NED Alumni Convention 2011 in New Jersey, USA

[Riaz Haq]

Submitted By NEDian Safwan Shah

 

Fellow NEDians,

I had the opportunity to attend the 7th Annual NED Alumni Convention in New Jersey from 7-10 October 2011. This email is to share with you some of my impressions. My advance apologies if this is not something you are interested to read/hear - press delete now. If you know an NEDIan who would be interested to learn about the convention, please forward this email.

One word - Amazing. 

For sure, the 3 day Alumni Convention from October 7-10 2011 is testament to the organizing skills, significance of the NED brand and success of the NEDians across the world. NED Alumni Association of Tristate (NED-ATS) were the organizers. The location was an upscale Hilton Hotel in Parsipanny near Morris Town, New Jersey. NED-ATS must be applauded for executing a world class event and making it possible for so many NEDians to come under one roof and demonstrate that NEDians are truly there for NED.

Attendees were from the entire US, Canada, England and a few who had traveled from Pakistan (an elected MNA of NED origin being one from the Pakistan contingent.) I am sure there were other countries represented too but these were the folks I met and spoke with.

Participants from Alumni associations of Alberta, Chicago, Silicon Valley, New England, DC, Southern California and Houston were in attendance. 

Day 1 - Oct 7, 2011

I got there at about 5 PM after a direct flight from SFO. At the hotel check-in I was greeted by the staff and along with a key to my room I was provided a welcome package that included the agenda and program details for the next 2 days. Very slick.

There were a number of NEDians walking around the hotel. The final preparation/setup for the evening reception and entertainment was going on. I could see volunteers working feverishly to setup fancy banners, floor standing signs and registration tables.

At about 630 PM the evening dinner was announced. As i looked around I was wondering if these arrangements were an overkill. A huge hall with decorated tables and stage was behind the food service area. There was easily enough space for 200 or more people.

Well, by 830 PM, there were easily 200 plus people there. In fact, i wouldnt be surprised if even 300 people were at this preliminary reception.

In the inside hall there was a musical program by local talent, which i didnt focus much on. The sheer delight of meeting old friends was enough to keep me occupied. From Silicon Valley there was Ali Hasan Cemendtaur, Mukhtar (Mike) Zaidi, Ashraf Habibullah, Farrukh Sana, Khalid Tai and i am sure some others that I didnt know. It was an impressive beginning. Time went in a flash and after a few hours I figured I should do a time-check - it was 2 AM and I still had invitations to at least 2 other group meetups that were going on in various suites in the hotel. What had happened is that some batches had planned well in advance and had booked connected suites. I think one was the 86 batch in Mechanical (Cemendtaur's). I dropped in for a minute and there was one guy on a guitar ... having a blast. The other meet-up that i eventually didnt attend was the 1984 Civil Engineering group ... there were 27 people in their suites I was told ...

By 4 AM i returned to my room.

BTW, the dinner was superb - kababs, nihari, free flowing chai to follow. Just superb.

Day 2 - 730 AM 

As i walked down I noticed that the entire event had moved to a huge hall configured as a theatre room. Outside the hall there were at least 10 stalls with various businesses selling jewelry, clothes, vacation tickets, insurance services, etc. In addition, there was another section where a very extensive continental breakfast arrangements had been made. Over the next 90 minutes we had breakfast, walked the stalls, met and greeted each other. 

At around 9 AM the conference segment began with a keynote by NEDian Salman Siddiqui. A very impressive speaker who happened to be my neighbor in Karachi over 30 years ago. Salman spoke about the energy crisis in Pakistan and also introduced his start-up around Solar System integration services. He described a solar energy solution to make NED self-reliant and free of load shedding. What impressed me was that he had a ready solution to offer and he had a plan to make things happen. It came as no surprise to me that several high-powered NEDians seized the moment and were talking to Salman about how they could help.

After the keynote there were 2 panel discussions followed by Q&A. The 200 plus people in attendance were very engaged around the topics. The first topic was on entrepreneurship and the speakers included an NEDIan who employs over 450 people in his consulting firm. The other panelists were also effective in inspiring the attendees around entrepreneurship. I wish folks like Idris Kothari, Asghar Aboobaker, Amer Haider, Awais Nemat, Zulki (he sponsored), Zoaib Rangwala, Naveed Sherwani, Raghib Hussain, Rehan Jalil, Imran Qureshi and Sabahat Ashraf (plus many more) were there too. Hopefully, next time.

The second panel discussion was around how NEDians can help NED. I enjoyed the session but felt it became too focused around social issues. Perhaps that cant be avoided with the sheer complexity of the prevailing environment.

By noon the discussions were over and a massive lunch feast was there to be enjoyed. I do remember that the kabas melted in the mouth.

By 130 PM we were all on our own. I spent the time in various meetings and planning sessions for galvanizing the NED community and figuring ways to make the NED movement sustainable, year after year. Besides that I went to the stalls and bought some gifts.

At 530 PM I was back for the showcase event - evening entertainment. The agenda had Hussain Haroon (Ambassador to UN), Zia Mohyuddin (no intro necessary) Mohammad Ali Shehki (ex NEDian), Alamgir (a frequent performer in NED events of the 80's) and Ashraf Habibullah (NED 1969). I must admit, I am a fan of Ashraf Habibullah. He illustrates the spirit of NED better than anyone I know.

To my surprise I saw very few people this time. By now i was so used to seeing a crowd of NEDians wherever I went that it came as a surprise until someone pointed me to that massive lobby area of the hotel and said that hor douvres were being served there. As i walked up I was almost stunned by the crowd of several hundred NEDians and their families. The lobby had several tables with Pakistani appetizers and beverages to please anyone. I guess i was also taken aback by how well and formally the people had dressed for the occasion. 

At around 8 PM the entire event moved to a massive hall for the 650-700 guests. Everyone was assigned seating. We all had to get a wrist band for getting entry because the event was sold out days in advance.

For the next couple of hours there were speeches. Nothing of note there until Ashraf Habibullah got the mic and he weaved his magic. There is something about his style that resonates perfectly with NEDIans. The several hundred people were laughing and clapping the entire 20 minutes he spoke. Indeed, he is a treasure. Someone to be proud of. 

A very fancy sit down dinner followed and several presentations around videos and photographs of NED were shared. These videos were sponsored by the organizers and some professional videographers had been hired to go to NED and create them. Very very impressive work. I hope they make them available on YouTube and other sharing sites.

After the dinner and the various festivities the musical event began ... I think it was almost midnight by then. 

The first was Zia Mohyuddin. He is quite incredible. For the next one hour he had the audience spellbound. Ghalib, Mushtaq Yousafi, Ashfaq Ahmed, Iqbal, ... flowed freely.  It was hard not to be awed by his skill and class. He is a national treasure.

Then came Shehki. I hadnt seen him for over 25 years. It was such a blast from the past. I still remember my early days at NED when Shehki had passed out but would come back for various reasons (perhaps suppl'is) and once he sat in the cafeteria to sing a song. An interesting sight was when Shehki came singing into the audience and saw Mohammad Haseen standing in front of him. While singing he shook hands and i think they even embraced each other. 

Alamgir came in at 2 AM and took the level of cheer even higher. One could feel the energy in the room as Alamgir went through his songs. It was touching when Alamgir asked for help when he began singing Jugni. Apparently his doctors have warned him to not over extend himself. Given the nature of the song he tends to get so zoned that he can worsen his health (he is waiting for a kidney transplant).

The event ended at 3 AM.

 

Day 3 - 8 AM

The same hall that was used for the reception on the first day was used for the farewell reception. The breakfast was Paratha, Qeema, ... need i say more. This was the 5th or 6th meal over three days. There were easily over 100 people there. I was there till 11 AM when I left for the airport. Ran into Zia Mohyuddin at the door and asked him what NED meant to him - his answer "Aapka, hamaray watan ka future hai, isse sambhal kay rakhiye." 

 

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In the 6 hours or so of the return flight, I thought a lot about the whole NED experience. Are these events meaningless? Do we get any outcome from getting together? Is it worth flying several hours and spending several days and also hard earned money?

I dont have a spiffy answer. All i can say is that something incredible happens each time when people get together in these events.  The news reaches students at NED, they derive motivation and inspiration on learning that the alumni are connected and meeting every year. The local NEDians that come to these events make new connections, get new ideas, some get jobs, others start companies, some make business partners and a few just have a good laugh and go away. I really believe that 90% of self actualizing is the realization that others just like us have already paved the way and built the ladder that we can climb.

Having lived in the US for over 22 years I am as cynical as the other guy. There is no shortage of social causes and boil the ocean dreams that i hear every day BUT everything pales in comparison to my bond with NED and NEDians. I know that I am not the only one who feels that way ... there were hundreds of NEDIans, many who are financially not well off that attended these events. They came to feel better, feel connected, feel important, feel young, feel inspired, feel needed. Why do we always need an earth shattering cause to get together? For me it is enough that we are NEDIans and have a shared set of experiences. Having said that, i would be remiss to not mention that practically everyone that i met was doing something for NED ... sending books, hiring, donating money and time, you name it. The faculty that was visiting also mentioned to me that the best thing NEDians could do was to bring the several thousand NEDian alumni together and connected. This will create the strength in numbers that is needed to bring any change.

So, should NEDians get together every year in an Annual Alumni Convention? 

My vote is yes. It sure beats the alumni meetings of my Stanford Business School and Boulder events. 

NEDians for NED.

sincerely,

safwan shah