kinshuk sunilit aint no, dessert if therez no caek

I have been working in that role and function now for almost 18 months, yet it will be a very difficult job for me to define it. Why am I attempting to define it? Well, all my friends (the Non-geeks) keep asking me – what the hell is your job profile. Guys! Read this carefully and read it Very carefully – I am going to sincerely pour out my heart for you all here – yes I am awesome!

When understanding something, I have always found it useful to begin with the language. The Word “Community Manager” literally means someone who manages the community. So, what is a community? A Community is a ‘social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage’

For a company, a community is the pool of its customers, partners, suppliers, users, and can include Similar stakeholders (government, society, really!). What is important is that these entities are brought together to co-habitat a specific region. The members also depend on the strategic objectives and direction the company wants to move.

So a community manager is someone who manages this community for a company. Savvy?

What that means is that a community manager is an interface between the company and the community. It is the community manager that gets all the conversations done. He uses the social media tools and platforms to pitch the company’s perspective to the community and brings back ideas and feedbacks from the community to the company. He represents the company in the community and the community in the company. He is the one who balances the community’s welfare with the strategic objectives of the company.

In the present day world, where technology is being abstracted within daily life at a very fast pace resulting in almost instantaneous conversations; a community manager can make all the difference between a successful company and a not so successful company (lets avoid all negative speak). He would be the one creating opportunities, brands, and customer loyalty.

In my (not the very) next post, I will talk about some specific activities almost every community manager undertakes.

Take that huh!

My existing company business cards suck bigtime (and thankfully I am out of stock). So I need new cards, and I tok the opportunity of getting a new design altogether. So I asked my dearest friend kitty aka yadu to design em some. Unfortunately for me he is out of ideas and time, but is trying his best to help me out. He infact designed quite an unconventional business card but that needed some tweaking. Inspired by it, I picked up GiMP 2.4.5 (these days I am running Fedora 9 Live) and set about the task of designing me a card.

Ideally, a designer should work on what is a very crucial conversation starter – one’s Business Card. But the heck! I have no designer. So i have to trust my logic and my understanding of stuff that is around to do so.Below is the card I finally made. Lets call it Draft 1.

Business Card - Draft 1 (Click for Full View)

Now, I’ll attempt to discuss its features and describe why I think it is good. Feel free to contradict me at any point (don’t forget to log it as a comment).

• For some reason, I have always believed that a business card should always be minimalistic. Carry only what is essential, do away with all the crap.
• It should be different. Business Cards are very strong conversation starters. Something different, something unconventional, something uncommon are great tools to break the ice.
• It should be YOU! Its your card isn’t it? And it talks about you – who are you, how to reach you; right?
• Don’t waste the backspace. A lot of cards don’t use the backspace. True! Most Cardholders don’t show the back space, but when you hand out the card, the person will look at the back too. Dont miss a chance to create an impression.

Go on now! Sort out that itch you have; post a comment…

It feels really strange to realize that in those few minutes when I was at CCD, just after having felt the bombs; I was there, between two bombed sites, joking, trying to preserve my calm, while people were injured, while they were crying, trying to find their loved ones, while they were witnessing violence, gore, and death. It is a tragedy of unknown proportions…
A tragic end to a day full of twists and turns. Sadness and sorrow fills me as I write this. As I began my day, I had never thought how it will end. I had no clue at all.

September 13th, 2008. New Delhi
8.0 AM
It started with me rushing to my Ahok Vihar office for the monthly strategic review meetings. Had to work on the Marketing Divisions strategic intent and planning and put it across the board. Had just updated Open Coffee Club Delhi in the morning that I shall be attending the OCC Delhi Meet at Café Coffee Day, Outer Circle, CP later in the evening.

At around 12:40, between the series of meetings, got a mail at the OSScamp Community mailing list about the offline Drupal Meet up at Srijan Campus, Nehru Place. God! I was going to miss it as my schedule was already overflowing. I didn’t want to miss it anyway. But that’s what short notices do. No offence.

3.20 PM
Started my presentation. Discussed the various aspects of our brand building exercises, problems we are facing and possible solutions and the ones the marketing team would recommend. A fierce discussion on a new brand identity that needs created. A lot of discussion I wouldn’t want to bore you with. Finally, I was free by 4.15PM.

4.20 PM
I left a note for my boss that I am leaving for the OCC Delhi Meet at CP; an unusual first for me. At the time it felt the right thing to do even when I have never really cared about updating my boss with my every movement. It’s like we have an understanding at OSSCube that if we are doing quality work in stipulated time, it proves that I am a good judge of how to utilize my time and we don’t question each other. My boss doesn’t question me and I don’t question my team. That’s the way it goes. So it puzzled me: why I wanted to leave that note. Obviously, now I can speak a lot about my intuitions and premonitions and other such myths. But that wasn’t it, exactly. Not very easy to understand what it was.

4.35 PM
Trying to get an auto for CP has always been a tough job for me at Ashok Vihar. Finally I got one and I called Satpal to update him about my being late. The problem with unconferences is that people generally don’t take the deadlines very seriously. Or let’s put it correctly, diplomatically: we all are busy people with overflowing schedules; unconferences are just flexible enough to accept such situations. Needless to say, moron me was not the only late guy. But that’s what the game is all about – people coming.

5.11 PM
Some problem at Ramakrishna Ashram. The road was closed. Had to take a detour through Gole Market for CP. A thick jam there due to all the vehicles detouring.

5.20 PM
Finally reached CP. Café Coffee Day, Outer Circle. A few hundred meters from Central Park and Gopal Das Building.

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0626 Hrs. Get a call from home. Rise and shine sleepyhead. Thomas is coming over too. He is a fellow camper from chennai; he needs a place to keep his luggage and to take a bath. I need some company; I invite him over.

He is there by 8AM, by the time I was fresh and ready. We start at 8:20 for the venue. I am the organizer for chrissake! I have to be there early, get things arranged and organized. But first – Breakfast!

Me and Thomas head over to the Kabini Canteen for a quick breakfast while discussing FOSS. It feels so great to be talking like you really know what you are talking about, even if you don’t. Post breakfast, Thomas and I start on our mission to find and reach the venue. I was to experience the vastness of the IISc campus, now. 40 minutes and 15 guides later, we reach the CEDT Building. Welcome to OSScamp Bengaluru!

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The first thing to do is to call back home and tell them I am hale and hearty in Bangalore. I do so. Next, I walk out of the airport. There is a line of EasyCabs and I take one. I need to go to the Indian Institute of Science. Which Indian Institute of Science? There are many in Bangalore! Thankfully, I had read the ICCBN guidelines for reaching the venue. See, I don’t know much about Bangalore. The place is called Indian Institute of Science and is also known as Tata Institute. Its near Yeshwanthpur. Oh That One! The taxi speeds away.

The journey was kinda comfortable. The driver is Prasanna, who is a friendly guy. He is a local, lives with his family, earns a salary of 8K as an EasyCabs driver, has no girlfriend and loves to hang out with friends.

By the way, Hills are called Betta in Kannada compared to Malaya in Tamil. You say Solpe Solpe Kannada Paratha for ‘I understand a little Kannada’ as opposed to Kunjum Kunjum Tamil Terio for the same about Tamil. The scripts are very different and yet the languages are claimed to be very similar having originated from the Dravidian family. For one: the word to show respect or to refer to as an elder brother in both languages is Anna.

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