With the fest just around the corner, the APOGEE English Press interviewed Harnoor Singh, the CoStAAn of the Department of Publications and Correspondence-APOGEE (PCr-A) to get an insight into the department’s work during this period.
PCr-A has three main responsibilities for APOGEE. The first is publications, which involves all the printing work for the fest. Harnoor remarked that this included posters, banners, and standees for publicity, as well as fest passes and printed material required by any club. The department is also responsible for correspondence, which required them to pitch APOGEE to various colleges and invite them to the fest. Harnoor mentioned that they mainly invited colleges from places in northern India which were closer to Pilani. He mentioned that the events conducted by various clubs are publicised through Unstop. Finally, PCr-A would also conduct the APOGEE Snaps, on March 22 and 23 this year.
Harnoor said work for the fest started around November, during which they focused on updating and expanding their database of colleges to contact. Thereafter, they started their Campus Ambassador Program. Elaborating on this, he said that they searched for and appointed Campus Ambassadors (CAs), who served as the point of contact and also represented and promoted APOGEE in their respective colleges. This year, PCr-A has set up a leadership system, wherein the CAs are allotted points for each person that registers using their referral code, and the top 50 CAs would be given internship offers, he explained. He added that the internship offers would be possible due to their collaboration with the Department of Sponsorship and Marketing (Sponz), who have reached out to various companies for the same. He disclosed that they were in contact with around 1000 CAs this year.
Harnoor further explained that they started contacting teams for specific events in January. He added, however, that most of the outstation participants that attended the fest were ones they invited during their work-trips, in which they personally visited colleges to extend invitations.
When asked about the challenges he faced, he talked about how the delay in the budgeting meets had resulted in the late listing of events on Unstop, causing fewer participants to register. Furthermore, it had caused negotiation meets with clubs about printing material and inventory to be postponed. He added that since concerts were not yet decided, participants were hesitant to pay for registration. He mentioned that the fest dates were nearly clashing with those of the fests of colleges like IIT Kanpur, IIT Roorkee, and DU colleges, which had also considerably reduced registrations. He assured, however, that he and his team were working hard and ‘giving their 200 percent’ to bring in participants.
Regarding his tenure as a CoStAAn, Harnoor said that it had been a great experience for him. He remarked that his work was more mentally demanding rather than physically, unlike his first and second year on campus. He had to think about the whole department and make decisions accordingly, but he admitted that he liked the challenge that the role provided.
On a parting note, Harnoor said that the “tech-culture” in BITS was not very high, and he wished for it to improve in the future. He concluded by urging the students to stay on campus during APOGEE and enjoy the fest.