Public speaking and holidays

This Monday we launched a book called "Social Development in Independent India" and I was asked to make a brief speech. ( You can see pictures and a more formal report from Babita below this) Following me as speakers were Muchkund Dubey and Montek Singh Ahluwahlia. If you don't know who they are, Google them, and then try and think what you would say about social development which would add to what they might be able to tell you.

Try as I might, I couldn't think of a single thing to say, other than welcoming all the guests. I did that in the first few sentences and then found myself telling this very learned audience the story behind the picture on the cover of the book - a beautiful picture taken by Madhur Bhatia at a village school outside Varanasi. Thankfully Dr. Ahluwahlia looked as if he was interested, and the audience was too civilised to boo this twit who was talking about the cover, when the content of the book was what they wanted to hear about.

For the future, if anyone asks me to speak without giving me a tight script, they run the risk of my blurting out whatever comes into my head at the moment.

Tomorrow I am off on 3 weeks leave, to drop my 18 year old son to film school in Vancouver. Its also the first family holiday we are taking since 2006, and so I am really looking forward to it. My next post might include some pictures of whales and glaciers!

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The Launch of Social Development in Independent India by Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia

Dear All,

Pls. find attached herewith the photographs of Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Government of India and Prof. Muchkund Dubey during the release of “Social Development in Independent India in Delhi on Monday 18 August 2008 at Gulmohar, India Habitat Center, and the panelists were Professor S.N. Jha, Prof. G. Nambissan, and Prof. Imrana. Qadeer.

Among those who attended the book release function were academicians, scholars, and media persons like (DD News, The Week, Business, IANS, Business Bhaskar, India Times and Samyak Bharat weekly)

Dr. Ahluwalia told that we have been exceptionally good in outlining mantras but to what extent objectives are achieved remains a matter of debate and doubt and he mentioned that the book provides an overview of the course of social development in India in the past 60 years by throwing light on different government schemes and social issues.

I have pasted the media reviews below this text for your convenience.

http://www.outlookmoney.com/olmnew/agencyarticle.aspx?id=13480

http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20080818/812/tnl-montek-emphasises-need-to-hit-social.html

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Scientific-analysis-must-for-all-schemes-Montek/350317/

http://www.freshnews.in/montek-emphasises-need-to-hit-social-sector-targets-53742

http://www.twocircles.net/2008aug18/montek_emphasises_need_hit_social_sector_targets.html

Please spread the word to all the appropriate accounts (bookstores/ libraries) and use it as an effective sales tool. This would certainly get favourable results in terms of sale.

Best,

Babita Chauhan

SNAP SHOTS FROM GOA

As soon as Rajdhani express halted at the Madgaon station, the excited and restless team of Pearson School Division, jumped on to the platform of the "tiny emerald city"; Goa - a small and beautiful sea town wrapped up in monsoon serenity of dancing coconut trees, like a bunch of Portuguese travellers, finding their blessed land after a long voyage.

The boundless excitement & energy spilled on to the luxurious beach resort of Cidade De Goa, as soon as "Pearsonities" landed there, which was to be the scene of hectic corporate activity for the next three days.

By 8:30 p.m. the “Laranza” dinning hall was filled with cacophony of loud chatter of the Pearson team coupled with the melody of romantic songs belted out cheerfully by 3 guys in colourful shirts.

While the marketing team - school division went running around to see the arrangements, the rest of the team headed for the sand & sea of Vainguinim beach…

It rained all night….

Day 1

Naveen set the ball rolling in Grand Sala convention hall by welcoming everyone......and showcasing Pearson Education's milestones & achievements in a brief documentary.... Then started the product presentations and areawise sales reports, marking the good work & success stories of the sales team along with the launch of new school titles 'Images & Uphaar' which the editorial (their Babies) bring out with “Joyful Labour” every academic year.

As Naveen said “Work Hard, Party Harder” … after the days work, the evening was for fun games. “Ramdulara” the donkey with missing tail stole the show, which blindfolded Naveen, Dipankar and Shafina successfully detected….!! So much so for missing links.....Pearsonities se bachna mushkil hi nahin, namumkin hai Ramdulare ji!!! Aap kya sooch rahe the!!!

The “Bindi” round saw all the lovely ladies of Pearson standing stricken as their faces were smeared with as many bindis as the chosen guys (Lucky men...) could stick......with great sense of competition… Nehal & Purba won (with 13 bindis on her face) ...

The ladies then tied the ribbon knots which our Pearson gentleman had to unknot (all ran thinking its Rakhi) Deepa & Rohit Dhar won, prompting Rohit to do a victory dance like a boxer..

After a stupendous meal the action again shifted to beach with everyone trying to ride the big waves that came rushing to the sandy sea shore…till it started to rain, yet again.

And it rained all night.....

Day 2

Vivek came on the second day and made up for his absence in more ways than one...Everyone was enamoured by the way he introdued himself during his presentation!! He interacted with everyone, shook a leg, met our authors..... and felicitated the sales teams for their stupendous performance in UP & Uttranchal, and Delhi/NCR.

It was a day dedicated to high energy perfromances: Derek O' Brien in his trademark sunshine yellow t-shirt with his team came, saw & conquered the entire gathering!! No wonder, he has women swooning to his every move!! More awards followed: The North Eastern team for their commendable performance, the editorial for winning the Star Performer of the year award through popular polling for Know & Grow with Derek. The cherry on the cake was the surprise award for creating the motto; "Aspire, Achieve, Inspire" - which went to the thunderstruck Gitesh, who couldn't believe that such an award had been announced......

It rained all the day…..yet again!!!

The gala evening party started with wishing Happy Birthday to Jitender Kumaria, who drank beer from the feeder bottle and opened the next round of party game “Drinking beer from feeder bottle” – where the big boys became babies & crawled and drank from the feeder bottles… Who else, but Sanjeev, the beer tanker, won. Girls did it with Coke & our new member of Pearson Arundhati won...

Soon after games, everyone hit the floor....in their best dancing shoes. Naveen was the “on-mike DJ”, adding frenzy to the dance fever… Vivek danced ….Sharmila, Ranjani, Rajni danced, Sanjeev, Mansi, Soumitri, Diyasree, Tandeep, Prashant, Gitesh also danced. Kamal,(who never stopped) … danced & dazzled, but behold who stole the thunder “ Mona Goyal”.. She danced as there was no tomorrow - Retro, disco salsa, hip-hop, she got it all – And won the Dancing Diva award!! The Jumping Jack award was handed over to Amrit Ranjan Pandey for his gravity-defying break-dance. And it rained all night!!!!

Day 3

Quiz time …..

Pearson Product Quiz: Prashant for once was Prashant O’ Brien the Quiz master.. Conducting the Pearson Product quiz 2008, shooting his brain twister questions to four selected teams & audience… Where did Naveen start his career in Pearson? Full form of CAMP? Full name of Bala? Everyone scratched their heads…..rattled their minds, tickled their grey cells….... Many won chocolates for the right answer, and the west zone comprising Parvesh and team won the Dazzling Quiz trophy.

Excursion: It was raining …went to Dona Paula beach and Saint Francis church … the old saint is mummified for centuries...

It rained….

Did Shopping in rain…“KAJU” and Feni buying frenzy took over……. Tons of Cashews was purchased by Pearson people ….after numerous rounds of hard bargaining by Pearsonities Goa gave up and sold out, causing wide shortage of cashew in Goa (Giggling)…………It is rightly said that all good things must come to an end.... and this corporate travelogue too is to be concluded, so let me do it by saying …till next NSM 2009, Goodbye. Rememeber to “Aspire, Achieve and Inspire.” till we meet again.........(Gitesh Sinha)

Hi...

Today, I finally had a look at our blog site…the intention had been there for long but with the NSM deadlines looming large, I kept delaying the visit!

To start with, we had a nice surprise today (we were not updated on the new coffee vending machine) with a variety being offered for the morning brew—cappuccino, badam milk, ginger tea, lemon tea, and what not! Cool! I hope this stays for good…

We had a great time at the NSM—presentations, rain and all… It was one of the most interesting sales meet I have attended in the last six years. It was great to hear from Vivek (before I read his post) about the high energy and passion of the School division! And of course, Goa was fantastic! It was pouring every single day that we were there, but I didn’t mind getting drenched in the rain at all—it’s been ages since I’d done that…

And I also looked up what ‘prestidigitation’ meant… Simplifying texts for school books has put me off l...o…n...g words for good, I think!

Well, this is my first ever blog post; I hope to be a regular soon!

 

Sudipta

(School Ed)

 

 

 

 

 

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No more the "coffee editor"

Friday afternoon, we finish our lunch, and go for our afternoon post-lunch walk. It’s drizzling, and J tells me there were fishes in the puddles. For a moment, I wanted to believe what she said, and I bent down to look for them. Of course, there was none. Somebody said the new coffee machine had been installed in the pantry. I gave myself one more chance to believe. J and I ran upstairs to the pantry, all excited about the new coffee machine. It made me feel nostalgic about my childhood, the way my brothers and I would get all excited and run about the house, every time a new gadget, a toaster, or a washing machine, T.V., or a tape recorder would be bought. Today was such a day. The pantry was bustling with people and activity. Someone said there were five kinds of tea, three kinds of coffee, badam milk, soup and even hot chocolate. Naturally, I did not know which to choose. Then Y suggested, I should start with one, and then try out the rest, as she bantered—“The office is not running away, the pantry is not running away, the machine, once installed, would not run away. The only factor not constant is you, who can be fired, for taking so much time deciding!” I think, I half believed her, and quickly made my choice. I chose cappuccino, and it did taste like real coffee. As I came out of the pantry, I realized that my tenure as the “coffee editor” (as Angshuman had designated me since I would get four cups of coffee for myself and my friends every day after lunch) had finally come to an end!

School NSM

With everything else that's going on, today was the only day that I was able to spend with the school team, at their NSM in Goa.

Goa is beautiful in the rains, lush green and overgrown. But the real joy was seeing the positive energy that exists throughout the school team. There is genuine communication, and a sense of shared mission between Sales and Editorial, and there is no fear of negative feedback, when it is presented constructively.

The quality of presentation from the sales teams, the editorial teams and authors was exceptional. And it seemed like there were prizes being given to people and teams right through the day, which maintained that strong positive energy.

Well done everyone. I know that this team will be successful. If not, it will certainly not be for lack of effort or passion.

Soumitri has promised to share her experiences later in the month, so you will get to see another perspective on the NSM from mine.

I got to dance with Rajni for 30 seconds, so that made my evening!

Oh, and one of the team has a dream of a school book in the form of a graphic novel, which I think could be wonderful. Any of the managing editors ready to give this a chance?
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A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India -Book launch coverage

Dear All,

 

 “A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India”:  From the Stone Age to the 12^th Century by Upinder Singh was successfully launched last night at Diwan –i-am,

Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi. The launch was attended by eminent guest like Montek Singh Aluwalia, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Shiv Shankar Menon and Pakistan High Commissioner.  

 

Dr. Manmohan Singh, his wife Gursharan and family members sat on the front row as Ms. Upinder said it was a “real learning experience” as she developed the book which provides the vast historical expanse from the stone to the 12^th Century”.  A large number of foreign dignitaries, academicians, scholars and media (print & electronic) were also present on the occasion.

 

Attached are the media articles published in Times of India, Hindu and Indian Express. I have pasted links of various articles which appeared on various newspapers and websites. 

 

http://www.mailtoday.in/682008/epaperhome.aspx

 

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20080806/nation.htm

 

http://www.asianage.com/presentation/leftnavigation/news/india.aspx

 

http://www.twocircles.net/2008aug05/pm_finds_time_daughters_trek_ancient_history.html

 

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/PM-the-father-Shes-so-confident/345133/

 

http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14734602

 

http://us.rediff.com/cms/print.jsp?docpath=//news/2008/aug/05ndeal5.htm

 

http://in.news.yahoo.com/48/20080805/804/tnl-lot-of-hurdles-to-cross-for-implemen.html

 

http://www.aol.in/news-story/pm-finds-time-for-daughters-trek-into-ancient-history/2008080521189012000022/index.html

 

 

This would certainly get favorable results in terms of sale.

 

Happy reading and selling!

 

Regards,

 

Babita Chauhan

 

 

Macroeconomics -Book launch

Dear All,

 

It’s a pleasure to inform that Macroeconomics was successfully launched at the India International Centre Annexe, on 2 August’2008.

 

The book was released by the Chief Guest Dr. C. Rangarajan, Chairman Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister and Former Governor, Reserve Bank of India and the other speakers were Dr. Shubhashis Gangopadhyay, Advisory to the Finance Minister and Professor Partha Sen, Delhi School of Economics.  Errol D’Souza Macroeconomics was overall praised by all the guests, professors and especially by C. Rangarajan, and other speakers. The event was covered by DD News and few business dailies.

 

Attached are the photographs of book launch.

 

Regards,

 

 

Babita Chauhan

 

 

 

 

Low Price Editions

Yesterday, during Upinder Singh’s speech, she mentioned how she was scared to deal with Pearson, because she didn’t want to write a book which would say LOW PRICE EDITION on it. I could see from the audience reaction that this rang true with them.  I am so glad that we are getting rid of those words from our covers, they have long outlived their usefulness.

 

We have a responsibility to provide books that are appropriately priced to the market, but we need to stand for quality, not for low price.

Its all of you are leading the change at Pearson, and the sooner we are respected for the quality of our content and our presentation, rather than our price, the better we will all be.

 

Vivek

Another book launch

Two successful events in the space of a few days. The launch of Upinder Singh's book was a standing room only event.
The hall was elegantly set up, with two screens on which images from the book were projected. Posters of photographs from the book were mounted on easels, and were arranged on the periphery of the room.

The author spoke beautifully, and the audience was all praise for the book.
Pearson came in for serious praise.
Well done Debjani, Jai and everyone who worked so hard on the book and the event. It is certainly a proud day for all of us.

I would love to hear from any of you who were in the hall tonight. Remember you just need to send an email to manav.y2j.pearsonindia@blogger.com and your words will be online. Instant publishing. Whatever that means.

The rest of this week is a whirl for me. I am at the airport waiting for a flight to Bombay and an early morning connection to Goa. I spend 24 hours with our school team, and then head to Bhubaneshwar where I have been invited to address a convention of tour operators on customer management. If all goes well, I am home by Friday night.

I normally hate spending time in hotel rooms, even though that is such a large part of my life. This time, I won't have any time to think about it, as practically every night I am on conference calls with the US. There is so much being planned for this country, I wish it would happen so that I could share it all with you.


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