The logistics of organising a BANCON: BL

The logistics of organising a BANCON: BL
BANCON (earlier BECON for Bank Economists' Conference) is a mega event on the calendar for top
bankers. The conclave invariably sees heavyweight presence of the top officials from the Ministry of
Finance, the Reserve Bank of India and banks, both domestic and foreign.What's special about this annual
conference of bankers, you may wonder? The conference is usually hosted by a bank with organisational
support from the Indian Banks Association. For each host bank, it is a matter of prestige and pride to better
the record set by every previous host ? much in the manner of countries competing to outdo each other at
the Olympics. And each host bank tries to make the event ?unique and special' in its own way.
In recent memory, BANCON 2006 held at the International Convention Centre, Hyderabad and hosted by
Andhra Bank, was considered a magnificent show. The next conference was hosted by Bank of Baroda with
the objective of making it a ?value-added event for bankers'.BANCON 2008, scheduled to be held in Srinagar
in the last week of August 2008, never saw the light of day. And now, BANCON 2009-10 is being hosted by
State Bank of India with organisational support from IBA at Hotel Trident, Mumbai, on January 11and 12.
Special significance
The last conference held on November 26 and 27, 2007 was particularly special for Bank of Baroda as it
coincided with the bank's centenary year. It faced a tall order in trying to best the record set by Andhra
Bank.Newspersons covering the eventwondered how BoB would manage to conduct the event of that
magnitude at Hotel Taj Lands End, Mumbai, as the area appeared small compared with the the venue in
Hyderabad. But as a senior BoB official who was involved with the organisation of the event, explained, ?We
designed it differently. Instead of making it a conference filled with presentation and lectures, we chose to
have panel discussions on various issues. And for the first time, we also charged a participation fee.?
Justifying the participation fee, the official said, ?the venue was not as huge as the International Convention
Centre in Hyderabad. We were therefore constrained to limit the participation to senior bankers and top
executives of banks.??Serious discussions about the conduct of the event commenced in August, though the
hotel and venue booking were firmed up in May,? he said.
While admitting that there were some last minute hiccups, the official said, ?We got them resolved without
much fuss. On the whole, it was a satisfying experience.?Preparatory work commenced at least four months
ahead of the scheduled date of the event. Papers were invited; that kept the community moving.Closer to
the event date, Bank of Baroda roped in some of its officials for coordinating the entire programme. More
than a dozen committees were formed headed by an officer not less than the rank of a General Manager,
and comprising not more than four for a team to manage the assigned task.
The jobs which these committees had to oversee and manage included taking care of the participants'
conveyance, receiving and dropping guests from the airport to the venue and back (airport committee);
ensuring comfortable accommodation (reception committee); food committee (to ensure no guest went
without food and everyone got what they liked); stage committee (to take care of stage-seating
arrangement); hall arrangement; media management committee and so on.
Bank of Baroda pulled it off and could justifiably claim that the event was a grand success. Now it is for State
Bank of India to carry the baton forward.