Navrang, a pre-navratri event that me and my teammates hosted was an incredible experience. It started simply as an idea which gradually turned into weeks and months of teamwork and planning. My team and I worked very hard on this event for it to be successful which it was, this was our passion project. My team including me, we really enjoy garba and the festival of Navratri, hence, we had this idea of hosting a pre-navratri event for everyone to celebrate garba with their friends before the main festival even starts. We started planning, we started brainstorming everything, we took action, until finally on the 28th of October 2024, our hard work paid off with over 250 people enjoying the festival and the event.

Learning Outcome 1: Identify your own strengths and develop areas for personal growth.
While executing things, I identified my strengths of communication skills. At the beginning, while looking for sponsorships, I was able to convey our idea very well to people, making my realize that communication is a strength for me, which I shall use further in life. Moreover, I was able to connect and communicate with a bouncers group to get 6 bouncers at the event so that we make sure it goes smooth and there are no disturbances. Our team also needed walkie talkie’s to use during the event since the event hall was huge, we knew there is going to be a lot of crowd and noise, hence, for easier communication we chose to get walkie talkie. I personally communicated with the walkie talkie seller and was able to rent 10 of them for us at the cheapest price possible. I didn’t just identify my strengths but also developed areas for personal growth. Managing time was very difficult, I needed to extend my time management skills to be able to give time to both academics work and Navrang event which I was able to successfully do.

Learning Outcome 2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.
While planning the event I had a very hectic schedule. Now along with not sacrificing my academics, I still wanted to be a part of Navrang. This forced me to improve my time-management skills, making me undertake the challenge of managing my time and developing better time-management skills in the process. I used to sleep a little late so that I could finish my academics works while during evenings, I used to have meetings with my team members for the event. Furthermore, for promotion we all decided to create an Instagram page of our event and also post some reels in it. Four members, including me agreed to shoot reels, so we went to our shoot location and started making the short videos. The problem was that I didn’t knew how to act, this was a challenge for me. Even though the reel ideas were not very professional, I still wasn’t able to do what I was supposed to do. This could have been because it was my first time shooting a reel. Every new reel shoot, I always failed once and needed to redo the shoot. Thanks to my teammates, they helped me with it, explained me on how to do what is supposed to be done and I was able to do better than I expected at the end.

Learning Outcome 3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience.
For this CAS project, I initiated and planned a lot. Not only me, but we all initiated and planned a lot. We had to plan what we are going to do, how we are going to do it, how much would be the expected cost, how will we get the money, around which date should we should keep the event and more just before we could start execution. This took a lot of time and after it was finalized we went ahead to create posters which just had information about the event, not the date since it was not finalized yet. We used this to show stores and shops for sponsorship. Deciding on which stores to reach out to was also part of our planning. The idea of Navrang first started on the 1st of July 2024, which is when we had our first meeting. For 3 days we worked hard on planning everything and just on the 4th of July, we were out for sponsorships. Our team went and cold approached shops and stores that we thought would be interested in giving sponsorships for a Navratri event. We went looking for sponsorships for three days straight. 2 months we spent on planning and execution. In these 2 months we decided on everything like the venue, theme of the event, clothes, DJ and more. Next on 8th of September we shooted reels for our instagram page for promotion of the event, we started to take money and give tickets for the event. Our venue was finalized, DJ was finalized, decoration was finalized and most of the important things were done. We then focused on other things like food, bouncers, walkie-talkie, and ID card for hosts. Till the event was over, I was not free. At the day of the event, we all came early for decorations and for setting up everything, making sure that everything is well set. During the event, we had to make sure that the decorum is maintained, we had to make sure that there were enough chairs for people who want to sit, we had to make sure that everyone is enjoying the event. One important thing in initiation and planning of the event was the factor of money, we needed to plan our budget, how much sponsorship money we have and how much should we pay in costs of the event for us to have a good profit

Learning Outcome 4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences.
When we started to ask for sponsorships from shops, all we got was rejections and no money. This was upsetting, it made us realize how hard this event planning and execution is really going to be. We went up to 50 stores walking and were rejected by all of it. However, we didn’t let this make us quit. We all shows commitment and perseverance to continue working harder on our presentation and idea and just as we added more details in our presentation, just as we knew more about what we will do in the event, we got enough sponsorship for the event.

Learning Outcome 5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively.
Such a big event could have only been possible with a team. We all divided our tasks which made things happen faster and made everything be more efficient as everyone did what they were specialized and had strengths in. Moreover, in things in which some people lacked, others would motivate them and help them improve. I rented the walkie talkies, finalized bouncers for the event, rented and brought a banner holder at the event day, one of the team members did the venue booking and DJ confirmation, one of them was focused on making, designing and selling entry tickets, one of them was focused on handling the Instagram page of our event and more. Working with my team helped me realize just how great team work can be and how beneficial working collaboratively can be. This event helped me extend my own and demonstrate my own collaboration skills.

Learning Outcome 6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance.
One global issue is quality education. We engaged to this issue of global significance indirectly by donating our profits to a charity called ‘Enrichment’ which provides quality education to the underprivileged. We generated a total profit of around Rs 80,000. We all together decided to donate this money to Enrichment so that we could contribute for the quality education of underprivileged children.

Learning Outcome 7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions.
While promoting the event, we never limited people based on their religion. Navratri is a festival which originates from Hinduism, however, we didn’t think that it limited to Hinduism. I believe culture is something which can be celebrated by anyone, regardless of their religion. Festivals are something that are for everyone, regardless of anything like origin or religion. Hence, we never mentioned any religion while promotion of the event, we just used the word ‘garba’ and ‘pre-navratri’ for promotion, making sure that we promote inclusivity in society and making sure that we give an opportunity for everyone to enjoy the culture.

Conclusion –
To wrap it up, this event sure for a big of a task, it took a lot of time and effort but it all was totally worth it at the end. With over 250 people and 80000 in profits, I can say that the event was a success. It was truly more than what I expected. The project helped my personal growth, allowing me to extend my time management and collaboration skills while also allowing me to identify my strengths which is communication skills. This journey brought a mixture of excitement, fear and joy out of me and my teammates. It was a great experience from which I learned a lot, helping me able to organize such events in the future.