There were 40 athletes. Other policy makers, corporates and federation presidents. In all, 55 people to receive and drop back over three days. Each a success story, and an ego associated with that. One mistake, and it would be held against you. Things would turn sour, and the experience would be spoilt.
The very same thing applied to panel timings. You were dealing with high-profile speakers. If you didn’t maintain time, it would be disrespectful to the next panel. And to maintain time with people of eminence is the most difficult thing of all. Someone could be ten or 15 minutes late. While that might sound trivial, it actually had the potential to derail an entire conclave when you had 22 sessions spread over two days. To get the athletes to the venue on time was thus paramount. From the rooms to the banquet was a ten-minute switch, and you needed to be very, very precise.
We had athletes leaving Kolkata at all hours. Some had 6am flights, which meant leaving the hotel at 3:30am, while others had an 8 or 9 am flight back. The moot point is that doing the conclave was a 24/7 job.
As a start-up, we don’t yet have a dedicated conclave team. Nor do we have a logistics crew. What we have is a team of 40 journalists who all want to make a difference. So, we had allocated tasks to core team members on the assumption that we would somehow pull through. People would double up.
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While I was the face of the conclave, and many have congratulated me in the public domain, the real stars were my team members. They made the conclave. That’s what teamwork is about. The captain is as good as the team, and they are the ones who stood up. Every athlete went back happy, and that was a tribute to the RevSportz team’s resilience and passion.
One story will sum it up well. On day one, we were to start with Tal Tarang – a band of differently abled children from Manovikas Kendra. Now, we had been in touch with them for four or more months. At no point were we told that they required a specific set of equipment, and that we would need things that helped children with disabilities to perform. It was a misunderstanding.
When we were finally told at 8:45am, we had 45 mins left to solve the crisis. We did not want to cancel the show. That would have meant heartbreak for the children. Somehow, we needed to get things done. And, may I say, in 35 minutes, we were ready. The entire sound system meant for Bickram Ghosh and his team was passed on to the kids, and the show was spectacular. While I am not a fan of jugaad [doing things on the fly], the conclave was a mesh of meticulous planning and systematic jugaad. It was the best example of teamwork. It was also evidence that things will happen if there is a deep desire.
Way to go for us at RevSportz, and I am hugely proud of my team who made the impossible possible. Onwards and upwards.
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