“We need to recognize the significance of communication, ‘Samvad’, for developing people-skills because newer possibilities are created when you speak and interact with people” – Prof Dr Uday Salunkhe,Group Director, WeSchool.

His students are doing him proud by creating new avenues in web based communication with ‘Samvad ‘a magazine dedicated to the diversities of Business Education and ‘Radiowe’ the online radio making musical waves in the WeSchool campus…

Stita Misra, Editor, Samvad, narrates the story of her wonderful journey…

Q 1. What was your thought process when you started out on this adventure of the online magazine dedicated to business management at WeSchool?

As a new entrant to the Business school scenario, I soon realized that almost every reputed B-School in this country has a college magazine. We came across such magazines, to which students including our own were sending in articles. These magazines are a great way to achieve many objectives like providing a forum of creative expression for like-minded individuals, platforms for sharing of thoughts and ideas and most importantly: get an overall perspective about diverse issues and challenges in business management in today’s turbulent times. Although the Committee for Samvad had existed at WeSchool, it was somehow struggling to bring out the magazine so we decided to take it up as a challenging venture and to build a strong foundation for having a magazine dedicated to business education at WeSchool that will be an inspiration to others. We felt it was something that would be a great value ad for our institute and our own experience at WeSchool.

Q 2. What were the initial challenges that the team Samvad faced?

There were many challenges initially but the creative environment and the excellent support system in the campus have actually helped us in more ways than one. The entire team has been a great support system to each other, turning every challenge an opportunity. We are greatly privileged to have our beloved Group Director, Prof. Dr. Uday Salunkhe to guide and inspire us, and Prof. Amarkant Jain and Prof. Deepa Dixit to always encourage and mentor us. I would also like to mention that had it not been for Prof. Ms. Jalpa Thakkar and Mr. Rakesh Marar, ‘Samvad’ would not have been what it is today. Prof. Ms.Chitralekha Kumar has been a great support in bringing it to this level. We are really grateful to everyone in our institute who have supported us and helped us grow.

3. How did you co-ordinate with  team Samvad considering everyone’s hectic lecture schedules as well as the time consuming daily  commutes  of  Mumbai ?

Initially I faced few difficulties with co-ordination, as our schedules were very different as well as hectic, however, post some meetings, it became very clear to us as to who was genuinely interested in being a part of Samvad, post which, the co-ordination was easy and simple. We meet up to brainstorm ideas and review our progress once in a fortnight, and on other occasions we would communicate mostly through e-mails and telephonic conversations. My Co-ordination and organizing skills have improved, and understanding of the team mates’ mindsets and motivational factors is higher. It is challenging to show the right motivation to the people who are a part of the team in order to perform and excel. Everyone in the team has developed; as networking skills have improved and understanding of the importance of focusing on the details as well as looking at the whole picture has also deepened.

Q 4. Were there any technology glitches that troubled you during the initial phase? How did you overcome them considering the elaborate format Samvad has?

Samvad is an online magazine; hence, the process is entirely based on software, web applications and programs right from its production and publication to its distribution. The only technology glitch that we faced was the lack of awareness of the software used to create magazines in the PDF format, and the online forum where such magazines could be shared and distributed. Once we discovered Microsoft Publisher and issuu.com, everything fell into place. Of course, it did take us a while to accustom ourselves to the various features of these tools in order to get maximum benefit, however, the tools are user friendly and we were able to work ourselves around the difficulties pretty quickly.

Since  Samvad was started  right from a scratch, it took us a great deal of time to design the template and take care of the details of the various facets of the magazine and bring it to a level of perfection befitting WeSchool , at the same time it was very exciting and fun to create and design a magazine. Dealing with this kind of technology has also opened our eyes to the various means of online marketing and advertising campaigns, and how the reach of any product can be increased manifold with the help of the online systems that are available.

Q 5. Samvad is now five issues old. Tell us something about the reader’s response and the team’s plans for the next six months.

The first issue of the magazine came out in February, 2012, and it indeed makes me very proud to witness the success of the magazine. Being one of the few magazines in the country which provides a platform for articles pertaining to all the sections of management , it has gained a very respectable reputation with students of over 25 top MBA colleges of the country contributing their articles to Samvad. We have had tremendous encouragement and support from our readers with few of them sending in their articles multiple times for our magazine.

The next six months are crucial and will go a long way in deciding the pace of success of our magazine. It is absolutely thrilling to see the response and enthusiasm that we have seen from the student of 2012-14 batch and also from 2011-13 batch. We have set very high but achievable goals for ourselves as we intend increase our reach and the number of respondents of out magazine by at least 75% by December, 2012. We also aim to improve and improvise on the content and design of Samvad and make it one of the best b-school magazines in the country. With the level of enthusiasm and support that the team members have shown so far, it may be a daunting task, but is far from being impossible.

Q 6. How has this process helped you to evolve as a better manager?

To me, the journey has taken shape as that of a start of a new company. All of us on the editorial team had to imbibe the principles of creative writing as well as editing and hone our skills in marketing, especially online marketing. In a way, we were acquiring knowledge, applying it and assimilating it as well; the WeSchool philosophy of ‘Triple A’ was fast becoming a reality for us. The difference here was that we were also disseminating the knowledge for the benefit of all stakeholders. The process has helped all the members increase our attention to detail while not taking our eyes off the whole picture, along with improving our ability to think out of the box, and deliver more than what has been promised time and again.