If you’ve organised an event in Hong Kong, Macau or China, you must be familiar with the cool cat of Indian events in the region — DJ and owner of Skylite Events, Vijay Panjabi. For those who don’t, let us tell you, you’re missing one interesting person in the room.
VIjay started out with his father’s Ex-Im business, but was always passionate about music and DJing. It was a mere hobby till friends started requesting him to perform at serious events. Eventually, they wanted him to manage the entire events package. And before he knew it he was juggling a dual role, that of an event performer and an event manager.
This was nearly eight years ago. Today, Vijay’s Skylite Events executes events across the spectrum — from weddings to corporate. He confesses to having a soft spot for corporate events; they are simpler and more straightforward. But the thrill of managing everything to clockwork precision is always there.
What was his biggest challenge in this transition?
Indian clients want a lot of Bollywood music and regional Indian music. Earlier, it was difficult — we would have mostly English and a little Hindi. Today though, you can ask me anything; Punjabi, Bengali, South Indian; we have it all.
His approach to event management is an extension of this philosophy — never say no. Whatever the client asks, he will deliver, even if means making last minute adjustments. The client need not know what happens in the back-end, delivery is first. It is this stubbornness to deliver that makes him such a favourite for event organisers and collaborators, from concept to execution. That and the clear distinction between the personal and the professional. He says,
After the event, the team is the best of friends. We hangout, we party. But during the event, it’s work, work, work.
2017 is an exciting time to be in events. Vijay says,
The clients are trying new things now. For long now, a lot of setup and concept had become formulaic and clients weren’t always ready or experimentation. That is changing. There are new designs and concepts being asked for and it’s exciting, challenging to be doing something different.
Nearly a decade in the business, Vijay says,
You can never say you know everything about events. There is always something new to explore, a challenge that has never cropped up, a client asking for something new. Clients are very demanding and it is very easy to get frustrated. To anyone who wishes to be a part of the industry I just want to say, ‘Be calm, be patient, be cool’.
We couldn’t agree more about this. There is an unmatched pace to the industry and we love it with every cell in our body. But it is not all a rosy picture. We come back to an important question; how important is an event management degree?
Unless you have some knowledge of the space, it is very important. I was a DJ so I had a head start. But if you have not done much, it’s best to get some education at least.
A Vijay anecdote from our Team
At C4E, we worked with him on producing a serious business conference in Macau. And like most Indians, things were not closed till the last minute. If we are in India, there are people at beck and call and you can manage most things. But in a Macau, not even in mainland HK, it's next to impossible to accommodate last minute requests. And this is where we learnt of Vijay’s ingenuity. He was the one-man army and he worked as an extension of C4E and was as involved in the event’s success as anyone from C4E would be. Even better that he’s a HK citizen and speaks the local language better than locals. Thanks to him, we delivered a fantastic event. We are sure to work with him next time we are putting something up in HK or Macau. Or even China for that matter.
The next time you are headed to Hong Kong, you know who to call.
Get in touch with Vijay here: vijay@skyliteinternational.com.
