March 24, 2011
School of Business, Coimbatore
 

Jaisurya Pavithran, second-year MBA student from Amrita School of Business, Coimbatore, represented India at ESOMAR APAC (Asia Pacific Area Conference) 2011, convened in Melbourne, Australia during March 21-22.
 

The European Society for Opinion and Market Research (ESOMAR) is a global organization with nearly 5000 members in over 120 countries.
 

Established in 1948 for market, social and opinion researchers, it works to bring about effective decision-making by encouraging, advancing and elevating market research worldwide.
 

“Asia has become a dynamic place for leadership,” stated Vanessa Oshima, Program Chair, ESOMAR APAC 2011, when outlining expectations for event delegates.
 

As the sole student representative from India, Jaisurya was chosen to participate after a phone interview with ESOMAR representatives. ESOMAR provided a stipend of € 500 to help cover expenses towards travel and accommodation. Amrita also provided financial aid to assist in facilitating his role at the event.
 

This was Jaisurya’s first time abroad and first time participating in an international conference.
 

At the conference, Jaisurya was a part of a team of four students from Singapore, China, Australia and India, who were designated Network Facilitators.
 

“Our responsibilities included helping delegates with workshops and presentations, helping them network and find each other at the venue and take care of venue arrangements for workshops,” said Jaisurya.
 

“We also wrote live-blogs on the official ESOMAR site covering the events as they happened.”
 

The conference focused on the role of research in helping industry in the best possible way. Keynote speaker, Edward Bell, Regional Planning Director OgilvyOne in China, suggested that according to the conference theme of Creating Value Through Simplicity, change was needed and that the digital (media) revolution represented such a change.
 

“Participation in this event helped the students who were involved in the event’s management,” summed up Jaisurya. “We availed ourselves of the many opportunities to interact with industry experts and professionals from many countries.”
 

Jaisurya worked for Amrita Technologies for four years before enrolling for an MBA at the Amrita School of Business at Coimbatore.
 

Currently placed as a senior business development executive with Payoda Technologies, an IT firm, Mr. Jaisurya is specializing in marketing and systems.
 

His vision is to lead a team of young dynamic marketing executives at Payoda. “With my team, I will aspire to develop new clients and markets for Payoda,” he said. “I am especially interested in global sales operations.”