#INK2014 - Melting pot of creative ideas

The last weekend saw a lot of events happening in Mumbai. One of which I attended was #INK2014! This is the first time I have ever attended INK with aspirations to be a part of it since many years. Let's take you through a quick recap of some of my favorite sessions at the event.

For those of you who don't know (am hoping that no. is less!); INK conference is a melting pot of ideas, creativity & innovation. The theme for which was "Beyond Boundaries" this year. Creative voices across fields spoke at the Conference, a couple of notable ones were 

• David Rowan, Editor, WIRED UK magazine, 
• Rajan Anandan, Managing Director, Google India, 
• Artist Jitish Kallat, 
• Musician Ani Choying Drolma, 
• Film Critic and Author Anupama Chopra and 
• Dancer Vidhya Subramanian. 

There were also a host of film makers like Raj Kumar Hirani, artists and entrepreneurs at the event. You can read up more about the event here.

It was held between the 31st of Oct to 2nd Nov.

Let's take you through some of the sessions at this year's INK.

Tulsi Gurung, Social Media Listening & Support Manager, Dell India

Session: How to create your brand on social media? #DellAtINKLive

Perfect session for Social media beginners and the experts who are always looking out to learn something new in this field. My takeaways from the session has to be the following things:

• "Customer comes first." Tulsi took us through the case studies of Dell India and how as a brand they take care of the most important entity for a brand which is their customer. A customer can make or break your brand and hence exists - @DellCares and @DellHomeSupport.
• "Driving business results from the FB Fan base", introducing My Dell Rewards. Dell knows how to turn FB Fan base (potential customers) into prospective customers. You join the reward program and earn points on your next purchase. Cool, right?

• For people who said, Social Media cannot be measured; Tulsi busted a few myths by presenting Dell India's campaign, discussing a few tools that they use at Dell to analyse their campaigns correctly. 
• It doesn't matter what you think of your brand. Ultimately, it is the audience who decides what your brand is. Take them seriously.
• Social e-commerce: When asked about the future of social e-commerce in India, Tulsi pointed out that it will take some time for it to penetrate in India. It is slowly catching up internationally and the day is not far when e-commerce will be as easy as one tweet. Wait and watch out!
• Content marketing will get bigger with time. If not now, what you create will be important later.
• Technology and content go hand-in-hand when it comes to Social media.

Neeraj Arora, Vice President, WhatsApp Inc.
Session: To Infinity & Beyond

Co-hosted by Neeraj Arora and Vivek Wadhwa

Neeraj Arora manages “all things business at WhatsApp”. Arora spoke of his beginnings at Whatsapp “When I first met Whatsapp folks, they weren't just building a Silicon Valley product but a global one. There were only 20 people working at whatsapp at the time and they weren’t open to business people.” He then spoke about the company’s massive growth even though they shy away from the limelight “3 years ago there were close to 30-40Million active users. Now, there are 600 Million users. WhatsApp has 80 Employees right now. Business is not the core of the company."

Dave McClure, Angel Investor; Founding Partner, 500 Startups

Session: Sky Is The Limit

Dave McClure is a venture capitalist and founding partner at 500 Startups, an internet startup seed fund and incubator program in Mountain View, CA. Dave started the session with sage advice” Stay true to yourself and to your heart” and went on to share insights on branding- “ A brand is something that sets you apart from others and not just a product, we must be uni directional in telling our customers a story about our brand. Stand for ONE thing, or you will stand for NOTHING “ His advice to entrepreneurs-“ The most important thing in building your company, is to take risks. You have nothing to lose.”

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Documentary Filmmaker 

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is a film producer and journalist who has worked on 14 films for major networks in the United States and Britain. Sharmeen exuded confidence and determination in her session “I wanted to make a movie of Afghan refugee children on the streets of Pakistan. Doors don't just open. You have to kick them open” Sharmeen;s film covered the grave situation of children who've lost everything and are preyed upon by the Taliban. Her films have often been met with less than positive responses “They've spray painted my name with profanity across several neighborhoods. We were blackmailed and hounded despite the accolades the movie garnered.” 

Watch these videos to get connected with #INK2014!

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Thank you Dell India for giving me the opportunity to attend this prestigious event. You guys, don't miss out on attending it next year! Till then, keep being the creative YOU! :)

Ciao.