We need to have more women leaders in the event industry. Here’s why?

Women are known for their unparalleled strength, leadership, versatility, creative abilities and attention to detail. These attributes have abetted them to align with the event and wedding industry and make exceptional careers out of it.

The women in the event and wedding industry are united by the passion to create unique and memorable experiences for their clients. The past few months have been challenging and it is mostly in such times that you get an opportunity to focus all your energies and carve out new ways of doing things. 

We spoke to some leading ladies of the industry who have been working tirelessly to support their teams during these testing times and come up with solutions for the immediate future and about their learnings and challenges faced. Here is what they had to say :

Nanni Singh, Chief Executive, ShowCase Events

Events scheduled were getting postponed and then cancelled. Meetings were getting rescheduled and then cancelled. Formats were changing, communications were changing, methods and modes of working were changing. Limitations in terms of movement, facilitations, plans, executions began setting in. Economy crashed. Money in the market was only for survival. This was an amazing structure of english language. No commas or semi colons, just full stops all the way.

We saw the options before us. We could either mope over this and wait for things to settle down and maybe normalcy to set in, or get into action, modify our own thought process, way of working and take on this new challenge.

We chose the latter.

New systems of working and modified presentations of events and activities became the new norm. The excitement of entering an entirely new phase of technology, where there was so much to learn, absorbed us all. Everyday had a new challenge and we were learning how to resolve it. Finding solutions to different situations became our key approach.

We ensured that we kept our costs minimal and worked as a team with an enthusiasm to learn and grow. Funds not flowing in led to different sort of limitations, but alternate approaches helped us find better ways and means to work around the challenges.

This period gave us an opportunity to reconnect and strengthen our relations with some, and form new connections and bonds to be able to collaborate and grow with many others.

No one knows how long this will continue and it's really up to each one of us to accept the reality of the scenario and convert challenges into opportunities. This has been our big learning as team ShowCase Events. 

Sushma Gaikwad, Director ICE Global and Wizcraft MIME

The past days have been challenging yet insightful.  I strongly believe that uncertain times have the potential to bring out the best in us and these 70 days stand testimony to my belief. My biggest insight is that as entrepreneurs, we have two choices – one, to submit to circumstances and the other is to create them. The first thing we did is rally our team together and create an onward vision and we are grateful for our team who have stood with us through thick and thin.  Together, we made a choice to mobilise ourselves in initiatives that bring value to the lives of others.

In fact, the lockdown period coincided with the launch of our new holistic wellness initiative, Sukhoon. This entire period, we have been working relentlessly and passionately on the soft launch. Sukhoon has been launched with a strong mission to promote holistic wellbeing in communities.  Working toward a purpose has been extremely fulfilling for our team and has resulted in high motivation levels, enthusiasm and energy.

Alongside, I have been extremely busy with leadership coaching, individual mentoring, student counselling, learning new skills, creating content and hosting webinars and have realised that when we step out of our own worlds, there is an entire universe waiting for the value we can provide.

Gunjan Bansal, CEO, L’amore Weddings

Initially, nobody thought that this situation would last for this long. The important thing was to monitor our resources carefully and cut out the costs to the maximum. The challenge is to access the current situation and strike back in the market. As we are associated with the happy industry-- weddings are all about celebration and also luxury, we already knew that this pandemic will affect us to a large extent. 

The learning for me is that now we need to reinvent ourselves. We cannot do the things that we used to do earlier, we cannot charge the same amount of fees. The challenge in the coming days will be to make even a small celebration special and memorable for our client. Getting back the trust of the customers is paramount and they will only go to trustworthy companies or names in such times. I am working with my team to figure out how we can create a safe and cozy environment for our clients where they do not have to worry about anything and they can trust us completely as they have been doing in the past.

Aarti Matto, Managing Director, Momentum Experiences & Events LLP

It is painful to see so many people all over the world suffering and struggling for basics. 

For me, a personal challenge I faced was to not be able to follow my normal life routine of meeting my teams, clients and friends.  

The learning of this time is that life is very precious and simple blessings of life should never be taken for granted. It is always better if you have multiple sources of income from different fields. Nothing ever can replace human interface and the vibe of people meeting in person. Events & Celebrations can never wipe out.