Presenting our Grand Sponsor for Diwali 2015 - BB Travel Experts

It gives me immense pleasure in presenting to you, the Grand Sponsor for the CIC Diwali 2015, BB Travel Experts. We are incredibly thankful for BBTES for being our Grand Sponsor for this year. As the Grand Sponsor, they get the naming rights for the event. So you will henceforth see me addressing the event as "CIC Diwali 2015 presented by BB Travel Experts" Before I talk about BBTES, let me write briefly about how this sponsorship came about.

Earlier this year, on behalf of CIC, I conducted an event, Discover India. This quiz and trivia event on all things India was the first of its kind for the community. I was looking for a partner who aligned closely with the theme of the event, namely, India and exploring the wonderful things about our home. Thanks to Nekzad, I was introduced to the wonderful Bomi Patel of BB Travel Experts. Over the next few days, Bomi and I realized that we have much to offer each other. The Cambrian Indian Community needs a travel partner who understands its needs and Bomi wanted to offer his services to the local community. 

When we decided to open up sponsorships for Diwali 2015,I reached out to some of our past sponsors, BBTES included. I sent an introductory email and about 15 minutes later, Bomi responded saying he wanted to be the Grand Sponsor. This gesture speaks volumes of how much he values our community and our partnership.

Before I tell you all about what BBTES offers, here is my request. Consider them for your next trip to India or anywhere else for that matter or when your family is making a trip here. Bomi and BBTES need  the support of a vibrant community like ours and we need partners like him to invest in our activities and community. A partnership happens when there is mutual benefit. Just as we are thrilled to have BBTES sponsor our event, we sincerely hope he that the community will thrill with our response by allowing them to take care of our travel needs.

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About BB Travel Experts:

BB Travel Experts (BBTES) is full service travel agency with airlines ticketing with live agents, Cruise, Hotels, Car Rental, Tour and Travels.

With over 14 years of total experience in the industry, BBTES is fully accredited travel agency by IATAN and CLIA, Industry regulators of Airlines and Cruise industries respectively. BBTES is also registered as Seller of Travel with California Department of Justice.

BBTES is your Ultimate point of contact for all your travel needs. Including last minute or emergency travel. BBTES also offers ticketing from India to USA and Canada, payable in INR or US$ and also offers Travel Insurance which include Medical and Dental services while in USA and Canada at a low price of travel insurance. ​

This is what I wrote about them 6 months ago. 

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Road to Cambrian Diwali 2015: Call for Participants

We are excited to open up the CIC Diwali 2015 event for participant sign ups. This is an incredibly popular affair and we expect sign ups to get all taken up in a day or two. So please consider signing up asap.

Here is the link to the form for signing up for events:

http://goo.gl/forms/6K3sdbZHNd

Look forward to seeing your entries soon.

Road to Cambrian Diwali 2015: Call for Coordinators and Choreographers

CIC Diwali 2015 needs you. That about sums this post. Here is why.

CIC Diwali 2015 is off the races and we need your help to make it a grand event. If you think you have the chops to help coordinate specific activities during the event- please sign up today.

For those new to CIC Diwali, this is our biggest event of the year. We had close to 400 people last year and the event always sells out well in advance. It is a really big deal.

Who are we looking for now?

1. Coordinators for various activities. Most tasks will have 1-2 coordinators and a team of volunteers that the coordinators will have to assemble. We will help to identify volunteers, of course. ee FAQs below for coordinator roles available.

2. Choreographers for various performances. There are kid and adult performances that will happen for Diwali. We are looking for choreographers (1-2) per performance. At this time, just let us know if you want to choreograph something and the target group- adult or kid. The kids in performances will have a separate sign-up process. So for now, we are just signing up choreographers.

3. Photographers and Videographers to cover the event. Ideally we are looking for 3 photographers and 1 videographer.

FAQs

What does a coordinator role mean?

Coordinators work independently with their teams to run specific activities and components of the event. For the most part, coordinators will have to identify their teams and what needs to be done, well in advance. Here at CIC, we take big pride in planning and our attention to detail. If that is your strength, we would love to have you be a coordinator. A coordinator leads by example. Everyone is a leader and everyone is a worker bee here. 

What are the coordinator roles available?

1. Adult Performances (2)
2. Child Performances (2)
3. Parking (1)
4. Hall Prep and Post Event Cleanup (3)
5. Reception (2)
6. Decoration (1)
7. Food Planning (2)
8. Childcare (2)
9. Program Flow (1)
10. Crowd Management (2)
11. Audio and Video (2)
12. Newsletter (2 - 1 adult/ 1 teen)

Does coordinator role mean I spend a lot of time on the event?

No. We break the tasks down to a fairly granular level. Once you get the details figured out with your team, everything else will really happen in October. This is not a huge time commitment. But it is a commitment to the community to make sure the task at hand is executed well. 

Can I pick a specific coordinator role?

Once we have a list of folks interested in coordinating specific activities, we will work with you in identifying what will work best for you and CIC. For many, this will be their ideal role. For a few, there might not be because some roles are always more desired than others but every job eventually needs to get done. If you have a specific skillset or experience doing one of these roles, please let us know.

I have been a coordinator before. Can I sign up again?

Sure. Why not? You know what it takes and that helps a lot. You might get the same role or a different role which will be decided based on the sign-ups.

I am new to the community. I dont know many people. How can I coordinate?

You are exactly the person we want. Someone new to the community brings a lot of fresh ideas to the mix and that makes a huge difference. No one wants to see the same things year over year. We will help you build your committee and make new friends.

Will we have a lot of meetings?

We will probably meet once every few weeks until the early October after which we will meet once a week- usually no more than 45 min-1 hr. Some committees might meet more often while others might not meet until late October.

What it is in it for me?

Working behind and in front of the scenes for CIC Diwali is the best way to make friends in the community. If you are new to the area, this is a great way to make a ton of friends. Every one of us has fabulous memories of participating, volunteering and coordinating small and large tasks for Diwali. We have made a ton of friends along the way. This is the BEST way to become an integral part of this growing CIC family.

I want to know more before I sign up.

Definitely. Reach out to any of your friends in the community who has participated/volunteered in the past years. The CIC Board has members who have done this for a decade now. Reach out by email or on Facebook. We will be glad to answer your questions.

Where do I sign up?

Email cambrianindiancommunity@gmail.com with the Subject: Coordinator/Choreographer/Photographer for Diwali 2015 and let us know what you can and would like to help out on. If you have experience in that role, that would help a lot.

What are you waiting for?

Road to Cambrian Diwali 2015: Shubharambh

Last Friday, a few of us got together to formally kick off the preparation for CIC Diwali 2015. In the coming months, the activity will pick up pace culminating in the largest event of the year on Nov 7th at the Seven Trees Community Center from 2 pm to 6 pm. This blog and our website launched last Diwali and we have been using it to communicate as often as possible. This year, we will have frequent behind the scenes looks at how such a large event comes together, purely by volunteer efforts. Stay tuned to this blog for frequent updates on the road to Cambrian Diwali 2015.

Cambrian Diwali 2014

2014 was a big year for our community since the number of families exploded and the size of our Diwali event literally doubled. We had to scale rapidly and learned a bunch of things in the process. Participants from last year were also kind enough to share their feedback and we want to make sure we are addressing as many concerns from last year as possible, while retaining the best parts. For those not familiar with how Cambrian Diwali works and to everyone else who is curious, here is a brief timeline of how things will unfold.

Feb-Mar 2015: Visit multiple possible venues and finalize venue. This year, we have been fortunate to book the main hall at the Seven Trees Community Center for our Diwali celebration. This was possible due to the tireless efforts of Latha, Sonal and Krithika. 

May 2015: Planning kicks off. We will look at how we want to do things different from last year. Some broad ideas and themes will emerge in terms of what needs to change. For example, this years event is scheduled in the afternoon. We will not have dinner as part of our event. This will help us address a lot of feedback from last year. We also started looking at other broad issues as total event time, parking, childcare, and more. 

We will identify the core teams needed to drive the various components of the event and then solicit volunteers and coordinators for as many activities as possible. One of the key goals for this year is to have as many new people participate in event organization as possible.

June 2015: Once the coordinators are identified, we will put some structure around the performances and then solicit sign ups for choreographers, volunteers and participants. Parents please note- event participation is very popular in the community and slots will fill up rapidly. We will communicate in advance to get folks prepared.

July/Aug 2015: Summer time. Nothing major will happen unless choreographers can pull their crew together. Sponsorships will have to be locked in.

Sept 2015: We will start planning the flow of the event with slots, timing and such. Event magazine (Cambrian Khabar effort will start) We will have meetings periodically with coordinators. Coordinators will choose the cadence of their meetings with their teams.
We will also open the event ticketing. The CIC Diwali event tends to get sold out within a day or two. We will give ample advance notice before we open up ticketing. But be aware that tickets will sell out fast.

Oct 2015: Rubber meets the road. Everything comes together. Much more on this later.

We will add details as we move along. 

If you are interested in helping out in any way possible - let one of us know. We will formally open things up soon but you can always let us know you are interested.

Exciting times ahead!