Express education expo: Education from the edge of fun

Event draws to a close after attracting thousands of students from universities and colleges, as well as 70 companies

KARACHI:

For two whole days, the Express Media Group’s expo brought a fusion of education and fun, welding academic ambitions to the joys of discovering career choices. By the time the event drew to a close on Sunday evening,thousands of students from universities and colleges as well as some 70 companies had found some cause for inspiration. Already, the first year of the event has left a huge impression.

Day two was all about singing, dancing, ramp-walking and fashion – results were announced in the evening. The hall across from where the fun activities were happening had various stalls that received even more traffic on the second day.

“We wanted to promote education and engage students towards their suited careers,” said the senior executive of the marketing department, Syed Zaki Ahmed. “We are very pleased that we managed to do this in span of just three months,” he said.

Express Media Group took Mascom Group on board to execute the event while Ahmed and Salman Fazli, marketing manager, played their effective role as event heads on the strategic front. “We have almost 10 ambassadors from various universities in Karachi,” Ahmed said, adding that due to examinations, some universities could not participate.



“Our parent company Lakson Investments is holding career counselling sessions for students at the expo,” he told The Express Tribune.

From the stalls present in the hall, Pingu’s English School had almost 1,000 walk-ins on one day. “I think our activities were the best here as we held a drawing contest, singing competition, jigsaw puzzle and face-painting,” said project head Carol Fornon. “We gave the winners lots of incentives, like our stickers,” she said adding that the results of the drawing contest will be announced on their Facebook page.  Right across Pingu’s, HS Consultants Pvt Ltd could shared the same happiness. “We are quite happy with the response here as we could not even get the time to scratch our heads,” said counseling manager Adeel Qamar.

Liberty Books right across from Pingu’s stall had almost double their usual walk-ins.

From the universities, Habib University appeared to be a definite hit, mainly because everything about that stall was ‘grand’ and had a ‘personal touch’. According to their Student Recruitment and Outreach Manager Mohsin Rizvi, it was all about their marketing. “We usually go very grand and make an investment in anything we believe would benefit our brand image,” he went on to explain. “You see, we used our purple and white colour to add the ‘personal touch’,” he smiled. The best part of the stall was that they had several LCD touchscreens for students to apply online. “We are so specific about being the best at what we do that even our glass is imported from Dubai,” he said adding that almost 90 per cent of their faculty were PhDs from Ivy Leagues, who were also present at the stall both the days to have a one-on-one with students. When asked if they liked the experience with the Express Education Expo, he replied, “We were initially reluctant as it was the first but we are pleased with the response we got.”



The food stall retailers at both the stalls said it was great to be part of something so big. “We brought our beverages here and are so happy with the response,” said Saima. Her colleague Salma said another bonus was that they could see the dances from here.

The two-day event came to a close with the result announcements. The Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan (ICMAP) won in most competitions.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26^th, 2014.