The 2nd Annual Indian Comics Convention – ComicCon   held at Dilli Haat in New Delhi from 17th -19th February 2012 proved to be a big visual delight apart from an exhibition of literary knowledge in the world of Comics  ( See Pictures )

Inaugurated by Robert Crumb – the Father of Underground Comics & the GrandFather of Alternative Comics; the 3 day event saw stalls of our favorite as well as to-be launched comics ranging from Amar Chitra Katha, Diamond Comics, Marvel Comics, Mario de Miranda, Avenger, Rovolt, Tiggou, CampFire, Captain Kyso, Sufi Comics, Comics to improve memory, Comics to improve vocabulary, Comics to teach magic tricks, Comics to coach for GMAT….and what-not …with over 80 participants & 22 exclusive launches !!

An interesting launch was that of Aakash Anand’s abstract comic titled ‘Untitled’ – a very 1st of its kind in India 

The convention also saw the launch of  Delhi’s own special mascot – the SuperKudi – a superwoman with a punjabi touch

Proving to be quite an interactive event ‘Inkfruit’ allowed comic enthusiasts to paint on tee-shirts and take them home; the ‘John Carter’ stall organized a competition wherein people had to lift the ‘Avenger’ sword & the person who lifted it for the longest time won a special prize; CampFire Comics organized a Lucky Draw while participants dressed in the most funky outfit of their favourite character would win a trip for 2 from HongKong Disneyland

While the Mario de Miranda stall brought back a lot of fond memories of Mrs Briganza, there were newbies waiting to be launched and step into this fantasy world -showcasing their exclusive collection for the 1st time at the ComicCon

Also a place to explore talent and generate employment, ‘Tinkle’ is looking out for artists, editors, illustrators, designers,writers; Sufi Comics is looking out for comic artists to work with them & also publishing houses for expansion. Specifics about these positions are available on my twitter handle

Chhota Bheem proved to be quite a hit with young ones as the stall was the most crowded and its merchandise especially Mugs sold out fast.

Present all 3 days at this bright & colorful event as a media partner I had been tweeting LIVE about it and LOTS of pix are available here

The 2nd annual Women Entrepreneurship Conference held at the Lok Kala Manch in New Delhi was a big time learning event.

Attended by students, early stage entrepreneurs and experienced professionals; it was a full day event organized by the Delhi Management Association & Indus Business Academy

Kicking off with the top brass, the event saw pearls of wisdom being given by Dr. Rajnee Aggawal – President, Women’s Entrepreneurship Network; Neena Malhotra- President FICCI Ladies Organization, KG Alai- Chief General Manager SIDBI, Arvind Chandran- DSIDC & Manas Garai- Faculty IBA

The discussion ranged from why it was important to be part of bodies like the WEN, FLO to easy collateral free loans for women entrepreneurs from the Govt & other schemes by SIDBI with details

After a short tea break allowing 1-to-1 interaction between the panel and audience, the next phase was a more personal & feminine one as 4 young women gave an account of the passion for their respective ventures, the roadblocks, the never-say-die attitude and the journey henceforth as they focussed around the topic of ‘Emerging Business opportunities for Women’.

These young ladies were Meenu Vadehra ( Founder- Sakha Cabs ), Shailja Dutt (Founder-Stellar Search & Selection ), Dr. Shikha Sharma ( Founder- NutriHealth Systems ) Bertha Rousseau ( Managing Partner- R&C Law, Bahamas ) Sairee Chahal ( Co-Founder Fleximoms ). Moderating this event was Estee Martinez- CEO People Matters  A fun session !

Post lunch break the session was entirely Finance based and called ‘Funding Mantras’

Presided by R K Das-General Manager SIDBI, D S Tripathi-General Manager Union Bank of India, Sandeep Sinha-Managing Partner Lumis Partner & Alaknanda Kumar-Managing Director Kumar Agro Foods; it was moderated by Raj K Pathak- Founder Paisa4Business.com

This session gave an insight into the other side of the table when entrepreneurs approach banks & VCs for investment – what they look for from the entrepreneur.

More information can be attained from the websites- www.msmestartupkit.com & www.msmementor.in

The final phase focussed on ‘How to create a cost effective brand’ with speakers Seema Giri ( COO, Astrowix.com ), Sanjukta Basu ( Founder Samyukta media ), Pooja Kumar ( CEO SMENetworks ) with moderator Dr. Neema Sinha

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Email Marketing, Blogs and just about everything elated to social media was discussed w.r.t Branding

The 54 hours at the Delhi StartUp Weekend yielded results and how !

A speech by Dave McClure on how to pitch to an investor lent learning support to the teams who had just 5 minutes each to compress the hard work of the past 54 hours into a presentation for the panel of judges

The ideas presented by the young entrepreneurs were amazing – ranging from how one could earn money while waiting for a metro, getting your voice to emote on social media, choosing spectacles that make you look sexy online itself  to getting rewarded for your poop !!  I kid you not !

While the age limit knew no bar..neither did nationality as Croatians & Americans seemed as much part of the crowd as Delhiites & Indians from various parts of the country.

An honorable mention was given to QRIOS.in – a replacement to business cards by Quick Response codes

while BUYERFRONT , BRING – a technology that brings new apps to the Iphone in 1 touch & YELLBIRDS – a vocal means of communication using social media were given 2 more weeks to getting mentored & trying their luck!

The 3rd place at the Delhi StartUp weekend went to SPEXY – a mobile app to superimpose frames on the face, get facebook feedback and buy it online

2nd place was taken by KINESIS.io – A futuristic kiosk with immersive gestures and speech recognition, making shopping more personal.

1st place went to POOP REWARDS – an initiative to promote sanitation projects through the mobile based on loyalty & rewards.

All winners received goodie bags from BigRock, Gadgets.in, Impel crm while POOP REWARDS also received a 200$ gift card from Amazon & of course Funding

A very learning event to attend, the Delhi StartUp Weekend surely proved that any idea backed with confidence and customer validation can be made into a feasible product. After all now – Brown is the new Green !!  

Photos :  Dec 9th            Dec 11th

A wonderful opportunity to network and get mentored here are the people who have and still are imparting their knowledge to aspiring entrepreneurs in various ways.
The Organizers
Pankaj Jain ( mojowiz )
Yasha Tarani ( resmio )
Annkur Agarwal (annkur.com )
Manish Malik ( hazel media )
Nikhil Wason ( adobe )
Shabnam Aggarwal ( hungry n foolish )
Sarvjeet Ahuja ( Wanelo )

The Mentors
Dave McClure ( 500 startups )
Sameer Guglani ( Morpheus )
Paul Singh ( 500 Startups )
Anurag Nigam ( Angel Investor )
Sanjay Gupta ( Mobisolv )
Nicolai Bezsonof ( .CO )
Abhishek Gupta ( TLabs )
Jaime Ignacio Rovirosa ( Ovia )
Avinash Raghava ( Nasscom )
George Kellerman ( Dell )

Here are some photos from Day 1 ( 9th decemeber 2011 ) of the Delhi StartUp Weekend. Check them out !

StartUp Weekend is an intense 54 hour event which focuses on building an application which could form the basis of a credible business over a weekend !
All attendees are allowed 60 seconds to pitch an idea. Pitched ideas are then voted upon on by the attendees themselves and teams are formed by the top voted ideas.
Teams are allowed time to discuss strategizing their startup and after being assigned mentor(s) concentrate on coding, developing a business plan and customer validation so as to have a demo for their startup.
The demo needs a mandatory live splash page up with an email capture and a simple blog wherein a 1 paragraph writeup, logo, twitter id, Facebook URL and website address to facilitator should be provided
The judging panel will then vote on the basis of the best business model, customer validation and execution
All the Best !!

Follow Karishma Daswani on Twitter and get 15% off on the registration fee

Being part of a Start-up isn’t easy especially in the nascent stage – when one is surrounded by a lot of Ifs, Buts, What ifs… when any form of feedback seems something to ponder upon….when the smallest chance to network is jumped upon with anticipation of a clearer path ….. when the thought haunts one day & night whether all that has been put to chance will lead to success & satisfaction- both professionally & monetarily

Which is why I’m a very big supporter of forums like the ‘Startup Weekend’

The StartUp weekend started in 2007 has been an active help in bringing together marketing gurus, business managers, start-up enthusiasts and angel investors. Been successful in over 7 cities around the world- it now hits New Delhi, India from 9th to 11th December at the American Centre at 24, Kasturba Gandhi Marg.

Whether one is looking at an idea which could be explored further, a simple chance to connect with the right crowd that’s been there & done that or are on the same boat ! – this will be an actual action learning process which will get you down to the nitty gritties of your project within a team – these 3 days are crucial and a must attend.

I look forward to featuring this amazing learning & development opportunity with the details on this blog and also providing 15% discount to readers of karishmadaswani.com who wish to register and attend the event

Gearing up on Starting Up this weekend …are you?

Clinique – a high end brand for skincare highly recommended by 2 of my good friends made me check it out at Boots, Central London

My 1st ever visit specifically to buy a skin product saw me pretty impressed with the sales girls knowledge & queries & a simple questionnaire which took 2 minutes to fill to determine the right type of Clinique for my skin ( theres type 1, 2, 3 & 4 )

Also any questions I asked were patiently answered and I eventually bought the small 3-step set as a first trial.

Having passed my compliments I asked for a feedback form so that a good word could be put in for the employee but none seemed available ..well I carried on…and with more than satisfaction on my 1st experience & use of Clinique

Five years later a big Clinique store at Select City Walk, New Delhi reminded me of the good experience and I decided it was once again time to buy the product..more so with a curiousity to know if & how skin types change and what causes the change ( in mine!)

I was greeted by a girl in a white lab coat with atleast half an inch of makeup on her face.

It seemed to me a guinea pig had walked into a fake doctors laboratory and would now be skinned ( for money ) hey its an expensive brand !

Sophiya -as her name was on the badge- I wanted to ask her why she was hiding her real skin- didnt Clinique work for her ??

Using a hand sanitizer before touching my skin Sophiya asked if it was oily or dry ?

You’re touching it why you still asking me ?

She then asked what type of Clinique type I had used before and would give me a higher number which could result in pimples coming out…Im confused why did I come here in the 1st place?

Asking me to touch gel & creme based lotion Sophiya asked if I think the latter would be better.

My expert advice – I dont know but I’m shaking my head because I dont think you know either !

Anyways time to pay and having had Shoppers Stop vouchers from vouchersmate.com were refused due to a confusion over a high-end brand being exclusive – Well I called & checked with the concerned authorities and apparently I’m not the one whos confused !

Well I didnt end up buying anything this time and after getting glances of disapproval walked out of the store

There you go my Clinique Sojourn limited to London !

My love for Diwali is majorly centered around the concept of  ” ‘Tis the season to be jolly”

Lights in the form of diyas & candles as well as Diwali Melas are the best part

I visited the Blind School Diwali Mela 2011  at Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg and was surprised to see how well managed it was this time in terms of security, traffic control and cleanliness.

No cars were allowed to be parked infront of the venue which usually causes massive jams due to the crowds  and there was a separate parking space made available at ‘Sunehri Parking’ in Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium with a shuttle service to allow visitors to & fro !

At the time of my going there were 2 shuttles (vans) available and within a few minutes the mela was promptly reached.

A huge line for security check for ladies & a tiny one for men ( because they dont carry purses ) ensured a sense of relief that untoward incidents would be minimized.

Starting from the 1st stall onwards there were a variety of products which not only were part of the festivities but also enhanced Indian crafts in their own traditional manner.

Though the actual products by blind students were limited due to their crude nature and obvious backseat in the ‘competition’ it was encouraging to see people buy them for the sake of charity

A good 2 hours spent there ensured that I make a buy and bought a lovely Thali made of ‘mitti’ with Lakshmi-Ganesh carved out in colored stone & space to light 7 diyas

Ending the tour involved waiting for the shuttle for quite some time & enquiring from the guards always yielded the same reply – that it must be on its way.

Well then…took an overpriced rickshaw back to the parking and ended one of the most looked forward places to visit this Diwali 2011 

Shubh Deepawali

Continuing with the saga of change in KarishmaDaswani.com  and with the onset of Diwali, one of the things that instantly comes to mind is Diwali gifts 

Indians occupying the 2nd position in global population, it is but an obvious fact that the hunt on google for online gifting portals goes on a rise.

I myself put in a variety of  keywords to access a good site from where Diwali gifts could be sent to India.

By ‘good site’ I mean cost effective, having a range of products, does not charge too much for shipping or rather has free shipping and most of all is easy to use!

Yes i’m very much a part of the virtual world day in & day out but when it comes to online payments & safety even the most famous of portals give a run for money!  pun intended

Mithai ,  Dry fruits,  Gift Hampers,  Diyas,  Idols,  Puja Thalis ……….this pretty much summed up what most of the gift portals were offering

Now which Indian would already not have these things in their house during or before Diwali that it should be sent online.

The search went on for something to gift which feels right & is unique in its own way..something that can become an experience ( and I dont mean a holiday ) 

I happened to then come across VoucherMate.com

  An answer to my prayers – VouchersMate had the most amazing variety of brands right from shoes, dinner for 2, books, healthclub vouchers, movie coupons, haircuts, spas, cosmetics, clothes, home furnishings, greeting cards, personalized gifts, hotel stays and what not

Whats more its tagline was ‘Gift an Experience’ !

All gifts available as vouchers it WOULD be an experience if my cousin got a new haircut just before Diwali, if my parents stayed at a resort Diwali weekend because it was all ( or half ) paid for with their gift vouchers, if my best friend bought new home  decor because she had a handy coupon, if my pregnant friend was gifted new baby clothes already because I mailed vouchers to her husband as a surprise !

Ooooo Boy ! I was full of ideas and seeing the price range VouchersMate offered I could send gifts to numerous people as the prices ranged from less than INR 100  to any large amount in USD, GBP, Euro & Australian Dollar

Now was the actual task…checking the payment system & it was a breeze ….that blew out quite a few greens from my wallet

Quickly joining the VouchersMate Facebook page for contests & discounts; I highly recommend checking out this unique gifting portal by which one can actually gift an experience

I did so !

Hi there !

This blog started out as a complete Human Resource blog.

Your feedback, comments and questions did a lot to shape it and help spread the knowledge.

Over a period I realized that though HR forms the major & favourite part of my education & experience….and the following of people on the blog is HR centric why not revel in change because I have so much to share

Daily happenings, events visited, products bought/seen, people met, places visited and just about everything & anything about everybody & anybody & everything & anything

Change is inevitable and the only constant of life…so why not adhere to this life concept even in the virtual world

Wish me luck because YOU make the change successful…… actually…… though your appreciation means the world – there’s also a change of thinking here ……… that I make myself, I make my work, I make my relationships, I make my life, I make my destiny.

See you fresh and anew !