Ad Venture Cup becomes a daily soap

Monday was long day at SAAM.

Met their would be Mktg. Director Kumar with Siddharth.

Awaiting their new schedule
After 2 Curtain Raisers Elimination Round Begins as under
Place Shoot Telecast Episodes 3 to 20
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kolhapur / Ratnagiri 27,28,29,30,31 Aug. 24,25 Sept
Nashik 6,7,8 Sept 26,29 Sept
A'bad 9,10,11 Sept 30 Sept,1 oct
Nagpur 13,14,15 Sept 2 , 3 oct
Solapur 19,20,21 Sept 6,7 Oct
Thane 23,24,25 Sept 8,9 Oct
Mumbai 26,27,28 Sept 10,13 Oct
Pune 30Sept 1, 2 Oct 14,15 Oct
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Semi Finals as under:

6 Teams 16 Oct Episodes 21 to 23

6 Teams 17 Oct

6 Teams 20 Oct

Episode 24 Celebrity
Episode 25 & 26 FINALS

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elimination Round
---------------------------
Introduce Yourself
Will You marry me ?
1. Your name & its meaning
2. Who are you & what you do
3. Specific personal details like
your age,weight,colour,height
4. Your hobbies
5. Your attitude
6. Your vision towards your future
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sell a product like Mobile , Car, Pen etc
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Why should I hire you?

The Big Question: 'Why Should I Hire You?'
by Joe Turner, for Yahoo! HotJobs
Print
Email
IM
Bookmark
del.icio.us
Digg
"Why should I hire you?"
This is the classic question most of us hear during an interview. It's often preceded by the phrase, "I've already interviewed another person for this position who looks perfect." Then comes the killer question, "Why should I hire YOU?"
Be careful to avoid clever retorts or comedic one-liners here. Your interview is serious business and a wrong answer will send you packing. This is, in fact, the one question that interviewers like to ask because the answer can so easily separate the contenders from the also-rans. Give a wrong answer and the large "Game Over" sign flashes above your head.
The 'Story' Approach
What they really want to know is, "How are you different than all the other candidates who have applied for this position?" With this in mind, a good way to approach your answer here is to launch into your best "story" that answers this question, "Will you go the extra mile?"
Why is the employer asking why they should hire you? Because there are only five areas of interest that they have about you as a candidate:
Your skills
Your knowledge about the company
Your manageability
Your affordability
Whether you can go above and beyond your job description
In this day of "lean and mean" operations philosophy, employers are looking for employees who can think bigger and perform duties above and beyond their jobs.
Demonstrate Your Accomplishments
Realize that there will always be competing candidates with a higher skill level, more experience, more education/training, or even a smoother interviewing style. The one equalizer though, is the ability to demonstrate how you have risen above and gone that extra mile to accomplish an important task, complete the job or realize an important goal.
Here, you recant that story of exactly how you worked 60-hour weeks, acquired new skills, or whatever it took to distinguish yourself and meet the challenge head on to successfully make the sale, save the project or rescue a client. If you can monetize (put a dollar value on) the end result, your story will only be that much more dramatic.
Tell It Often
Knowing this ahead of time, it's wise to put in the time beforehand to work on your answer to this question. Pick your best example of how you went above and beyond in your job. Work on your story to perfect it. Set the scene, describe the challenge and describe your role and the successful conclusion. Use this as an example of how you use your particular set of skills in an extraordinary time to "give it your all" and produce a clear benefit to your employer.
Since no other candidate can duplicate your own personal story here, you'll make a memorable impression. Not only that, but quite possibly you'll pull yourself ahead of that "perfect" candidate who preceded you.
As a recruiter, Joe Turner has spent the past 15 years finding and placing top candidates in some of the best jobs of their careers. Author of "Job Search Secrets Unlocked," Joe has interviewed on radio talk shows and offers free insider job search secrets at jobchangesecrets.com.
Also on Yahoo! HotJobs:
Earn a promotion in a yearThree signs of a miserable jobFive steps for updating your resumeFind a new job near you
RSS Feeds
Get articles on your personalized My Yahoo! page(About My Yahoo! and RSS) Career Articles
if(window.yzq_d==null)window.yzq_d=new Object();
window.yzq_d['XXfVANFJq1w-']='&U=12bn8v8gl%2fN%3dXXfVANFJq1w-%2fC%3d-2%2fD%3dMB3%2fB%3d-2%2fV%3d0';
Sponsored Links
Fully Accredited MBA ProgramsInternationally accredited MBA programs in Paris, New York, Shanghai, and Tokyo. Full time, part time, and E-learning options available.www.ism.edu
Christian Counseling / Theology DegreeStudy At Your Own Pace. Pay As You Go Tuition. Accredited, AFFORDABLE.www.trinity-edu.com
var lrec_target="_blank";var lrec_URL=new Array();
lrec_URL[1]="http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=14v023slp/M=642067.12535887.12881249.2991744/D=hojo/S=396511258:LREC/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1212980959/L=lhFVBULaVJquKdV6SElx1wAGy8V.a0hMgr8ACI6x/B=WXfVANFJq1w-/J=1212973759678945/A=5283390/R=0/id=flash/SIG=13u5b9n84/*http://o1.qnsr.com/cgi/r?;n=203;c=368780;s=2574;x=7936;f=200802221528210;u=j;z=1212973759678945&lineid=12535887&adid=5283390";
var lrec_fv="clickTAG="+escape(lrec_URL[1]);
var lrec_swf="http://ads.yimg.com/a/a/qu/quin/300x250_flders_pulse_earnwork.swf";
var lrec_altURL="http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=14v023slp/M=642067.12535887.12881249.2991744/D=hojo/S=396511258:LREC/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1212980959/L=lhFVBULaVJquKdV6SElx1wAGy8V.a0hMgr8ACI6x/B=WXfVANFJq1w-/J=1212973759678945/A=5283390/R=1/id=altimg/SIG=13u5b9n84/*http://o1.qnsr.com/cgi/r?;n=203;c=368780;s=2574;x=7936;f=200802221528210;u=j;z=1212973759678945&lineid=12535887&adid=5283390";
var lrec_altimg="http://ads.yimg.com/a/a/qu/quin/300x250_flders_pulse_earnwork.gif";
var lrec_w=300;var lrec_h=250;
on error resume next
plugin=(IsObject(CreateObject("ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash.7")))

if(window.yzq_d==null)window.yzq_d=new Object();
window.yzq_d['WXfVANFJq1w-']='&U=13f08ggo6%2fN%3dWXfVANFJq1w-%2fC%3d642067.12535887.12881249.2991744%2fD%3dLREC%2fB%3d5283390%2fV%3d1';
Other Helpful Tools
Career Assessment
Career Change
Continuing Education
Finding a Job
Franchising
Management
Networking
Relocation
Resume
Retirement
Salary
Work/Life Balance
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7 Things You Must Do in an Interview
by Aileen Pincus, BusinessWeek.com
Print
Email
IM
Bookmark
del.icio.us
Digg
When you are looking to make the Big Leap -- the one that puts you closer to the power centers of a business or organization -- the interview process will likely be different from what you've experienced before. The more senior the person or people you're interviewing with, the more definite their ideas are likely to be about what they're looking for. They know that their own continued success depends on hiring the best people.
So how do you prove your readiness for the big leagues? By thinking like a big-league player. This interview will be different from others, but it will be your best chance to impress the decisionmakers, so there are some key points you want to be certain you get across. Here are tips to help you succeed:
Show You Get the "Big Picture"
Any number of interview candidates may possess specific subject-knowledge valuable to a business. But the candidate who goes beyond mere information and displays an ability to use it well is more likely to get the job. Senior executives and managers generally want people who pay attention to and understand the broader view.
Tip: Demonstrate you recognize patterns and understand their importance; that you know how to use and synthesize information.
Find Out What Keeps the Boss Up at Night
Do your homework so you understand not only the job or promotion for which you are applying, but also the job of the senior executive above it. Do you know to whom this person reports, and what the top issues are for your boss's boss?
Tip: Make that knowledge part of your interview conversation. Show an interest not only in the specifics of the job, but in the product and markets for that company. Ask broad questions: "What do you think the potential growth in the Indian market is?"
Look for Answers
Senior managers are looking for candidates who are creative thinkers focused on finding solutions. It is less important that you show you know the details of the problems the organization faces than that you're able to demonstrate readiness to look for options and find solutions.
Tip: Think about problems in the past you've identified and managed to solve. Show readiness to tackle the tough issues.
Show Some Guts
Chances are whoever you're interviewing with got where he is by showing some moxie, and you should too. Top people need and want folks around them who are not afraid to speak up and will confidently assert their ideas. It is the only way to be part of the process.
Tip: Be ready with an example of a time when you weren't afraid to go out on a limb and your actions helped bring about real change.
Show Your Softer Side, Too
Yes, you should speak up and assert your ideas. But there will be times when the folks at the top will want-- will even need -- for you to go along once a decision has been made, even if you don't agree with it.
Tip: Think about past experiences you can discuss to demonstrate you're comfortable with the challenges of a dynamic environment.
Listen
Just as you want to make it plain in an interview that you are not too timid to speak up, you want to make it clear you are not over-confident or intent on dominating the process. Demonstrate you are able to listen without being too eager to cut off dialog.
Tip: Ask questions that reflect the concerns of the questioner in a constructive way. For instance, if you are asked what you would do in a certain situation, resist the temptation to answer before you've asked some questions of your own.
Keep It Positive
If there's one thing senior managers have a universal distaste for, it's whining. Remember, every hiring manager wants to hire a team player who will bring positive energy and real initiative to the job. Be ready with examples of positive suggestions about problems or issues that you took initiative on in order to demonstrate your people skills.
Tip: Steer clear of any criticism of prior managers, even if invited to offer it.

Creativity in an Organization-Some viewpoints

Can creativity be taught?

Raman Roy Chief Executive Officer Quatrro BPO Solutions I think creativity is more of a mind game than something limited to being creative to find a particular solution. It goes right in to basic things like what you eat and how you eat, how you dress and how you live. There are standard exercises that make people find creative solutions to day to day issues.

Tina Seelig Executive Director Stanford Technology Ventures Program I find people are naturally creative, but many lock it up inside themselves. Formal creative exercises can help them loosen up. I start off by giving people creativity tools that will make them hang their head on. Brainstorms, metaphors and mind mapping are effective ways of stretching their creativity. Unlike a workplace, where people are more risk-averse and therefore less creative, an academic course provides a controlled environment where they can experience and experiment being creative without any fear of a downside. We start the course with focus on individual creativity and then extend it to creativity in the organization. We give them something different to do everyday. We do everything from traditional case studies to a lot of experimental work, including projects and field trips. In addition, we make them maintain a creativity portfolio where they record a list of things that trigger creativity in their environment. We also have research assignments that cover creative companies, and we encourage them to make their presentations as innovative as possible.

Preeti Vyas Giannetti Chairperson and Chief Creative Officer Vyas Giannetti Creatives I think it is the thinking and analytical capabilities that I picked up at NID that has brought me this far. I built the foundation of my creative career in National Institute of Design, where I was exposed to different streams of design. More than the skills, I am grateful for the exposure it has given me. Grateful for breaking boundaries. I didn't just see till the next yard, I saw across countries, across continents and deep within my own culture. It was a very intellectual process. It encouraged me to take responsibility for something much larger than doing a little piece of prettification design. I think it is the thinking and analytical capabilities that I picked up at NID that has brought me this far. I learnt the real skill of creativity from Mohammad Khan during my four year internship at Contract Advertising. It is difficult to teach. Creativity is an abstraction. You may find something creative which I may not or he may not. But at some point we all tend to agree that yes, this is sparkling. To be able to teach that is difficult. You can only teach that by osmosis.

R Balakrishnan (Balki) National Creative Director Lowe India I think courses in creativity are good for a fundamental reason. I would treat them as holiday breaks. It helps you to get away from what you are doing. Should teams fight? R Balakrishnan (Balki) National Creative Director Lowe India It is important to be with the right set of people who to a certain extent share the same wavelength and chemistry. The worst thing for an entrepreneur is to surround himself with people who don't have a trip or a vision or anything common with each other. That's a disaster; because half the energy is spent on getting people to take this trip. One person may have the idea, but there has to be at least twenty people with similar wavelengths who can latch on to that idea and take it forward. That's how ideas are created. It is not done by one person. Raman Roy Chief Executive Officer Quatrro BPO Solutions “ If two people agree all the time, one of them is not thinking. ” I encourage difference of opinions by not commenting on it, by staying silent. Because people have to disagree, they have to find their own space and their own solutions. That is creativity. And meeting halfway is a management methodology. You have to allow people to differ as long as the disagreement is on the idea. My biggest struggle is when the disagreement becomes personal. How does one stop it? I'm no genius to say that in my organization we only disagree on ideas and not on people. People tend to fight. Do we have issues? Yes, we do. But getting them to disagree but still find solutions to a business problem is a way to nurture creativity. Does diversity in the team affect creativity too? Tina Seelig Executive Director Stanford Technology Ventures Program Diversity in the team develops creativity. People from different backgrounds and different attitudes bring in different perspective and areas of expertise. This helps in bringing together interesting ideas as opposed to having a mono dimensional point of view. Does creativity die under a deadline? R. Balakrishnan (Balki) National Creative Director Lowe India Sometimes desperation gives you the best ideas like when tomorrow is the meeting and you don't know what to do. Deadlines are a superb way to think of ideas. If you have an infinite timeline you can never get anything done. Give yourself 24 hours, the stuff will flow much faster. Tina Seelig Executive Director Stanford Technology Ventures Program “ Deadlines can help to maximize one's creativity. ” In the long run, it's great to have open periods when you are drifting off to sleep or taking a hike for being creative. The alternative time is when there is an emergency and you rally all your creative juices. Kind of like a mom who can pick up a car when her kids are trapped. That would be an emergency when your creative energy bursts out. Are there moments when there is no creativity coming? How do you get rid of the creative block? Preeti Vyas Giannetti Chairperson and Chief Creative Officer Vyas Giannetti Creatives Yes, there can be creative blocks from time to time. Comfort zones are the most dangerous because these kill creativity. That is when you have to shake and rattle a bit to think differently. The trick for organizations to remain entrepreneurial is not to stay put in the doldrums of a comfort zone. mono dimensional point of view. R Balakrishnan (Balki) National Creative Director Lowe India “ Creativity is a journey, and you work best when you have fun along the way. ” Sometimes you need to know when not to be creative and not think too much; when you would rather be linear than lateral to get what you want.. Idea generation can't be looked upon as a do or die situation. If you have that attitude, you will reach nowhere. I think most of us make the mistake of becoming very desperate for the end. That's when everything stops. You grow creatively when you don't give a damn. You start giving a damn, and nothing comes easily. Do entrepreneurs need to be creative? R Balakrishnan (Balki) National Creative Director Lowe India Of course! Even the paanwala in your neighbourhood needs creativity to figure out how to make more money than the next guy. Maybe one guy just grows a bigger moustache and calls himself a Mucchad paanwala, and he became famous not because of his paan, but his moustache. That's superb creativity. I don't think you can be an entrepreneur if you are not creative. I don't think entrepreneurship is just about getting an idea. It is about creatively building a business upon it. That's entrepreneurship. Tina Seelig Executive Director Stanford Technology Ventures Program Creativity is essential in all phases of a venture - the beginning, middle and end. You have to be creative while coming up with the initial idea; while planning the product; while understanding the opportunities; while building your team; while planning your processes; while dealing with the changing market. Even when your company goes out of business, you have to be creative in figuring out how to shut it down in an appropriate manner. Creative problem solving is key. If you view every problem as an opportunity, that triggers creativity. Preeti Vyas Giannetti Chairperson and Chief Creative Officer Vyas Giannetti Creatives An entrepreneur should ensure that he is creative in all aspects of running an organization. It is too linear a thought process to consider it as a departmental activity. But entrepreneurship requires something else. It requires a passionate belief in what you have decided to do, and the willingness to back it with everything you have. So in that sense the operative word is passion, more than creativity. Because when you start with nothing, like I did, the only thing that kept me going was my belief and my passion. If I hadn't done that, I would have just fallen into some kind of comfort zone and taken up a job somewhere. Can entrepreneurs ever be too creative? Tina Seelig Executive Director Stanford Technology Ventures Program Absolutely. There is no point reinventing the wheel for everything. There are many tried and tested things that work. Maybe I don't want to be creative in setting up my accounting system or payroll structure or customer acquisition software. Entrepreneurs should be willing to outsource and leverage the skills and creativity of others in your organization for these tasks. So it's really important to know what your core areas of expertise are, and be creative in those areas. If you want to be in the realm of creativity in everything, you just won't get anywhere.

Entrepreneurship

Some thoughts Today on Entrepreneurship
Criticism and scathing reviews never worry me. I really don't care what anybody thinks, because I feel the only thing you can do in life is to do what you believe is right, what turns you on and what makes you tick. If that doesn't make other people sing with you, their bad luck, because I am singing. So it's their problem, not mine.

I think the starting point of real creativity is not to do it for anybody else. Especially in a field like advertising which has got a disease of learning to understand the consumer. That's the biggest bullshit in advertising. You can't even understand your mother, how will you understand a customer? So you always write for yourself, and if people like it - good!

Advertising has a lot to do with luck. There are fantastic people who have these fantastic ideas, but if their ideas are not liked by others, they become bad advertising people. If they like it, they become good. So I have been lucky in the sense that people often like what I like= Thanks to Balki

Someone recently told me that allowing criticism in brainstorming sessions will encourage people to look at alternative options. I don't agree; I would never do that. Nothing should be criticized in a creative exercise. Brainstorming is an interesting way to explore an idea. It costs nothing to write them down on paper. In fact, the brainstorming should focus on how to make a bad idea into a good idea, because even in a bad idea, you can find a lot of good. For example, I often conduct brainstorming sessions in corporate workshops where I ask the participants to come up with the unlikeliest of customers for their products and get them to think of ways to convert them into perfect customers. These sessions go a long way in making people strategize creatively.Thanks to Tina Seelig Executive Director
Stanford Technology Ventures Program

When I set up my first call center, there were a lot of people saying it will not work. They said that the lag of voice between the US and India was so large that Indian call centers will never succeed. I took up the challenge. I made an international call to an American friend who was also our potential customer. I said, "Hey Joe, I happen to be in town. Can we grab a meal together?" He said, "Ya, I'm free to meet you. What time?" and we went on talking for two minutes. At the end of the conversation, I said, "So, Joe, you believe I am in town?" He was puzzled. I told him I am calling from India. I said, "Joe, you said this will never work. But now you believed that I was making a local call and we could meet for dinner." He paused, and then said, "You've proved your point. Okay, we'll give you fifty people worth of business and let's see where it goes." This is how we got our first customer. Thanks to Raman Roy Chief Executive Officer Quatrro BPO Solutions

Tools for Bootstrappers Courtesy Anjana Vivek
Entrepreneurs are often strapped of cash. Sreekrishna Sankar, who has just completed his Post Graduate Diploma in Management at IIM Bangalore, has come up with a list of tools that entrepreneurs can use in such times; most of this is free and freely available for use. Incidentally, Sreekrishna, and a couple of his batchmates at IIMB, Ajith Pai and Sahil Barua, have floated a firm Catalyst Ventures, which worked with a few start ups. Thanks for sharing this info, Sreekrishna. 1. Business Plan developer for developing professional business plan templates which can be a starting point(free)

2. Open Office - a free alternative to the Microsoft Office suite (free)

3. Google Apps for small business. Google Apps also offers a personal calendar, word processor, and a spreadsheet editor. Because the programs are web-based, all information edited on them can be shared easily and in real time. (free)
4. Zoho Suite - provides online tools for project management, database management, web conferencing and CRM support (free)
5. For the startups needing their own servers and databases, freely available Apache suite of products and the mysql/postgres are free options
6. Free accounting software like Turbocash, Wesabe help in quickly setting up the financial processes in startups.
7.Setting up a website is very easy even for newbies through Weebly. Weebly also provides domain registration and your professional website can be up and running within minutes.⊕

ANJANA VIVEK

• Categories: COMMENTS (5)
  [26-May, 01 PM] Eric V. Gear

  I'm also an entrepreneur and I'd like to share the tool I'm using for business management - Wrike. It's perfect for my team as it integrates with email. My clients love it cause they don't have to log in to see the updates. I like it cause it helps me see what's going on in my business any minute. And I pay something like $4 per month.

  [27-May, 12 AM] Pranav Bhasin

  TeamViewer for web conferencing.

  [27-May, 01 AM] K. Srikrishna

  Good starting list for online applications and free tools. Check out Marshall Kirkpatrick's Five tools everyone working on-line should have and my post on Five utilities that I can't live without

  [27-May, 08 AM] SHABHARISH MITTA

  Tools for Entrepreneurs is a nice idea !!

  Sharing this tool called IBM Uynte. Its just 1 mb file.

  It has two features

  1.
  You can give presentations/demos to your customers sitting right in your office. This does not require client to install anything on his system. its called desktop sharing. FREE

  2.
  Remote Assist - in case you are into somethin related to computer applications, or software, you can do trouble shooting. Just by accepting your invitation, you can access your client's computer entirely & live. This avoids sending personnel to attend the issues of the customer. FREE for TRIAL of 1 Month

  it can be downloaded http://www.unyte.net/download/Unyte_Setup_25435.exe

  Watch out : It needs to be used on High Speed Broad Band Connection Only

  ~ Shabs

  [27-May, 04 PM] Praveen Jain

  Good list. Google Apps and Zoho is a must have.
  Google Apps allows you to have 100 mail ids with your domain name free. You can also build your intranet thru' google sites. In addition, it has a nice mobile application that lets u see u r office mail through mobile easily.

  Zoho, in addition to a neat CRM suite, has a HR management tool and a few more utilities also, which I use for my startup.

The Entrepreneur as a Manager

Apart from being a leader, an entrepreneur also needs to be an able Manager, regardless of whether or not he plays an active role in the organization that has been set up. Managerial strengths tend to manifest far more visibly whereas the qualities of a leader are subliminal and in a sense even private. Managerial competencies in some ways appear to have a greater use for an entrepreneur to make a favorable first impression with all the stakeholders of the enterprise. The leadership strengths that come to fore in sustained transactions tend to build on this very foundation. So what are the qualities of a capable Manager an entrepreneur may inherently possess or develop in order to extend his sphere of influence? It is easy to conclude that to successfully manage resources in any context the one factor that plays a critical role is common sense. However what construes this common sense is not as easily decipherable. Is it Focus and Discipline? Is it Result Orientation and the skills of an "Arranger?" Is it good Team and Relationship Orientation? Or is it a judicious mix of all of them. Vijay Nair tells us that apart from being a leader, an entrepreneur also needs to be an able Manager.

AdVenture Cup Series - Season 01

June 05 , 2008

Important day in the life of AdVenture cup Series - Season 01.

Once the programme goes on Air, all the paperwork shall remain in file & only language that will be spoken would be of TRPs, Viewership etc. Auditions begin this week.