I grew up in the times when Television was catching on in India. Those were the days of unskippable TV ads. Come evenings and everyone would be glued to their TV sets watching prime-time specials. When an ad break came, we would switch to a new channel, except if the ad was so interesting.

Nobody who has watched TV in those days would ever forget the Vodafone (Hutch during earlier times) campaigns. The first one, where a ‘pug’ followed a child around, symbolizing the network coverage of Hutch. The second, a series of Zoozoo campaigns, where humans in bodysuits were filmed to create a neo-animated look. Those became part of our childhood.

Some 15 years later, I’m waiting at the office of Nirvana Films, to meet Sneha Iype, who was the executive producer for the Vodafone campaigns. The agenda for the meeting is to invite her as a speaker for Mad Over Videos.

In our first meeting, I remember her telling me about creative leadership and the need to do something worthwhile with our time. If you have a limited amount of time, you might as well try impacting the world for good. Everyday you get out of the bed and you have a chance to do something.

Your actions are impacting your family, people at your office, and now that you are organizing Mad Over Videos, this is a chance to make an impact on more people.

We talked about a lot of things that day, except the event. She came on board as an advisor and a speaker at Mad Over Videos.

TV had given way to smartphones and vertical videos. Social media marketing was the new thing. In the last few years, one name resonated with ‘virality’ more than others, Aashish Chopra. When I reached out to him a few months back, he was getting his book ready for print. Even in those busy times, he gave me time for a call. A call that changed everything. I still remember how nervous I was that day.

When Manu Srikumar from guch had given me a chance to organize Mad Over Videos, we started curating a list of names for speakers. Right there on top was Aashish. Him agreeing to be our first speaker meant this was serious business. No turning back now. The amount of joy at office that day, had no bounds.

The week after that, We met with Karthik Srinivasan, who came on-board, not just as a speaker, but also as a mentor and advisor. He literally gave us so much ideas to shape the event.

I learned something from all of these. For a twenty-two something me, organizing an event at this scale was huge, even with tons of previous experience with startups and events.

But when you look up to the right people, and accept them as your mentors, wonders do happen. In your professional life, try to find at least one mentor in each field, and catch up, even if just for coffee

The idea for Mad Over Videos is a community of like minded marketeers, who are passionate about videos. The event is just the beginning. But for us, it was necessary to get the beginning right. Rather than doing just another random event, we decided to put heavy focus on the learning experience. After all, if we are going to curate the attendees also, then we better make it worth their time. A lot of discussions, meetings and brainstorming sessions later, we arrived on the following formula:

• Short 9 minute keynotes to ensure clarity (9 because it was happening on the Nov 9th).
• Practical take always from the event, along with some added fun elements.
• A curated attendees list who will embody the event and take it further.
• Content should cover all aspects of video marketing including creation, distribution, analytics, long form, short form etc.
• Absolutely no sponsors. The event should be a zero pitch event.

Looking back, I can proudly say we were successful in ensuring these. The lovely feedback from all our audience just amplifies this fact.

I wanna thank all my speakers for sharing ideas on such diverse topics. I learnt a lot that day. But even the speakers join me in thanking all our lovely audience. Doston, you were the real stars of the show.

Here’s 3 cheers to the new team taking up Mad Over Videos for 2020. Let’s spread the love for awesome videos.