ABOUT 

Ashwin BN

General Manager for the Marketing department at DNA Entertainment Networks Pvt Ltd.

Ashwin started his journey with events way back in college when he often played a pivotal part in organising college events and fests. Not aware that it was something he would grow to love, it was merely an interesting opportunity to learn more about what goes into organising and executing an event. As he got more involved, he began to develop a keen interest and passion for the art and started freelancing for several companies including Zeroin. In 2007, he did several events of his own before joining DNA, where his first project included working the IPL event.

Why event management?

Having studied engineering he understood very young that he was not cut out for a 9-5 desk job, and was not something he enjoyed doing. During his time at college, he came to realize his love for events, and enjoyed the work of organising and seeing an idea take form. He went on to make a career out of it, knowing that his passion and love for the art would drive him to succeed and do better.

His journey at DNA
With over 200 employees, being a part of DNA Entertainment has been an incredible journey for Ashwin since he joined in 2008. He began working with accreditation services before moving on to work with the IPL and other sporting events and some corporate events as well. The clientele base increased significantly after their first corporate event and they started working with more companies catering to their event needs. The brand name helped them establish themselves in the market while giving them the opportunity to explore various verticals in depth. Today, they handle close to 300 events per year including 50-60 corporate events every year.

DNA and team.i: Educational front
He believes that it is the best of the teaching and event management collaboration that is today present in the industry. It is the right time for event management aspirants to learn about the field and gain first-hand experience and be ready to be hand-picked by some of the top event management companies in the next year or so. team.i is the only institute that solely focuses on event management and that caters to overall development of an individual to become a well groomed event planner.

Advice to young aspirants
“When you join the industry, it is the passion, hard work, creativity and innovation that drives you. Work on what suits you, get into the system, get close to your clients and choose an approach that you work with best. Take this time to recuperate and learn more about the industry and when the market reopens, you will be ready to conquer. Event management can never come to an end, this is just a phase that we will eventually come out of. Everyday is a new learning experience and every event a new opportunity. We are the biggest crisis managers in the world, we will come out of this unharmed.”

Ashwin sees a potential paradigm shift in the coming few months that will require a whole new level of restrictions, sanitation and discipline to master but is not going to stop the industry from running. It is all about the new presentation techniques that will be the way forward.