Networking and New Ideas at the EE India Annual Conference 

Last month, more than 200 Equal Experts employees  gathered at the Radisson Blu hotel in Karjat for three days of networking, learning and collaboration on the theme, “It starts with us!” 

The exciting event on 27 September was a chance to bring together EE’s brilliant minds to attend thought-provoking sessions, join interactive workshops and take part in some fun, team bonding activities.

EE team members travelled from all over the country to join us at the annual conference, which kicked off with a social lunch where delegates could meet new colleagues and catch up with colleagues. This was swiftly followed by a fiercely competitive EE Olympics, which saw teams compete in a range of games and activities, from dancing to problem solving. 

On Saturday, the delegates gathered to hear a welcome address by Vishesh Teng, followed by a session led by the EE leadership team. The discussion covered various topics, including EE’s origins, its current growth, future recruitment and skills plans, and a brief update on the latest developments in the AI space. The next session featured a series of quick talks, including a discussion on AI by Simon Case, a presentation on Transformation by Phil Parker, and insights into Product & Design by Liz Leakey.

For the remainder of the day, the conference split into three tracks, allowing delegates to attend workshops and presentations that were most relevant to their engagements and interests. Sessions were presented by members of the EE network, allowing us to share expertise from across the community on the latest issues and technologies.  

The range of topics covered was extremely wide, so we were able to learn about everything from understanding cognitive bias to building a new community of STEM students in Goa. 

Kumar Rajan spoke about internal development platforms and their role in development, while Nagashree Manjunath held a brilliantly informative Q&A session about the psychology of cognitive bias. Nagashree explained how we can identify types of bias, and the steps that can be taken to mitigate their impact. 

Anay Kamat talked about his experiences supporting a community of young STEM enthusiasts in Goa, and how important this initiative is in building the next generation of Equal Experts! 

After lunch, we enjoyed more brilliant workshops on design thinking (Mohit Chandna and Munish Malik) and functional programming analysis (Rajesh Pitty). There was also a group squad session with the theme ‘defuse the bomb’ – luckily the explosives in this session were metaphorical, and delegates had the opportunity to work in teams to “defuse” a simulated bomb by solving a series of intricate puzzles against a timer. 

The learning wasn’t over yet! After a coffee break and some time for networking, we dived into three more sessions looking at data warehousing with Praveen Raj and Saraswathy Renuga, AI and machine learning in iOS with Saravanakumar Selladurai, and the challenges of visual architecture with Prasanth Jayaprakash. 

After a long and jam-packed day, the group came back together for a keynote presentation by Ajeet Bajaj, which touched on exploring success through discipline, resilience, and the softer aspects of life. Ajeet explained how mastering these elements helps us to overcome setbacks and foster emotional intelligence – and building those skills in our teams starts with us! 

The final presentation was followed by a night’s entertainment with dinner, dancing and a DJ, giving everyone the chance to let their hair down!

Thank you everyone who helped organise the conference:  @Anjali Jain @Ajinkya @Ryan @Tanay @Bergin George @Fatema @Pooja @Surbhi Jain @nikhil.padmawar @Vijay Kumar; with the support of the India leadership team:  @Vishwas @Ashish @Shrawani Mukherjee @uttamkini @anantpal and @tejaswita.