Colombo Calling

The date for the IIFA Awards is coming closer and closer and the working is getting heavier and heavier. Things havent yet gone haywire, but I am afriad pretty soon, things can burst up. Its not as bad as I thought would be. Organizing something on an international is always takes a lot of effort and these guys have been doing it for the last 11 years (all different venues every year), so I guess they are pretty experienced and are calm. I, on the other hand am taking things very seriously. Its a first time experience for me, and I don't want to be responsible for anything going wrong, that makes me want to be extra careful.

Now for some news. For those who don't know, I will be heading to beautiful Colombo tomorrow early morning. I will be handling corporate hospitality, which is a very fancy way of saying, ticketing :P. I dont care that I have been moved from marketing/sales to hospitality. It has its elements of marketing. It involves a lot of PR, which obviously is a part of marketing. There is a lot of face saving one has to do. People say stuff about the company and the services provided, so I have to make sure that I keep the mazimum number of people happy. Ofcourse, lke the rule of marketing says, you cant keep everyone happy, I will try and keep just my target market happy. Its even more difficult to identify a target market in the first place. I know what the requirements are for a target market. But it is difficult to identify them when they come looking for tickets. The only means I have to identify if the person will fit my target market is emailing styles, the way a person speaks on the phone and the last and the most important, how they talk and treat me once I am in Sri Lanka physically selling tickets. Its a very difficult job to not get crushed by all the blackmailing and the bad mouthing because I would have become the face of the company and I will be the guy who would be the meany or the b****** or the b**** who did not give someone some tickets. Its a difficult job to do, but someone has to do it. As they say, its all part of the job, one has to get dirty.



I am really looking forward to this trip, not only because I will be at one of the most prestigious bollywood awards function, but also because I get to visit a beautiful place. I dont know if I will have enough time to go explore the city and take some pictures. From what I know, its a beautiful city and I would love to capture some of it through my eyes, but the best thing I will have is my phone to take pictures with. I am hoping I will have a little free time to capture this beautiful place.

I also hope that I will have enough time to update my blog on what is happening in the awards, maybe get some inside nwes on some stars ;) and then I can blog about that. All in all, I am really looking forward to this trip and I hope it will be an experience of a life time. Colombo.....here I come!