Bharatharatna Puli, the President of the Student’s Union, gave an insight into what to expect this APOGEE, in a conversation with the APOGEE English Press. According to Puli, the President is like the CoStAAn of finance. In an ideal situation, the President plans out finances, makes cuts in the budget and allocates funds. In budget meets, it is the duty of the President to allocate FT 1 budgets (where FT 1 is the budget of all clubs and departments working for a fest, in this case, APOGEE) with the help of the CRC and the General Secretary. In reality, however, the whole CoStAA ends up having a say in these decisions. For instance, if PEP is calling speakers, the CoStAA discusses the feasibility of PEP’s plans and the budget to be allocated to them. Decisions pertaining to media partners for ADP or the APOGEE website for DVM are made in a similar fashion, with the final decision being unanimous, rather than a vote.

‘Often, since it is not possible for CoStAAns to handle everything on their own, we [the President and General Secretary] also take up some jobs of other departments.  For example, I arranged the database for organizing the mini-fest in Tamil Nadu, since I have contacts there’, said Puli. The SU is also organizing a publicity drive, where SU volunteers organize meets in all hostels and spread awareness about APOGEE. Puli emphasized that while his official job is to manage finances, he also picks up jobs where help is required. ‘The President and General Secretary have maximum reach on campus, so they can get things done as well’, he added.

This year, mini-fests have been organized in many colleges across the country to publicise APOGEE. ‘The concept of mini-fests has been introduced for the first time this APOGEE. It is working out well, we are getting good participation’, said Puli. ‘The expenses involved in organizing these fests are also less and it increases participation’. The concept of umbrellas/packages for specific groups has also been introduced. For instance, for Computer Science enthusiasts, there is a package of all CS related speakers and events. There is a similar package for quizzers and has Major Chandrakant hosting APOGEE quizzes as a highlight. Apart from increasing budget on publicity, targeted outreach is being used. The Department of External Affairs has helped the CoStAA in publicity. Puli expects a crowd of around 400 outstation participants this APOGEE. ‘Frankly, the number cannot rise suddenly from 300 to 800 participants, but I am positive that 450 participants will attend’, said Puli.  

Speaking of events and exhibitions, Puli expressed excitement about the IDRL (Indian Drone Racing League). The event is drawing major participation of its own accord – around 50 registrations are people who do not know about APOGEE, but have heard of IDRL. These people are attending the fest just to show their skills in remote-control helicopters. Apart from this, there are several exhibitions to look forward to. There will be a demonstration similar to the one performed by NDRF last APOGEE, which has been organized by the Chief Security Officer, Mr. Kishore Singh. There are also a few robots on exhibition, which include “Mitra”, the most commercially advanced robot, and “Nao”, the most emotionally advanced robot. The CoStAA is also in touch with MIT Impact Labs for an exhibition involving helium balloons acting as a source of energy.

For APOGEE, all chapters (like ACM and IEEE) have formalised their work and helped PCr with calling sister chapters in other colleges. Discipline associations (like the Biology Association, Chemical Association, etc.) are also planning on exhibiting some of the best-known experiments of their fields. For example, the Physics Association plans on demonstrating experiments on vibrations and strings.

APOGEE 2018 also has an excellent line-up of speakers, featuring renowned names like Danielle Feinberg and Vasu Primlani. Puli also elaborated on a new event called BITS Business Conclave, which would be open for all. The speaker line-up for this event is also impressive, with the CEO of Vistara Airlines and Kamath Hotels in the list alongside Mansi Kirloskar.

Workshops are being organized in the fest, with MIT Impact Labs organizing a workshop on making a nano-LED screw driver, a workshop on VFX (Visual Effects) and SDIoT (Smart Devices and Internet of Things), a Hackathon hosted by IBM and a game development competition organized by Intel. Media partners and sponsors include a confirmation from Women’s Era. ‘So we are expanding in terms of all this’, Puli said, adding that there will also be two professional shows, featuring Kunal Kamra for N2O, and The Local Train. ‘The level of workshops, speakers, sponsorships, and exhibitions has gone up’.

The workshops and events will be closely related to the theme, “A Cybernetic Vision”, which means “the interaction between man and machine”. Puli explained how the theme is relevant to the vision humans have about the relation between man and machine. ‘As a community, we require a system which will be working along with man, not a system which will surpass us [as Musk said]. What we want is a machine where man is fully in control, which is how it should be’.

‘This year’s APOGEE is going to be bigger and better’, Puli said adding that while it was a clichéd dialogue, it was true. ‘I just want everyone to participate and have fun in APOGEE. Frankly speaking, people usually plan trips during APOGEE. I would just like to say that if they stay on campus, they will have more fun’.