Xpressions'16...Like Never Before

After months of preparations and expectations, Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar kickstarted XPRESSIONS’16, the biggest Management and Cultural Fest in eastern India, on 11th November 2016. The zeal and enthusiasm of participants truly marked the grandeur of the event which held its first edition 19 years ago. The three day festival concluded on 13th November, 2016.

Day One

The day kicked off with Kurukshetra, Gladiator, Skill City and Helios, the flagship mega events by the gaming committees. Kurukshetra, a virtual battlefield which tested the participants’ business acumen, earlier saw teams fight it out to make it through to Round 1, called ‘Shankhanaad’. Gladiator, a real business world simulation event, had the top seven qualifiers of Armageddon, the prelims quiz round do some serious brain crunching. In Skill City, one of the toughest business events that challenge your soft-skills, the top four teams entered the ring to emerge the last team standing. Embracing one’s student life prior to joining an MBA programme, Helios, an only under-graduate specific event saw young minds harvest their raw managerial wisdom in challenging business scenarios. Adding to the intellectual extravaganza was the Model United Nations which saw vigorous participation from a gamut of passionate thinkers with academic credentials as varied as high school teen visionaries to post graduate future idealists. ‘Case In Point’ and ‘Case Connect’, two case study competitions were also held which tested the participants’ meticulous attention to details and design innovation skills of the participants respectively. These case study events were followed by ‘Nirnay’, an In-house business simulation game held by X-OPS to put the participants’ operations management skills to the test.

Taking a detour from business events towards the artistically inclined, Xpressions’16 displays a plethora of events oozing creativity and originality. ‘Goonj’, the solo singing competition witnessed music aficionados, enchanting the audience with their original tracks and crooning melodious renditions of classic songs which was met with rapturous applause from the audience. ‘Paint@XIMB’, the popular all theme painting competition tickled the artistic sides of creative heavyweights where students lent colours to their beautifully abstract thoughts. To test the analytical boundaries of the curios mind, also conducted was an online treasure hunting event ‘Parikrama’ that witnessed a great number of adventurous participants from various B-Schools.

Amalgamating fun and physique, Foot of Fury (event by IRC) - a crazy, fun filled and exhilarating game of HUMAN FOOSBALL, with an international twist was organized for the first time in Xpressions’16. Sports enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts alike took part in large numbers and showed tremendous support for their respective favourite teams.

As dusk approached signaling a thousand lights springing to life, the atmosphere dived into a different dimension as ‘DecibelZ’, XIMB’s band-hunt competition kicked off to some thumping beats, captivating the audience with its rhythm. The event attracted a huge crowd swaying to the masterful renditions by bands from Calcutta, Bangalore and other cities from far and near. Like a fitting last act to a splendid curtain raiser, day one came to an end, but not before, Xpressions’16 along with Coke studio staged “Lagori”, the Bangalore based band made up of five unique musicians bringing their own flavours and styles to the table. Combining Rock, Funk, Pop and Indian Classical inflections Lagori presented an eclectic mix of sounds and tunes that enthralled the audience to the core.

With unmatched enthusiasm, camaraderie from students and able aid from our benevolent sponsors for the day –Mindfire Solutions, day one of Xpressions’16 ended on a high crescendo with a promise of a lot more to come in the next couple of days.

Day Two

The morning of 12th November saw a fresh wave of excitement at XIMB, as the college bustled with a myriad of events. The business simulation games continued to challenge the students in their subsequent rounds on day 2.0 . The final round of Kurukshetra, ‘Chakravyuh’ demanded out-of-the-box thinking from the surviving warriors of the prelims to navigate the mania of a real market. Gladiator saw a battle of some of the best brains who encountered different facets of management in its campus round, ‘The Golden Fleece’, where top three teams made it to the next round. Undergraduates got an opportunity to explore their potential in the final round of Helios, a multi-level Business competition. Skill City continued to access participants on their soft skills in its second round ‘Fountain of Youth’ .

Case study competitions presented a platform for students to come up with innovative strategies for handling complex business scenarios. Maven saw 6 teams from some of the most elite B-Schools competing over several rounds. Case Connect witnessed the top five teams, selected through an offline quiz, grapple with various domains of business . M-power through its series of elimination rounds over the past couple of days finally culminated with its final presentation round wherein the team Loyal Stags comprising of Raghav Dhanuja and Arnav Khanna from IIM Shillong emerged as the ultimate case study experts. Trade Wars was a unique online trading simulation game that required students to apply their financial strategies in Indian Stock Markets in real time quotes. Saurav Dalmia and Akshay Kumar Tripathi from XIMB emerged as the most successful traders.

Besides the events that teased the business acumen of students, XIMB experienced a spectacular portrayal of creativity. In Mould to Hold, participants used a blend of imagination and innovation to create interesting objects from recyclable material.

Students continued to exhibit their analytical and quizzing skills in Day 2 of Parikrama, the National Level online treasure hunt competition. Flight of Fancy, a literary extravaganza saw the budding writers play with words and explore new spectrums of creativity.

Giving a political twist to Xpressions’16 was day 2.0 XIMB- MUN where ‘delegates’ representing different councils continued to debate in a quest for solutions to some of the most pertinent issues plaguing the society. Big Xpressions, the RJ hunt competition in association with 92.7 Big FM, added spice to Xpressions with 28 aspiring RJ’s making it to the final lap to portray their wit, fluency and presence of mind.

XIMB was enveloped in a colour of culture with events such as Goonj and Pratibimb. The entire college echoed with the melodious tunes of the shortlisted participants of Goonj where Asmita Banerjee and Bidyashree Raut clinched the title of the winners of Desi Extravaganza. Nivedita Yadav and Vivek Goswami succeeded in enchanting the crowd in the western music category. Pratibimb, the face- painting competition saw students create magnificent face paintings and go wild to discover the artist within them. After a string of nerve-wrecking competitions, Maxim Mela was a perfect platform for marketing maniacs to put their skills to test in this exciting game of Mario involving disguised marketing. Marking the evening was a surprise event in association with Bikers Republic of Odisha. This bike stunt event brought an adrenaline rush not only to the biking enthusiasts but also to the crowd cheering them.

The eventful day culminated with Carnival De Vogue, a fashion show event that injected fun where participants adorned in breathtaking attires mesmerised the audiences with their exceptional sense of style adding to the lively atmosphere at XIMB.

Day Three

Xpressions, the annual business and cultural festival of XIMB, continued to keep its word on giving an experience #LikeNeverBefore. The liveliness and eagerness of participants and organizing committees continued on the final day of Xpressions. The day saw participation from over 2000 students, hailing from regions all over the country, in various cultural and business challenges. The event serves as a three day getaway for the students and faculty of XIMB, as well as from colleges across the country, from their mundane lives. The energy exhibited on the first two days of the event did not die down on the last day, and the XIMB campus was sprawling with people. Even as the world outside is seeing a considerable slowdown in commerce, the stalls in the field of XIMB were abuzz with activity.

Day 3 of Xpressions was a witness to various events ranging from Business Simulation games to cultural events. Spardha, which is a social entrepreneurship competition conducted by the Rural Managers Association of XIMB, ended with X-Dragons being the winners and Team CityZens Runners-Up. The two other events, Skill City and Gladiator, also saw huge participation. Gladiator, a flagship business game at XPRESSIONS, is a test of intellect, resilience, equanimity, and endurance to act and make fool proof business decisions by replicating real world management scenarios through interactive game plans, which the best brains in the country battle to conquer. Designed across various functions, in addition to analytical skills, these games demand careful strategizing and attention to detail from the participants. Skill City tests one of the most significant attributes in a manager i.e. Soft Skills. Going beyond the functional knowledge required in any business, it aims to strengthen the relevance of developing and maintaining the soft skills set. A perfect platform to flaunt your interpersonal skills, it is open to creativity and innovation with the basic aim to communicate your ideas, reform strategies to suit your team and nurture team spirit to emerge as a winner.

Viraasat showcases the Indian Tradition and Culture. A depiction of soulful music and classical dance, the event brought to light the best of the participants. Aaghaz, the nukkad-natak challenge, saw street play performances from students hailing from colleges from all over the country. Thirkan, the dance competition, also witnessed some energetic and powerful performances. Other events like Think Inside the Box and Dabbe Ke Andar Socho also the students putting heads together.

Finally, the curtains went down of Xpressions 2016 with Celeblitz, the celebrity night of Xpressions. The stage was honoured to host the magical trio of SEL- Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy who left the audience spellbound with their rendition of a wide array of songs- from foot tapping numbers to soulful melodies. The Euphoria was such that thousands of people flocked to the campus to witness the star performance. The anticipation that was palpable in the entire city for so many months was visibly gratified, as could be seen from the enthusiasm displayed by the crowd. Xpressions ’16 ended on a high note, and the effort put in by so many people made the event a grand success.