Fest O’Comm is a celebration of all fields that are related to communication—ranging from advertising, journalism, filmmaking and photography, to publishing, public relations and corporate communications. It has something for anyone interested in the media industry and even for those who are looking at completely different professions. From seminars to rock shows, the festival has it all and has never failed to thrill both its audience and speakers, year after year.

Held over four days, Fest O’Comm is a unique opportunity for students to rub shoulders with eminent personalities from the industry and interact with them through various workshops and competitions. Fest O’Comm 2007 is the culmination of Footprints 2006, which was a series of media seminars held in eight cities spread across the country.

This year, Fest O’Comm celebrates Tatva—the elements. And true to its theme, Fest O’Comm will feature the fervor of fire, the subtlety of water, the poise of earth and the omnipresence of air.

Similar to the four elements converging for the genesis of nature, and life thriving as a result of this confluence, the different elements of the communication world are coming together to bring the creative life force into action. Each element has its own significance and role in nature, akin to the four facets of communication, which cater to various needs of the society and business alike.

AGNI – Fire (Journalism): Ignites your mind
The field of journalism is similar to the element of fire as both symbolize passion and courage. It ignites minds and spearheads the voice of the masses.

JAL – Water (Public Relations): Mighty, yet subtle
Like water, the role of PR is to seamlessly blend with other communication processes. The beauty of a PR activity is in its subtlety. Yet, it is one of the most powerful tools and is garnering more strength and significance with every passing day.

BHOOMI – Earth (Advertising): Racing for the mind-field
Earth is the material part of nature, as is advertising wherein lies all the action. It is all about conquering the mind space of the consumers –the bigger, the better (no pun intended!).

VAYU – Air (A/V): Ethereal & omnipresent
As air is all-encompassing and still we can’t hold it in our hands, just feel its presence. audio- visual is all pervasive, still ‘larger than life’. It is an extension of our reality and simultaneously, a manifestation of our fantasies.

Fest O’ Comm 2007 features a large number of workshops conducted by the who’s who of media. Later in the day, the campus will be swinging to pulsating music and vibrant colors as the fashion shows, music & dance performances and the rock concert mark an end to the day.

There are competitions galore, like mad ads, painting and quizzes. The cultural events of Fest O’Comm are better, swankier and more innovative this time. One of the most important events is the fashion show. An event, which showcases the latest trends in fashion with the budding style gurus of the city, it has already generated tremendous enthusiasm in Pune, as well as from colleges from other cities.

A huge attraction at this festival is the Mr. and Ms. Fest O’Comm contest. Three challenging rounds will have participants competing for the coveted title.
Mr. and Miss. Fest O’Comm is an event, which will select the best of the best among the participants, not only on the basis of their looks, but also on their intelligence and overall confidence level.

Another crowd puller is the dance competition. This time, there will be both solo and group events. The former is a freestyle event, where everyone will have the freedom to take up a theme and choreograph a performance of their choice, while the group event has to be based on any one of the five themes of ‘Tatva’.

A media seminar without the real feel of the industry would be unfair to the thousands of media aspirants attending the fest. A mock press called Fourth Estate will be organized which will act as a platform for the participants getting their fifteen-minute of fame!

Fest O’Comm will also play host to many other fun events like Dumb Charades and a photography competition. Another event that promises to be exciting is the Street Play competition called Broadway! The participant teams will be staging a play on a theme that will be given to them a mere half an hour before the play is staged.

The Sundowners, as the evening entertainment programs are called, have previously featured artists like Euphoria, Shivamani and the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy team. This year sufi singer Kailash Kher and his band Kailasa are all set to rock Pune on the January 21,2007.

Every year, as an integral part of Fest O’ Comm, Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication confers Awards of Excellence in Media to distinguished personalities in recognition of their contribution to the industry. Over the years, the Award has been conferred upon Gulzar, Amol Palekar, Piyush Pandey, Kiran Karnik, Mahesh Bhatt, Ameen Sayani and Sai Paranjape.

Experts and media professionals shall conduct workshops and seminars on various topics covering present and future trends in media. One of the highlights of the event is the title of Professor Emeritus being presented to Mr. H. K. Dua, Editor-in-Chief, The Tribune.

On the Journalism Day, January 19, 2007 prominent journalists like H. K. Dua, and Vinod Dua, well-known anchor from NDTV will be among the luminaries addressing the students.
On the Audio-Visual Day, January 20,2007 well-known performers and filmmakers shall grace the festival. Danseuse Mallika Sarabhai; Sony’s creative head, Sandiip Sickand; anchor and chairman of Encompass, Roshan Abbas are some of the eminent personalities who shall talk about the glamorous world of film and television.

On the MarComm Day, January 21, 2007, the audience shall learn the tricks of the trade from industry professionals like Balkrishnan, National Creative Director, Lowe; Deepak Jolly, Corporate Communications Head, Coca Cola; Sanjay Singh, VP, Public Affairs, TATA; Mahesh Chauhan, President, Rediffusion among others.

Come and witness the fusion of intellect with talent and culture with innovation, at Fest O’Comm 2007.

Colleges interested in participating need to register online before January 10, 2007. Every college is allowed a contingent of a maximum of 15 members.
Log on to our website www.foc07.com for more details.