Up-country event planners voice their biggest concerns

When it comes to regional agencies, there are miscellaneous challenges that have to be trumped in order to triumph. As Sagar Pingali, Head of CatPro Events and Entertainment, whose Headquarters are in Hyderabad, expressed, “The biggest challenge as a regional agency has been that clients tend to look at you as a regional agency only and do not consider you for pan India or their total marketing solutions unless 'you' reach out to them and prove it time and again. We have proven the same over years in conceptualizing, creatives, production and execution for our regular clients who now invite us for every pitch but most of the larger corporates still view us with skepticism.”

Talent

While most may say talent is galore in our country, skilled talent is a different story. The performing artists get repetitive for the audience, and it is tough to rope in new talent. As Mr. Sanjeev Kapoor, Founder, Scorpio Event Management, Bangalore said, “ The biggest challenge is getting new candidates; new talent is missing.” He also added, "While the problem is exponentially more critical for regional agencies, this obstacle is faced by agencies in the metros too.”

Innovation

When it comes to creating a difference, it is not only talent. The entire set-up needs to be planned and processed from a new angle. “Coming up with innovative ideas for each time is a significant challenge. Décor, entertainment, food—nothing can be repeated,” said Vaibhav Agarwal, MD and CEO of Cheers Events based out of Surat. When new ideas are created, they need to be implemented and once more the need for skilled labour is felt crucially.

“The challenge of getting quality manpower is definitely far higher for the regional agencies as options are fewer too as compared to a Mumbai or Delhi,” said Pingali, who is currently the Vice-President (South) of EEMA. This deficiency is not just restricted within the company, but also the technical teams and vendor partners involved. Lack of professionalism becomes a battle for everyday.

Attrition

“As an agency Head Quartered out of Pune, I think our biggest challenge by far has been retention of people. All the quality resources are always looking to move to the Metros to be in the midst of all the action and be a part of all the Bollywood award shows or the Sporting world events.There is a general lack of good quality manpower in our industry & it has been a challenge for us and other agencies in our space to groom and develop professionals to suit the growing needs of the experiential industry,” said Raghav Roy Kapur, Founder & Director Livewire Events & promos based in Pune.

Lack of funding from financial institutions and presence unregulated, a lot of fly by night operators entering and exiting the industry constantly are other challenges that event planners across India face.

On a positive note, the event industry seems to be a golden ground of exploration, opportunity and employment for regional talent. The glass is still half-empty might be the new key of optimism! Initiatives need to be accelerated to train and mentor internal and external personnel so that there is a slow but steady rise above the obstacles.