FMS Founder’s Day – 15th December 2019
The FMS Forum is an Association comprising of Alumnus of the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS). The Association was set up in 2014 inspired by its motto, “ The Spirit of Gurudakshina”, with an intention of giving back to the Alma Mater, as also articulated in the Lead Objective of its Memorandum of Association ( MOA) to “ leverage the FMS Alumni Network to reinforce Brand FMS”. The FMS Forum has from the very beginning positioned itself as an intellectual platform to engage with past and present faculty through platforms including Seminars/ Talks etc.
FMS itself is a venerable and leading Management Institute of the country with a distinguished history of over 65 years. During internal discussions of the Members of FMS Forum, there has been a constant search to create a platform of sustainable value for FMS beyond the periodic activities it has undertaken as mentioned in the previous paragraph. The inspiration for such a platform came during discussions with the present Dean Ms Sunita Singh Sengupta when she sought the assistance of the Forum for structuring and executing an Annual Founder’s Day Event for the institution, an occasion that was presently missing from it’s calendar. The Forum from the very beginning decided to work on a marquee event by setting the bar high for the First Founder’s Day through a high value and intellectually uplifting agenda.
The Forum through a series of internal discussions set to work on such an event structure including aspects such as the Event Venue, Agenda Content, and On Ground Arrangements. The iconic Vigyan Bhawan was chosen as the Venue. The event was conceptualised so as to keep it engaging and relevant with a very high quality choice of speakers and moderators, and a format that encouraged the participation of all stakeholders including past and present faculty/ alumni/ students. The idea was also to create a set of properties for replicability and / or enhancement in future Founder’s Day Events.
The Event was structured to kick start with a Professor A K Dasgupta Memorial Lecture, in memory of the Founder of FMS. In keeping with the stature of the Founder, it was decided to focus the lecture content to an intellectual and philosophical worldview beyond merely business. In keeping with a lecture of such statesmanlike erudition, Mr Gurcharan Das, well known author, thought leader and Management Guru was invited as the keynote speaker.
This was followed by an award ceremony by creating an enduring cache of awards comprising of the following, thereby recognising Faculty, Alumni, and Students:
Lifetime Award for a member of the Faculty.
Lifetime Award for Socially Relevant Work.
Student Leadership Award.
After much discussion, an overarching catchy, relevant and debate worthy theme was created for the Event, to tie up the next two parts of the event structure: “The India Story- Glitter or Gloom”.
A Debate on the above theme was held with speakers from the four Top IIM’s and FMS speaking both for and against the motion. An eminent three-member Jury comprising of Academia from Delhi University was invited to judge the debate.
The Event concluded with the Highlight of the Agenda, an engaging Panel Discussion on the above overarching theme. The Forum worked hard to use their network of contacts for populating the Panel Discussion with persons of high eminence drawn from the varied domains of Business, Politics, and Thought Leadership, and selecting a well known moderator from Electronic Media. The Final Panel consisted of Mr Pawan Varma- Former Ambassador, Author and Party Spokesman, Mr Sanjaya Baru, well known author and former Media Advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mr Kiran Karnik, Former Chief Executive of Discovery Channel and Nasscom, and Mr Amit Malviya, the head of the IT Cell of BJP.
On Ground Arrangements/ Logistics
Given the high security status of the venue, viz. Vigyan Bhawan, it was imperative that the on-ground arrangements were impeccable and met the high standards required, not only by the authorities, but also the benchmark status that FMS Forum wished to establish. Accordingly, the design, printing and distribution of the invitation cards, participation badges and parking stickers were given a lot of importance. Needless to say, the in-house talent was utilised to the hilt and what emerged was a classy deck of collaterals. This extended to the onsite banners and the branding at that entrance and on stage, etc.
The design and encasing of the trophies as well as mementoes were also a crucial link of the whole arrangement and we could say with satisfaction that what emerged was indeed a beautiful set of giveaways.
Arrangements for refreshments in the Speakers’ Lounge, on stage, and the High Tea and Dinner was another area that played a key role in ensuing that the event became a memorable occasion for all attendees.
Student and Alumni Participation
The primary audience of the event, it goes without saying, were the students, both full-time and part-time as well as alumni. As the first ever Founder’s Day of the Business School, it elicited a lot of interest and a large gathering of both students and alumni gathered to attend. We are hopeful that as the word spreads about the quality of the event, both in terms of content and organisation, attendance will improve in the years to come.
Future Plans
This was a marquee event and it is proposed that the FMS Forum collaborates with the management, staff and faculty of the Faculty of Management Studies in years to come and organises it as an annual event. With every year, this event should take forward the learnings and improve upon the format, content and participation so that it becomes an event to cherish and remember for all participants.
