We all will get back to the stage with a bang: Vyoma Parihar
In this interview with EE, Vyoma shared her experience of hosting live events, the challenges of lockdown and more.
In a career that has spanned over 10 years, Vyoma Parihar has hosted more than 1000 events worldwide and counting. Be it conferences, product launches, corporate events, dealers' meets, celebrity shows, concerts, award ceremonies or sports event, she has done it all. She has anchored an event in front of 50,000 audience strength which was the 'Hero Hockey India League 2014' and shot to fame by hosting the 'Parle agro ONE awards 2017' with the superstar Salman Khan. Last year, one big shining feather was added in her cap as she was awarded as 'Promising Host' at Dadasaheb Film Foundation Awards-2018.
Her highly infectious energy, stamina, spontaneity makes her stand apart. She is gifted with a powerful voice that infuses high energy in any event which is why she is known as #thepowerhost.
In this interview with EE, Vyoma shared her experience of hosting live events, challenges of the lockdown and more.
Excerpts:
How are live artists adjusting to the lockdown and Covid times?
Certainly, Covid-19 has shook off the whole world, nonetheless this time for some is a boon, for some a bane. In my case, it turned out to be a boon as it taught me to value real things in life which I use to take for granted. In last 10 years, I have never got a chance to spend such a long and quality time with my parents because of my work, so I am spending a lot of good time with them, I am doing yoga and just savouring the time. Also, I am seeing other artists creating some nice online content and doing different interesting things on social media. This proves this pandemic also gave artists some extra time to create their own content which is great. In my case, I am happy that I am getting to do a lot of online events which is keeping me sane at the work front. Initially, understanding the online technicalities was quite discomforting but now it is fine and fun. Cutting long story short, so far so good.
With everything happening online, the live events industry went through a big transformation as well. How did you adapt to this change?
The thrill of live events is certainly unbeatable, I do miss my stage, but I realised it after quite a long time that we just can’t keep cribbing, we must move on. We all know the fact that accepting change has always led to growth. This big change has surely affected our lives but I have always trained myself to look at the brighter side. Initially, I gave myself some time to understand what’s exactly going on and I was just observing things until I finally came to terms with the fact that Covid-19 times are here to stay for long. Around mid-April, I started getting calls for virtual gigs and conferences, but to be honest, instead of feeling happy that I am getting calls for work in these so called unprecedented times, I felt worried as I was not that technically sound and the word ‘online’ scared me a lot for some reasons. But then, without wasting much time, I built my courage and made up my mind to just get started and I started saying yes to all kinds of online gigs. After doing a couple of online events, I finally started enjoying it and now I can run the whole online show like a boss. Thanks to my virtual event organisers who helped me during dry runs. We all know it doesn’t happen in a day, it’s a process and we should be patient with ourselves instead of being restless and worried about it.
Tell us about some of your recent events.
So just before the lockdown, I had done live events for Siemens and DHL, and a podcast with Big FM. After the lockdown, I did a few online webinars for different corporates, one being with BW Businessworld, also I am doing an online family game show ‘Tan Tana Tan’. I host this show almost every week and it’s going great. I am open for hosting all kinds of events and I am glad I am getting good work enquiries. I want to tell this to everyone that do not stress about anything at all, yes we must work hard but I would like to tell you all as I read it somewhere which I really liked it that ‘this year is all about survival’ and I can’t agree more. I can already see artists getting back on stage in few cities like Jaipur and Delhi. Just some more time we all will get back to stage with a bang I am sure.
Has the online transition made your job easy? Tell us some of the positives of hosting events online?
Yes, it has to some extent, as we can host any event happening at any corner of the world by sitting at home. But hosting events from home surely doesn’t mean we dress casual onscreen; we must dress the way we dress for stage. Also, we must set up our own studio which has strong internet connection, well lit room and nice background. At the same time, I still don’t see a lot of online events happening, I mean the number is less, so we must not worry much about it. Let us just go with the flow for a while.
Tell us some of the challenges that you have faced while hosting a virtual event.
Not many though, but yes, I have faced internet connectivity issue, learning from it I started keeping 3 internet sources aside for emergency situations, in case one acts up, I can switch to another. I will suggest all the artists to follow the same for smooth work. With every online event I am growing stronger as a virtual emcee as I am learning new things and getting more technically sound. In one of the webinars I hosted, the speaker’s computer hanged for some reason exactly at the moment when I was about to invite him on my virtual stage that’s when I intervened and handled the situation. So things like these will keep happening and all we can do is be ready with ‘Plan B’ and instead of panicking, just take it easy and keep going. In the end all I want to tell all the artists, let's keep our health and safety our priority. Work will surely come once things settle.
Links to social media:
https://m.facebook.com/vyomapariharofficial
https://www.instagram.com/vyomaparihar/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vyoma-parihar-81b71357?originalSubdomain=in
