Twitter: Connecting people !!!

This blog post also features in my CEO,Vineet  Nayar’s post HCL Tweetup

On an ordinary day it would have been just another internally circulated mail,which was to be glanced and then deleted.But it was not just “another day“, it was to be a special day and who knows a life changing one in coming days;because  the caption in the mail struck my eyes and held my attention instantly .”#hcltweetup“,”twitter” were the words,and as I read the entire mail my eyes glew with delight.I could not believe that there was  an  invitation for like minded people in my company who are on twitter for a meet,and that too organised by the organisation.

Whoa !! I was happily excited to attend the event amidst my tight and so called monotonous schedule which had been driving me nuts for a long time.

Though there are other events being organised by various committees but very few have anything different to offer or to be precise “create an interest in me”.

Excited & keeping my fingers crossed I went to attend the event.To be frank I didnot have any expectations which I found to be wrong after 2 hrs.

Unlike other sessions in office which generally happen in a boardroom,hall,training room etc. the venue was a big art gallery.This very fact made me think “What an Idea Sirjee !!” .

The session started by short funny animation clip on twitter world and how it has penetrated our day to day activities and has become an integral part of our lives.

Then came interesting “ice breaking ” session where people shared their embarrassing and funny moments on twitter.The audience was sportive enough to share their experiences.

Our colleagues who could not attend the event were updated live through #hcltweetup where we were constantly feeding tweets.

The session became interesting  by a simple looking question raised by Krishnan to all of us “Define your identity in 140 characters or in a single line ?”

The answers from people and the discussion which followed forced most of us to rethink about our assumptions of our “Identities“.Some of them even said “I am still figuring out about myself,my Identity” which I guess holds true for most of us who are still exploring ourselves with each passing day and moment.

Meanwhile I sat silently at the back listening this entertaining”GYAN” session.

I was happily surprised to know that most of the people gathered there had interests beyond the workplace. Photography,travelling,cooking,blogging,reading,music to name a few.No doubt we all sat there together due to similar tastes.

Everybody was so enthralled in the discussion that nobody realized about a person who silently came and sat in the last row.Krishnan drew our attention to him and I couldnot believe my eyes.No it was not Katrina Kaif of Sheela fame , we had CEO of our company “Mr Vineet Nayar”.Leader of 77000+ employees was sitting amidst us and it was  an inexpressible feeling to meet him in  person.I don’t think  in any other organization a person can have direct access to his CEO at such an informal level.It was a great honour and pleasure to see him.

He shared his views about social networking ,his daily schedule,funny twitter & personal experiences.For the first time I realized how “Habits of highly effective people” can really inspire us and lead by example.His charisma really moved me.

Keeping things short I would like to share my takes from this event

• Create an identity about oneself ( I am still exploring myself).
• Think different.
• Be yourself to enjoy each moment of life.
• Great men are remembered by their IDEAS.A person may die but his ideas are always present.
•  An idea becomes great when it has the ability to change lives in a postive  way.
• We should drive social networking instead of social networking driving us.
• The coming generation is more smarter and intelligent than us, a lot needs to be learnt from them.
• Music or any hobby  is another stressbuster.
•  Sometimes it’s the common interest or hobby which may drive a conversation at a high profile meeting.Who knows it can be the ice breaking talk which can do wonders for a person or an organization as a whole.
•  Social networking gives us a platform to express freely who we are but at the same time we should handle it responsibly (Shashi tharoor & Lalit Modi are recent exmaples)

At last the session ended by cake cutting ceremony and delicious snacks to feast upon.

Last but no the least,I would  like to thank  Bokul,Kavita and team for successfully organizing this event.Looking forward for similar events with a mass turnaround of fellow HCLites.

My mind is still buzzing with the question”What is your identity ?”