Case Study for Ashara Event Planning & Implementation
I have been associated with a wonderful organization, AeS, for over three decades and have experienced a lot of growth during that time, both personally and professionally. For the past two years, I have been assigned the directorship of the PMO for this organization, working alongside four other project managers. Under the PMO, we have been implementing several projects, one of which was the planning and implementation of the annual Ashara event.
The Ashara event is a very important occasion for the AeS and extended DeH community, perhaps the most significant of the year, spanning over 10 days. This event requires the gathering of every person in the community—men, women, and children—to attend discourses and learn from them. Additionally, two meals are served each day, and many other support services are needed for this gathering. These range from medical support to catering, serving, cleanup, audio-visual, decor, and involvement from many more social and community sub-organizations under the AeS community.
For the past two years, I have been leading meetings with various teams for two months in advance of the event. These meetings continue successively until the event itself with all team leaders and members who will be locally available. During the event, we establish necessary IT communication channels to ensure any arising issues are resolved promptly and provide support to teams as needed for the successful execution of the 10-day event.
Let me emphasize that my role as the PMO lead of these various committees and teams is rather minimal compared to the expertise, implementation ability, and collaboration of all team members who worked within our organization.
The first year was a success, and from that year's digital documentation assets we had saved, we could start much quicker and more effectively in the second year. The feedback from attendees in the second year was very positive; some even took special care to provide detailed feedback, which we plan to use for continuous improvement next year.
This experience has been a tremendous lesson in project management. We have utilized information technology as effectively as possible along with all other aspects of project management to ensure that the yearly Ashara event is implemented successfully for years to come.
