This is a business project. We have found the not for profit model in practice among the Nepalis in America has some serious drawbacks. I have been very impressed with Chandra Prakashji's business background. He is a doer, a go-getter, a people person, an entrepreneur by nature. So it is a core team of two.
Nepali Aawaz is his thing. I am not part of it. He has been a pioneer both in terms of the newspaper and the Nepali Mandir idea.
The first thing we do is bring the costs drastically down. The second thing is we think in terms of customer service. Like I say, dane dane pe likha hai khane bale ka naam, pratyek Nepali ke nidhar pe likha hai paintees dollar.
There is to be a management team. And there are to be the VIP guests, and the convention participants.
On the management team will be team leaders and team members. I am Chairperson, Chandra Prakash Sharma is President. All members of the team will get paid. I think the biggest chunk of the profit will go towards the convention to be held in 2008 as seed money. Payments will be handed out to the management team after the convention. You get paid in dollars, but you also get this huge social reward of having been at the core of the largest Nepali event outside of Nepal. Team leaders and team members should think of it as a job and exhibit professionalism.
I have felt the ethnic prejudice owing to my Madhesi background ever since I moved into the city last June. I am going to play hardball in that department as far as this convention is concerned. Be forewarned.
Gradually we are assembling the team. Efficiency is a top goal. We want team members to have to put in as few hours as possible. There is going to be a major emphasis on online communication to save time. Face time meetings can not be avoided altogether, true, but not all meetings have to happen in person.
Writely
Skype
Google Talk
And there will be some students who will be on $10 per hour during the convention.
One model is where you have about six or 10 team leaders and hope to pay each equally. I don't like that model. It is not fluid enough. More likely each team leader will be assessed separately. So we will have task descriptions. If the early members of the team want to take on more of the tasks, fine. The pay goes up. Or we can have the tasks more distributed whereby no one person is having to do too much.
Some team leaders will get maximum leeway. Some team leaders might get micro managed. It really is a case by case basis thing. Good ideas can come from anywhere. And we expect the various team leaders to perhaps know more in their individual departments than the two senior management individuals. So there will be plenty of listening on our part. There will be much delegation as necessary. But in each case there will be budgetary parameters and perhaps a few other parameters. And when needed, the two senior management will have final say. The veto rests with us, although we hope to use it only sparingly.
We have other business ideas we hope to work on after the convention. Some members of the management team might want to get involved also with those. So perform, deliver, act professional, enjoy. This convention is supposed to be a festival. If you are not having fun being part of the management team, you are hurting the very spirit of the convention. Having fun is the number one qualification.
I am personally skeptical of the family metaphor. If we are not family, we are not family. End of story. We can be colleagues, and friends. We can be business partners. We can be comrades. And all those can be wonderful feelings.
People are encouraged to start applying for positions on the management team. Being in the city helps, but you don't have to be here. You could hope to telecommute.
Communication is key. Talk openly. Respect the team. Respect the goal of the idea.
We are going to start selling tickets right away as soon as the website gets launched.
Every Nepali in New York City who has a green card should be able to vote in the city elections. That is the goal. And that is separate from the convention. I would have worked on it with or without the convention. But the two are related. (Voting Rights For Immigrants In New York City)
I have also launched a project called Nepali Faces. The idea is to take snap shots of thousands of
Nepalis in the city and present them online at this blog. (Nepali Faces 1) When you go to the Nepali events in the city, you end up seeing the same few hundred faces. That bothers me. Where are the other thousands? We need to dig them out. The idea is to dig for oil.
We are going to sell tickets online. And we are going to sell tickets offline. I expect to see somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 people at the convention.
The three evening events, and the forums during the day are key. There is work to be done in terms of media relations. There is much work to be done in the convention's relationship with the organizations across the country.
Both Chandra Prakashji and I have several other things we do besides this convention. So don't get confused.
He will be in charge of the Cultural Program and the Concert. I will be in charge of the Inauguration Ceremony and the Forums.
We hope to creat the buzz as we go along. That is good marketing. That also invites broad participation in the decision making process.
The website will be more than a place for information. It will have a sense of community. We will people the site. The entire event is to be video blogged. All participating organizations will have voting powers for some major decisions that are to be made. There will be some real fancy guests at the convention.
Stop being the sorry immigrant. Start seeing the possibilities. Take pride. Push the envelope. Think outside the box. Work hard. Play hard.
Cloud, Pyramid, Glass
The Cloud Model, Not The Pyramid Model
Nepali Faces 1
Nepali Convention 2007: Venue Options: Flushing
Nepali Convention 2007 Shifted To Last Weekend In May
April Convention Venue Options 1
April Convention Market Research 1
Nepali Convention: Venue Options, Website, Core 200
April Convention: Creating A Glowing Core
April Convention: Emerging Picture
Chicago Convention September 2-4
April Revolution, April Convention