The story of leadership and resilience : DEVFEST VIZAG 2022

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has. — Margaret Mead

Alongside being an entrepreneur, I also run GDG/WTM chapters from Vizag.

Google Developer Groups and Women TechMakers are developer communities that bring together like minded individuals to learn, connect, collaborate and share about developer centric technologies and related content.

Allow me to share two insider stories of the community - of how the resilience depicted by the community during the pandemic enabled it to come out stronger and how a new team of volunteers pulled off a rockstar DEVFEST 2022 Vizag for 500+ members.

THE PREMISE

GDG/WTM Vizag was born in 2017. Ever since we have been instrumental in facilitating many developer centric events across city. Events included tech talks on latest topics, hands on workshops, inspirational talks, networking sessions and many more. The team comprises of Madhav Reddy , Sudhakar Pantula [LION] and me. Bala Tripura Sundari and Manas Malla joined us in mid 2022.

Being a tier 3 city, our community comprised mostly of students from different technology colleges from across the city. Eventually these students metamorphed as Professionals and they too started joining us in huge numbers.

By mid 2020, though our group had 800 members, the number of attendees started receeding for online sessions. Be it the influence of pandemic or webinar fatigue, we observed that despite serving the best of content, from the best speakers in the best possible format, giving the attendees the best possible experience and conducting pan India events, there was abysmal participation from our community.

It is during this time of the pandemic, that we saw a dire need to support the community emotionally. We found that many of them were going through personal and professional crisis, that they were battling with uncertainty, anxiety, depression and staying/working/studying in silos was only adding to their negative thoughts.

Having recently lost my mom and having received such love and support from a few friends, I wanted to be that go-to mentor for my community.

Problem statements came in a variety of forms......

From not knowing how to console a newly wed friend on losing her husband .....to coping with the loss of one's mother....... to dealing with sickness ................to getting bored with online classes .................to staying on the bench for more than an year ..............to losing the job.................. to being clueless on the next steps in career........... I've heard them all.

I should admit, I didn't have all the answers, but I listened, empathised and spoke words of hope and positivity. And somehow, my listening, my small suggestions and assurance that 'this too shall pass, just hang on' made all the difference. Time is a good healer.

Slowly my attempts to channelise their thoughts from negativity towards positivity bore fruit. By the end of 2021, the community started to come together, not just for tech talks, but with a stronger resolve and commitment to learn, share and grow together. We were joined by a new set of volunteers who wanted to help in every possible way and who were willing to go the extra mile to make an impact.?So much so, that when we conducted our first in-person post-pandemic event, in April 2022, for International Women's Day, we got overwhelming registrations - more than 400 people were eager to attend a 50 member event. Our community was finally coming together and delivering good value to its members.?

So when the season for DEVFEST 2022 started, post August 2022, and when GITAM university came together as our venue partner, our joy knew no bounds. The sprawling campus, the state of art conference hall and the fully equipped lecture halls motivated us to go all out and organise a bigger and more structured event. We even increased the audience size from 300 to 500, to allow more attendees to experience the conference.

Content wise, we decided to move on from beginner level topics towards intermediate level sessions in specific domains. We planned to conduct hands-on sessions on each of the domains - WEB, ANDROID, FLUTTER, ML and CLOUD tracks. The bigger plan was to start and nurture each of these domains independently so that more meaningful sessions and content gets delivered. Our team was motivated. Despite the fact that our two core organisers would be out of town for the event, we still planned to make a BIG impact. Within a week of announcing our proposed event, the seats started filling fast. We were all excited beyond words and started our plannings.

DHADAAM..........

All of a sudden, my personal life sprang up with a big ask - my full time. On 18th September, my dad had a fatal fall and broke his skull. A brain surgery and a month of staying in hospitals later, I realised that no two days have been the same - if on one day he developed very high fever, on the other, he had to be rushed to the diagnostic centre or to another hospital or to physiotherapy clinic - I constantly had to be on my toes.

"You can't have it all", that voice inside my head was pounding. "Priortize dad and leave the event to the team", screamed the situations around me.

I admit, Google encourages prioritising self and family above all else. I had no one to answer.....but myself.

While being an entrepreneur enabled me to take time out from my office work, the event was something that I had already announced, motivated a lot of students and professionals for, finalised the venue, signed up for food and partnerships and raised hopes for. It was something that all of us have been waiting for since the last two years. My newly formed small core team were still in their initial years(months??), as a leader I couldn't leave it all onto them, especially when the scale and expectations were so huge. I was concerned with the backlash they would have to endure if something didn't go well.

It is then that it occurred to me - that I can ask for help, delegate, leverage the power of community that we carefully built over the time.

If you want to do a few small things right, do them yourself. If you want to do great things and make a big impact, learn to delegate. - John C. Maxwell

We reached out to the community for volunteers and got many applications for the same. We shortlisted the tasks and on-boarded about 55 volunteers, created smaller teams, designated leaders from amongst them and delegated authority.

When you delegate tasks you create followers, when you delegate authority, you create leaders - Craig Groeschel

My intent was to create leaders, who can take decisions and ownership of tasks. While most of the volunteers were first timers, their passion to learn, work in teams and step up when needed enabled a few to be a part of the core team.

There was a ton that I didn't know, so I reached out to fellow organisers from other communities. They eagerly stepped up and promptly filled me up with their insights and experiences. This enabled me to take decisions and make informed choices. Giving my personal presence to my dad, I virtually managed most of my community tasks.

As the last weeks of October approached, my dads condition improved. Slowly, he was out of life threat, yet completely bedridden and I was still on the road and hospital benches 90% of my time. Despite all this, I with the help of my able team kept at the preparations. When I brought dad home on October 28th, I found renewed hope. "I'll have it all", I vowed to myself.

After a tiring day, catching up with my volunteering team and helping them with advice, direction and suggestions on the right way forward motivated me to keep going, it gave me a sense of purpose in those dark times. I found strength and recluse in balancing out both dad and community. Thus, the D day finally arrived!

THE EVENT : VIZAG DEVFEST 2022

The registrations started very early, we had attendees waiting to get started since 6.00 am in the morning. The registration team ensured that the process was seamless and smooth. No big lines, no pending permissions and no confusions. Yet the day got unpredictable with the state CM and the country's PM staying in town on the same day. We had to start an hour later than planned.

After receiving a warm welcome by Gurumoorthy Gangadharan, I shared my story and my learnings that I swear by. I knew I was exposing my vulnerability, but I wanted to be honest and be seen as one from amongst them whom they could relate to.?

The sessions then followed with Chivukula Krishnamohan, Pooja Bhaumik giving their talks on ML and Flutter respectively. We opted for an early lunch, as the audience was really hungry. During the lunch and networking session, we had a student band "Indirocks" perform for the audience. Authentic hot north indian thali paired with foot tapping music was a deadly combo that our audience lapped up in no time.?

After the lunch break fully refreshed and energised the audience, we started the parallel workshop tracks. With Chivukula Krishnamohan conducting the the Web workshop, Ranga Karanam conducting the Cloud workshop, Vasanth Korada conducting sessions on Flutter and Sai Sampath Kumar Balivada and Sasi Teja K ? conducting sessions on AI and Manas Malla conducting the Android track along with Sai Kiran Kopparthi and @Sarthak, the entire conference halls reverberated with deep tech talks and discussions.

The panel discussion was moderated by Ravi Eswarapu? where Sreedhar Kosaraju, Suresh Batha, Gurumoorthy Gangadharan, Dr.Ravi Shankar Saripalle shined spotlight on the opportunities, amenities and facilities available for tech students, professionals and start-ups in the ecosystem.

Then came the back to back talks in quick succession by Ranga Karanam, Dr.Ravi Shankar Saripalle, Srirag Nair?and Chandan Achary.

We knew the time was ticking and that the audience would be very tired by evening. Thankfully the GITAM team again stepped up to nourish the tired minds with tea and biscuits. Despite the high focus on concluding the conference at the promised time, the ice breakers team sneaked in moments of fun and entertainment with their SLIDO questions.

The event finally concluded with Bala Tripura Sundari share a quick byte about WTM initiatives and Manas Malla, Srinidhi C. and Sree Teja pull off a THANK YOU parody.?

The event was indeed a stunner. For many it was their first experience at a Google event and my team made sure all of them left wiser, inspired, entertained, connected and ofcourse with swags!?

What a day!

Here are a few pictures that bring out the vibes of the event

THE CREDITS where they are due.

I sought help and it poured-in in tons. It wouldn't be fair if I did not acknowledge the support and help I received.

We got the best venue we could have asked for, the auditorium in GITAM and the associated team has been fantabulous. Thank you to Vikas B and Gurumoorthy Gangadharan garu for all your help. Your insights and suggestions, organisational help and stepping up in various ways is highly appreciable. We couldn't have asked for better hosts. A big shout out also to Ravi Eswarapu for opening the doors of AU incubation centre for our volunteer meetings.

Thanks to our gold sponsors Sails Software Solutions, especially a big shout out to Kiran Sangita for believing in us and supporting us to make this event possible.

Thanks also to f9tech info , Nimaisoft Systems Pvt Ltd IT Association of AP (ITAAP) and @APIS.

Thanks to Manas Malla, the flutter app that you wrote worked seamlessly and helped us in simplifying registrations. Thanks to Sneh Pandya and Sai Sampath Kumar Balivada for vetting the application.?

Thanks Sneh Pandya. You've been my go-to person for everything. You have been extremely patient, understanding and have helped me immensely with strategising the event. The event wouldn't be as successful without you. Thanks also to Usha Rengaraju, Paresh Mayani - SolGuruz?, Varsha Jaiswal and Sohail Pathan for your tips and sharing of experiences from your events, they really helped me fine tune DEVFEST VIZAG 2022.

Thanks to Lakshya Sivaramakrishnan for being the leader that you are, I love the way you step up and ensure that your team always wins. I'll always aspire to be as good a leader as you.?

Thanks Arun Teja Godavarthi (ZeoSpec) for your timely help with the swags and food. Thankyou Satish k for your suggestions and help with media outreach and banners. Your timely advice and initiative enabled us to bring in more attendees into our event.

Thanks to Swapna Dande, Uma Prathima Tammana @Neeraj Kumar, Amrutha Polamarasetty Lakshmi Sahithi Vinnakota and Kiret Jagan for acing the registrations and ensuring that it all went through smoothly. A big thank you to the social media team for helping amplify the event Diksha Patro B Kiret Jagan Uma Prathima Tammana ASHA D. Manaswitha Saripalli Karthik Dasari , Chaitanya Bonela Anjali Kakarlapudi Shriya Raju Thangudu Dhilleswara Rao, Sree Teja. Special thanks to Manaswitha Saripalli ASHA D. , Anjali Kakarlapudi for beautifully crafted mails and also to Srinidhi C. Bala Tripura Sundari , Praseeda Saripalle Diksha Patro B Aparanjani Balaga (she/her) Uma Prathima Tammana, Vanka Lavanya and Yaswanth Modepalli , Hima Bindu Tenneti and @Neeraj for your choice of words and praiseworthy content. Thanks also to Sree Teja, Srinidhi C. for the work with the stage slides. Thanks to the initiatives of @saikiran, we had more than 50 attendees join us from across the state. He and Alekhya Yadida made sure outstation attendees were attended to and well cared for, thus enabling them to make the most of the event.Thanks also to Sai Raksha Kala and Sunku Saarthak from Anantpur for joining us.

Shout out to design team for your infinite design iterations for print and media. Manas Malla, Lakshmi Sahithi Vinnakota, Sree Teja D. @M Surya Prakash @Musunuri Sai, you nailed it. Thanks Mahati M. for the beautiful shots and also a shout out to team GITAM for the amazing coverage through press and photography. Special mention to Sai Sampath Kumar Balivada and Karthik Dasari for lending your prowess in streaming for the event.

A special shout out to each and everyone from the logistics team, the event execution and audience management wouldn't have been as seamless without you. Take a bow Kowshik Pedada, Sai kiran Annam, Chaitanya B., Vamsi Kandula, Nani Samireddy, Jagadeswar Rao Devarasetti , SP Chandra Sekhar Goud , Gowri Vinay Kamalakar Satapathi, Lochan M., @mohan-ss, @satwik Vanka Lavanya, Gayatri Vadaparty, Srinadh Vura, Alekhya Yadida , Mohammad Anas Shaik, Aparanjani Balaga (she/her) Manaswitha Saripalli, Narra Venkata Raghu Charan, Charitha Dakavarapu (she/her) and Swapna Dande , pujitha Reddy , Kiret Jagan || Laasya Kandukuri || Monika Kusumanchi || Nikhil Gogineni, Alekhya Yadida, All of you have owned and taken charge of logistics like no other. Be it banners, food, stage, mike, swags or audience management, you all have stepped up to the challenges in execution. Uma Prathima Tammana , Charitha Dakavarapu (she/her) and Manaswitha Saripalli , your ice breakers were a blast, you girls definitely left the audience asking for more! All thanks to Hima Bindu that the project showcase was such a success. Thanks also to you and @Neeraj for holding the audience interest with your onscreen presence and emceeing.?

And special thanks to my new co ambassador from Vizag Bala Tripura Sundari for stepping up. You are going to be a great leader Bala. Way to go girl. Manas Malla, you are a doer. Despite being the youngest in the team, you found your place in the community and took ownership as the ASJ facilitator. The umpteen hours you have put in community work and the way you inspired your peers is superb. Special thanks to Praseeda Saripalle for taking the initiative and truly owning the Machine Learning domain and also the communities showcase stall. Kudos! But for you, showcasing all the tech communities wouldn't have been possible.?

Thanks also to Maniteja pratha for taking up the ownership for web domain talks. You have been a sport and have helped immensely to increase the quality of the talk in web domain. Likewise Vasanth Korada, your leadership of Flutter domain was commendable. And Saimanoj Seshagiri, the way you handled cloud sessions and were passionate about the content there, whilst coming all the way from Bhimavaram is praiseworthy.?

And finally, none of this would have been possible for me without the help and support of my family and my awesome team at GURUJADA .

I've shared this story to emphasise that

Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient - Steve Maraboli

I'm positive that GDG/WTM Vizag is headed in the right direction and positioned for growth in the coming years.?See you again...

Until then HAPPY LEARNING, SHARING, COLLABORATING and CONNECTING!

Signing off..

Usha Ramani Vemuru

#GDGVizag #WTMVizag GDG Vizag #gdg #wtm2022 #wtm #gdg #wtm22?