Laying the right foundation

The final-year MBA (marketing) students of Sambhram School of Management recently got an opportunity to prove their skills even before they were ready to be part of the corporate world.

As part of an experimental programme organised by the college, the students were given the responsibility of holding a one-day workshop, coming up with events for participants and engaging the crowd.

These students had even been given a target of 100 registrations to prove their mettle.
Poornima, a third-semester student, explained, “The event was more like an internship programme for us though the duration was very short. We were trained in communication skills, marketing strategies and planning and execution of events. The college management joined hands with a City-based school for this programme. We had to interact with the parents of school students and convince them to take part in this workshop.”

The students were divided into teams and asked to meet parents every day for about a week. They were given daily targets based on zones.

Poornima said, “We spoke to at least 300 parents during this period, making them understand the whole idea behind the programme. Some thought we were trying to collect money and were wrongly using the school’s name. It was tough to make people see our point. But I definitely enjoyed the learning experience and the exposure it gave
us.” For the workshop, students came up with events like mad-ads, cooking without fire, shooting a 3D movie and cultural programmes. School children and their parents could jointly participate in the events.

Suresh, another student, added, “It was family time for the participants. We came up with events in which parents could have fun while taking part and see their kids shine too.

Though there were a lot of negative responses, many parents encouraged us. They said they believe in the energy of students and such innovative methods were helpful for students to learn outside classrooms.” 

The programme also taught them marketing strategies and skills, importance and intricacies of negotiating skills and how to convince the customers.

Suresh said, “These are the important qualities needed in marketing and now I know my strengths and weaknesses. It was a self-evaluation of our confidence level. We will be working harder on our weak points and hope to be well-groomed by the time we start working.”