theatre into a commercially viable and growing enterprise?

How does this all tie back to the president of the Theatre Club? All these problems and constraints apply to the Theatre Club at ISB – there is limited time, money, and manpower. But most importantly, the Theatre Club has a memory. Every year, every batch is going add something new; something that has not been done before. And over a period of time, it will become difficult for the president to add something new – to grow (metaphorically). And this onus exists not just for the Theatre Club, but for every club there is in ISB.

It is a problem that is left for the future**** – strategically unsolved.

* I have a sneaky suspicion that a large and popular Internet company named one of its products in a similar vein. Not sure who was first though…
** about the event; and no feline creatures were harmed in the process
*** excluding the Consulting Club president
**** and if any batch of ’10 admits are reading this – I would be happy to hear your thoughts on the matter . Seniors/Alums – you have faced this before. Any thoughts?

Speaking of classes,some of the most hilarious moments have been in the classroom. Take for instance the time when a professor was trying to explain to us that it has been found that the death of the head of a company is correlated with share price. It is statistically proven that when the head of the company dies of unnatural reasons, the stock price rises. Somone wanted a clarification.

“Is is true each time the person dies or….?”

Well. THAT surely would need to be checked.

I remember saying “depends” whenever someone asked us something we did not know. That was the key takeaway from the Economics course. Does the stock price rise or fall? Depends. Should they try push strategy or pull strategy? Depends. That worked for a long long time. Until one professor actually asked, “On What?” and the student did not have the faintest clue.

I recollect doing arbit CP.
Professor: Why wont perfume and  wine business work with this business model?
Me: If you keep smelling the perfume, you wont know whats happening after a while. Same with wine. After a few glasses, you wouldnt know what you were drinking.
Professor: (After a moment of consideration) : For very different reasons though.
Needless to say, Section F hasnt forgotten. Nor let me forget.

Then there was the Strategy in IT course where a lot of us techies feel we need to establish that we know a lot about the industry. So, the other day we were discussing trends and there was the mention of a particular website. The smart alecks in the class claimed having used the site. Well, that was most interesting. Especially considering that the claims came from the guys who pretended to know all about the site. Until the professor pointed out that it is a site specifically for women: discussing issues like how to handle oneself when one is three months into pregnancy. Ahem!

That and lots more…coming up. Keep watching this space.

*grin*