CIC Diwali 2015 presented by BBTES is finally here. We are less than 4 days away and I wanted to take the opportunity to share my thoughts on what has been the ride of a lifetime.

Most often than not, these types of posts are written on the afterglow of the success of an event. But I chose to specifically write this a week before for two reasons-

To me, the outcome of this event has no bearing on the incredible effort my wonderful team has put already. Yes, we have collectively worked and will continue to strive to make this event a memorable one. But irrespective of how the event turns out, the effort is what matters and I couldn’t be more prouder of what this team has achieved in the last few months.
Once the event is done, there will be all kinds of feedback - good and bad. There will be kudos and criticism. I didn’t want the effort of the team to get lost in the noise.

We have a lot of new faces attending CIC Diwali for the first time this year. We also have folks who live in the community who are participants and not volunteers. So it is only fair that everyone knows what goes behind the scenes to plan and execute an event of this magnitude.

The Kickoff

My effort really kicked off when I signed on to do this event last Fall. From that point onwards, I was closely involved in understanding how the event was organized in 2014. Rukmini did a fabulous job keeping things transparent and very well organized. On the day of the event, I had the luxury of mingling with the audience to get to know people and to also see first hand where we did well and where we could improve.

Thats me taking notes while Rukmini talks about Diwali 2014. At Lone Hill Park.

Soon after the event, I met with Rukmini at Lone Hill Park to get her feedback on the challenges in organizing the event and her words of wisdom for this year. This to me, was the most valuable takeaway and I cannot thank Rukmini enough.

The Early Days

Diwali planning starts off early in the year when the core team identifies the venue and makes trips to reserve the hall. This is a unique challenge since we had to take into account a lot of things- the definite need for a stage based on last year’s feedback, a large enough place to hold 350+ people, and most importantly, something that was within our budget. As a tightly budgeted event, we do not have a lot of leeway when it comes to spending money.

We finally landed upon the Seven Trees Community Center as our venue of choice. The dates worked out and the advance was paid. Now onto to the planning efforts.

Dog Days of Summer

Summer was spent putting ideas to paper and taking to friends. Writing, writing and a lot more of that writing. I put together my vision for the event- what I bring to this year’s event that was uniquely mine. Soon after, I started putting together my core team. This was my biggest responsibility. If I got my team right, the event would take care of itself. This was also my biggest success in the past few months. The team came together just as I envisaged it. I landed myself a good team of committed and enthusiastic coordinators, willing to bring their unique talents and vision to the event.

Meetings, emails, sponsors and Google Docs

Soon after, we started having our planning meetings. Like a good engineer, I put everything in a shared folder with a logical folder structure. Teams were asked to fill in their responsibilities and we discussed on what each role would entail. Coordinators met and started sharing ideas. Sponsors were courted and signed up. Speaking of sponsors- BBTES and Trinethra are returning sponsors and have been incredibly supportive of our community over the past year. Jewanjee Insurance Company, LSJ Financial and Slater Thomson Realtors are new sponsors and we are thankful to them for taking a chance with our growing vibrant community.

The most enjoyable part of the event planning were the meetings. The long Friday/Saturday night meetings over snacks and beverages trying to flush out every little detail was so much fun . The energy that flowed in the long team meetings that stretched well past midnight was incredible. At 2:30am, we were still debating how to get folks to line up for food- well past 5 hours into our meeting. This community is so committed, it has to be experienced to be believed. On the 7th, you will probably not notice some of the finer aspects of event planning that we went through but the now famous CIC attention to detail will be evident.

Performances, Choreography and Rehearsals

The wonderful performance coordinators for adult and kid programs had the challenging job of recruiting choreographers and identifying their ideal performers. This effort was huge- it took dozens of hours of iteration in getting the right mix. I could write a book about the challenges this team faced and smartly worked through. So much of the event comes down to getting the right participants, and the coordinators did a fabulous job in putting together a unique mix of events that will hopefully excite the audience on the 7th.

The Choreographers have enthusiastically embraced their roles and the parents and participants (adults and kids) have put their heart and soul into their performances. It is not easy to dedicate hours every week for a community performance. Having to do that amidst school, extra-curricular activities and so much more is so darn hard. And our community has risen up to the challenge and how. The camaraderie between the performers, parents and choreographers is a joy to watch.

We set up a rehearsal on the 23rd to get everyone in one room to perform in front of a panel. The idea was to get people to take the effort seriously and hopefully take away some small tips to make their efforts shine on the big stage. The participants came in enthusiastically and while the rehearsals got delayed a bit due to some very detailed feedback, still stuck by us and showed us what they have been working hard on. If the rehearsals are any indication of what is to come, the audience are in for a treat on the 7th.

The Last Lap

The past few weeks have been crazy. More meetings, tons of email, WhatsApp and Facebook Messaging and face to face. The teams have been practicing hard to make things magical on stage. The core team put together the program flow and event day guidelines while getting our Cambrian Khabar ready and getting sponsors to sign the checks.

To say that the team has risen to the challenges of the job would be the understatement of the year. What a spectacular show of strength these people have offered in the past few weeks. I am humbled and honored by their support.

That team that I talk about

I might not have the opportunity to thank my team well enough on the 7th. So here is an early shout out.

Latha, Sonal, Krithika and Anjana for being the backbone of this and all Diwali's past and in future. Veena for designing the event logo. Srividya, Krithika, Pallavi and Rukmini for coordinating the adult and child performances respectively. Sonal, Sowmya and Krithika for cooking up a storm. Venki, Vish, Shriram and Girish for the audio, visual and stage equipment and planning. Jay and team for videography. Ram and team for photography. Anand and Nekzad for Khabar. Shveta for the decorations you will see and appreciate on the 7th. Dakshaja and Lakshmi for receiving each and every one of you. Bhumika and Latha for childcare. Ramanan, Tarun and Pavan and team for the ultra complicated logistics of the event- you will not believe the effort that has gone into every single part of the event from this team- from parking to flow to post-event cleanup.

And my wife, Shalini for being my partner in everything these past few months.

Which brings us to…

Krishna says in chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita (2:47),

“Karmanye vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana, Ma Karmaphalaheturbhurma Te Sangostvakarmani”

that loosely translates to

“You have the right to work only but never to its fruits. Let not the fruits of action be your motive, nor let your attachment be to inaction. “

At this point, we have done everything we can to plan a spectacular event. We will continue to give it our everything to ensure that every single attendee has a whale of a time. Knowing the team, they are going to kill it. We have obsessed over every minute detail to ensure that the experience is perfect.

To me personally, the past several months have been success enough. I have made so many friends for life. So many people to lean on and so many lessons learnt in organizational skill, leadership, responsibility, commitment and execution- I could not have asked for more. For this, I have the CIC Board and Diwali Core team to thank.

Bring it on!

P.S: I know my sketching sucks but I had to capture the process in more than mere words and make it personal and I didnt have much time to do it :)

P.P.S: Excuses, excuses, excuses.

CIC Diwali 2015 presented by BBTES: A look behind the scenes of how it came to be.