The convention with over 1000 delegates, Minister of Corporate affairs as invitee, people from various parts of the country….yes it is the Grand 37th National Convention of the ICSI held from 5-7th November 2009 at Hotel Mariott, Hyderabad.
Being a local resident of Hyderabad, I had it easy to locate the venue. There were about 10s of counters for registration of delegates and thanks to Hyderabad Chapter, I had my delegate number that helped in getting the kit within no time. The kit was a beautiful black laptop bag, with pens, a few business cards, a t-shirt with ICSI logo in the front and Bajaj Allianz logo on the back (which was dissented by many) and brouchers from the sponsors. After the long queue at the entrance, I entered the convention hall which was decorated professionally with a big screen for clear view of the happenings on the dais, a balcony to accommodate delegates that wouldnot fit into the convention hall, ICSI banners, sponsorship banners, a big welcome screen behind the dais, etc.
Skipping the minute details of the lighting of the lamp and Council members taking the dais let me get into the happenings straight away. The curtain raiser that gave an insight into the 3-day programme was organized very well. The Awards for best chapter and other categories including moot courts and related stuff were well-organised but the award winners were concentrating more on photographs being taken rather than the big trophy in their hands. The release of convention souvenir, Secretarial standard 10 and other ICSI publications had the Council members showing off their teeth and flashing the publications rather than anything else. The host who announced the names was amateur and a lot shaky. Probably the Hyderabad chapter could have chosen a better host for such an important event.
Mr Salman Khurshid, Minister of Corporate Affairs was the guest for the inaugural session, believe me…he was simply superb in delivering his message to the members. He was crisp and to the point. A politician having such indepth knowledge of the subject along with command over the language is quite unbelievable.
The first technical session on Managing growth in turbulent times had many delegates dozing off while Mr Pramanik was delivering his message. But, Ravi Kashtia and Jim Brady were interesting speakers. They highlighted on ways and means to manage growth with their slight humour.
I don’t prefer going into the nitty gritty of each technical session, but each speaker was excellent and an expert in his subject. Especially the dynamism and sharpness exhibited by Ms Vijaya, CS of Bharati Airtel is worth mentioning.
I didn’t prefer to stay back for the cultural evening and dinner that followed.
The second day of the convention started off with 5K run for a cause…well, I didn’t participate again. After that, a special breakfast for women was organized. This had 3 speakers; one from Administrative wing of the AP govt, one industrialist and another was a founder of well known social welfare organization. We even had the first Woman president of the ICSI and First ICSI-SIRC chairperson with us. Each one had different insights into the women problems, ways and means to tackle them. The bottom line was to have a good networking circle amongst ourselves to better our personal lives.
The open house session with the central council members was good. Many of the CS had different sorts of complaints on the response of the Ministry or the council or the student services. There were also many satires on the working of the ICSI which were intelligently handled by the Prez ICSI
Thereafter, the technical sessions are as usual boring stuff which had many delegates going out for networking or discussing business and some were dozing off, myself being one of them.
This was followed by a brief lunch that did not have soup but had plenty of fruit salads and other goodies. There was separate section for non vegetarians too.
The trip to Ramoji film city (RFC) was a chaos with so many delegates ending up into confusion whether to get into a bus or not. The entry at RFC was organized well, the stunt show was over crowded and so was the Action theatre. The tour through the RFC was excellent with an enthusiastic guide explaining each and every thing in detail with a pinch of wit. Most of us felt that the time was insufficient as it started to get dark by 6 PM itself.
The hot coffee on one hand, cookies on the other with the serene blue sky overhead and neatly towed green grass underneath was a superb experience. At 7 PM the cultural show began under the blue sky. There were dance performances, one minute game shows for the participants, comedy stints by well known comedians and few gymnastic wonders by the RFC people.
Dinner was also served simultaneously and this has a separate section for Jain food too. As dinner was coming to an end, it started to rain cats and dogs and the pleasant evening was forcibly wound up at 8.30 which would have been at 10 PM otherwise.
The day 3 of the convention began with a breakout session on M&A under competition regime and Tax reforms simultaneously in two different halls. The speakers for M&A were wittier than others of their genre and the delegates had an excellent time in understanding the concept.
This was followed by an interactive session with the Jt Secretary to MCA, a dynamic lady with elegance and intelligent charm of her own. She coordinated the session, took all the inputs from the delegates and briefed the members on the happenings at the ministry, the efforts put in by them and the like. Overall, the session was lively and highly useful for the members present.
The Valedictory session was the most emotional part as it was the point where all the delegates part away with a promise to meet at the next National Convention. The Prez ICSI gave a brief overview of the 3-day convention, thanked the delegates, organizers and all those who made the convention a grand success. He also highlighted the records that were broken at the convention. The 3-day convention came to an end with a special lunch.
Being a local resident of Hyderabad, I had it easy to locate the venue. There were about 10s of counters for registration of delegates and thanks to Hyderabad Chapter, I had my delegate number that helped in getting the kit within no time. The kit was a beautiful black laptop bag, with pens, a few business cards, a t-shirt with ICSI logo in the front and Bajaj Allianz logo on the back (which was dissented by many) and brouchers from the sponsors. After the long queue at the entrance, I entered the convention hall which was decorated professionally with a big screen for clear view of the happenings on the dais, a balcony to accommodate delegates that wouldnot fit into the convention hall, ICSI banners, sponsorship banners, a big welcome screen behind the dais, etc.
Skipping the minute details of the lighting of the lamp and Council members taking the dais let me get into the happenings straight away. The curtain raiser that gave an insight into the 3-day programme was organized very well. The Awards for best chapter and other categories including moot courts and related stuff were well-organised but the award winners were concentrating more on photographs being taken rather than the big trophy in their hands. The release of convention souvenir, Secretarial standard 10 and other ICSI publications had the Council members showing off their teeth and flashing the publications rather than anything else. The host who announced the names was amateur and a lot shaky. Probably the Hyderabad chapter could have chosen a better host for such an important event.
Mr Salman Khurshid, Minister of Corporate Affairs was the guest for the inaugural session, believe me…he was simply superb in delivering his message to the members. He was crisp and to the point. A politician having such indepth knowledge of the subject along with command over the language is quite unbelievable.
The first technical session on Managing growth in turbulent times had many delegates dozing off while Mr Pramanik was delivering his message. But, Ravi Kashtia and Jim Brady were interesting speakers. They highlighted on ways and means to manage growth with their slight humour.
I don’t prefer going into the nitty gritty of each technical session, but each speaker was excellent and an expert in his subject. Especially the dynamism and sharpness exhibited by Ms Vijaya, CS of Bharati Airtel is worth mentioning.
I didn’t prefer to stay back for the cultural evening and dinner that followed.
The second day of the convention started off with 5K run for a cause…well, I didn’t participate again. After that, a special breakfast for women was organized. This had 3 speakers; one from Administrative wing of the AP govt, one industrialist and another was a founder of well known social welfare organization. We even had the first Woman president of the ICSI and First ICSI-SIRC chairperson with us. Each one had different insights into the women problems, ways and means to tackle them. The bottom line was to have a good networking circle amongst ourselves to better our personal lives.
The open house session with the central council members was good. Many of the CS had different sorts of complaints on the response of the Ministry or the council or the student services. There were also many satires on the working of the ICSI which were intelligently handled by the Prez ICSI
Thereafter, the technical sessions are as usual boring stuff which had many delegates going out for networking or discussing business and some were dozing off, myself being one of them.
This was followed by a brief lunch that did not have soup but had plenty of fruit salads and other goodies. There was separate section for non vegetarians too.
The trip to Ramoji film city (RFC) was a chaos with so many delegates ending up into confusion whether to get into a bus or not. The entry at RFC was organized well, the stunt show was over crowded and so was the Action theatre. The tour through the RFC was excellent with an enthusiastic guide explaining each and every thing in detail with a pinch of wit. Most of us felt that the time was insufficient as it started to get dark by 6 PM itself.
The hot coffee on one hand, cookies on the other with the serene blue sky overhead and neatly towed green grass underneath was a superb experience. At 7 PM the cultural show began under the blue sky. There were dance performances, one minute game shows for the participants, comedy stints by well known comedians and few gymnastic wonders by the RFC people.
Dinner was also served simultaneously and this has a separate section for Jain food too. As dinner was coming to an end, it started to rain cats and dogs and the pleasant evening was forcibly wound up at 8.30 which would have been at 10 PM otherwise.
The day 3 of the convention began with a breakout session on M&A under competition regime and Tax reforms simultaneously in two different halls. The speakers for M&A were wittier than others of their genre and the delegates had an excellent time in understanding the concept.
This was followed by an interactive session with the Jt Secretary to MCA, a dynamic lady with elegance and intelligent charm of her own. She coordinated the session, took all the inputs from the delegates and briefed the members on the happenings at the ministry, the efforts put in by them and the like. Overall, the session was lively and highly useful for the members present.
The Valedictory session was the most emotional part as it was the point where all the delegates part away with a promise to meet at the next National Convention. The Prez ICSI gave a brief overview of the 3-day convention, thanked the delegates, organizers and all those who made the convention a grand success. He also highlighted the records that were broken at the convention. The 3-day convention came to an end with a special lunch.
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