IRIS (Annual Management and Cultural Fest)

Introduction

IRIS is the annual Management-Cultural Festival at IIM-Indore. Begun in 2001, it now stands as its own legacy, with a premise to get bigger and better, with each passing year. It is an amalgamation of talent and action; top talent and the best brains from across the country on one single platform, on the race to glory. Top Institutes from across the country head over to Indore, each October to partake of the fun, at IRIS, IIM-Indore.

History

IRIS began in 2001 and grew slowly but steadily, adding new events each year. In 2008 it was split into two separate events- Mridang, the Cultural Fest which would take place in February and Ahvan, the Management Fest which would continue to occupy the October time that Iris had. This set-up continued until 2013 when Iris was reborn, one entity as a merger of two others.

Events

Events span multiple management and cultural domains. Other initiatives include a social cause being addressed each year, a corporate-led panel discussion and a pro night which features a musical performance or similar. A Guinness World Record attempt is made each year. The attempt usually ends in the successful creation of a world record. Past attempts include the largest soap mosaic which aimed at awareness about the importance of hygiene, hand-washing in specific.

Flagship Cultural and Management Events

Ashwamedha

Ashwamedha is the multi-disciplinary flagship leadership event of IRIS. It is a unique platform where the finest in the country pit against each other in a simulation of real life challenges, to be recognized as the next great leaders. The event draws a parallel with the ancient Vedic ritual of the same name, performed to attain power, glory, fame and prosperity. Conceptualized by the eminent educationist and leadership trainer, Dr. Vijay Menon, Ashwamedha with its rich and venerated legacy, has been one of the most awaited leadership events in the Indian B-school circuit.

Chain Reaction

Chain Reaction is the flagship operations and supply chain event of IRIS where participating teams solve some interesting real world problems.

Chanakya

Chanakya was a royal advisor who is remembered by history as a wise and insightful consultant of the past. Flash forward to the present day and you have IRIS channelling his spirit through 'Chanakya' - the flagship consulting event. The event will see participants formulating and implementing strategies, gauging trends and soliciting feedback, all in a corporate context to simulate consulting in big organizations.

Drona

Drona is a unique mentorship program that is designed for the aspiring candidates to get a sneak-peak into the lives of management students, to understand what an MBA is all about. It consists of interactions with some of the best professors and renowned industrialists during the program, who in turn can help in choosing the best career paths coupled with challenging GD's and leadership acumen testing rounds. The event consists of three rounds

A nationwide acumen test to select the 15 best students among aspiring candidates
Mentorship- Interaction with professors and sessions helping to make better career choice
Leader of tomorrow- Challenging GDs & Leadership acumen testing rounds to select one winner.

Gordion Knot

Gordion Knot is the flagship marketing event of IRIS which tests the intelligence and acumen of marketing enthusiasts through various rounds conceptualized around different concepts in relation to sales, advertising, merchandising and strategy.

Jigyaasa

Jigyaasa is the flagship quizzing event of IIM Indore that boasts of hosting some of the most brilliant quizzers of the country. The questions test knowledge and also quick-wittedness and appetite to take risk. Jigyaasa is an assemblage of 3 quizzes:

Bizznesia- B-Quiz
SpEnt- Sports and Entertainment Quiz
Adityavat- General Knowledge Quiz (online)

Kalpavriksha

Kalpavriksha is a platform for budding entrepreneurs and social enterprises to showcase their socially sensitive self-sustainable business models. Since its inception in 2006, Kalpavriksha has provided social enterprises across India, an opportunity to showcase the next big ideas that can change the world that we live in. Along with tremendous participation from students and enterprises across India, Kalpavriksha boasts of attracting International entries from reputed B- schools like Harvard, Kellogg, NUS Singapore and London school of business. When Kalpavriksha entered its 10th year of nurturing entrepreneurship in 2015, the format had a slight change- reaching out to young social enterprises (0-2 year old) in India via NGO partners besides the educational hubs like the IITs, IIMs and other institutes across diverse domains. The response was encouraging. Kalpavriksha raised 2.5lac and funded the winning ventures. HelpUsGreen which employs rural women to manufacture green fertilizers from waste materials, was declared the winner. The event saw participation from domains ranging from agriculture to psychology. Most of the participating teams had already started working on their ventures. The participants found the event very useful. The event featured keynote speech from Padma Shri Mrs. Janak Palta McGillan. Villgro, Head Held High, GAAP and NEN were our esteemed supporters. The prize money was fully sponsored by the Tata Trust Foundation. The event is a month long journey for the participating teams to research existing social problems plaguing the Indian society and to provide commercially viable business solutions to it. The best ideas are mentored by Industry experts. Together with mentorship assistance and access to value-added tools such as LivePlan, teams get the necessary support to present their business model before a panel of VCs, industry experts in the social sector, and professors at IIM Indore. Kalpavriksha aims to provide promising social ventures the opportunity to network and learn the winning mantra from successful social entrepreneurs.

Klueless

Klueless is a one of its kind online event that challenges the limits of the participants' knowledge, lateral thinking ability and mental endurance. Klueless is the original online treasure hunt cum puzzle solving competition boasting a decade long legacy. It is eagerly awaited by a loyal fan-base cultivated from a exceptional legacy of unique and addictive gameplay. Players have to delve into the depths of their knowledge base and employ creative problem solving skills to get past each level, with the ultimate goal of making it to the coveted Klueless Hall of Fame.

Voice of Indore

Voice of Indore, a flagship event of IRIS, is a quest for the singing talent in the city of Indore. It provides an incredible platform for people to showcase their talent and enthral everyone in their melodious voice. The event creates a buzz everywhere once the auditions start rolling.

Zero One Infinity

Zero One Infinity has its origin in software design, which instructs one to not place random limits on the number of instances of a given. It has grown on the founding belief that business innovation is possible only by thinking beyond the obvious and without any limit. ZOI provides a unique platform for management students to innovate and solve business problems at the cutting edge of Information Systems.

It is a one of a kind IT consulting event across IIMs where cross functional teams from management and engineering work together to produce comprehensive solutions. Teams strategize and solve contemporary IT problems that plague businesses and get the chance to present these to an esteemed panel of judges.