Armani Exchange presents The So Delhi Confluence 2016

Acting upon the mantra of ‘striving to constantly do better things’, So Delhi outdid themselves this year by bringing to town the second edition of The So Delhi Confluence at The Lalit which was bigger, better and all adjectives superlative! 

The second edition of the So Delhi Confluence kick started with an introduction by the celebrated designer duo of Anjalee and Arjun Kapoor who welcomed all the bloggers, the influencers and the So Delhi crew to The Lalit and opened the event.

The introductory round of coffee and tea, along with light refreshments was used by the bloggers and the influencers to connect with each other.

After the gastronomic machinery had been set in motion, everybody seemed rather excited for the event to proceed; this is when the Founder and CEO of So Delhi Digant Sharma, along with Gaurav Mishra, GM of Sales and Marketing at the Lalit Group of Hotels took centre stage and officially opened the event. 

Digant Sharma also made the first public, official announcement of the So Delhi app which can be found in the Google play store. (Download it here - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.so.city)

After the official introduction, commenced the first panel discussion which was also one of the highlights of the evening. Moderated by Leher Sethi, a renowned social activist, the panel discussion centered on the burning issue of blogging and if it had the potential to ever be a full time job in India. 

Eminent bloggers from varied fields including Deeba Rajpal (www.passionateaboutbaking.com), Pawan Soni (www.indianfoodfreak.com), Sukhneet Wadhwa (mscocoqueen.com) and Devina Malhotra (guiltybytes.com) were a part of the discussion and brought to light several interesting perspectives about the blogging industry.

After the illuminating panel discussion, what followed was the launch of Armani Exchange watches accompanied with a lovely speech by Swati Gupta, the Marketing Manager of Fossil Group. She also took the opportunity to launch the social media contest on Twitter wherein 2 people stood a chance to win Armani Exchange watches.

After the launch of the contest, Leher Sethi took centre stage again, this time, to engage in a one-on-one conversation with Mr Kapil Mishra, who is a member of Arvind Kejriwal’s cabinet and represents the Karawal Nagar constituency. Collectively they brought to the fore, ways in which an individual can do their bit for the city.

After a thought provoking chat with the revered minister, it was time to felicitate confluencers who had each done wonders in their own domain. Keshav Suri, the Executive Director of the Lalit Group of Hotels, presented the awards to the bloggers who belonged to a diverse set of interest areas including young achievers like Shivesh Bhatia and established bloggers like Sukhneet Wadhwa. 

Fresca then educated everyone about their range of fresh and healthy juices which we can't wait to try for ourselves!

After an elucidation on the guilt free indulgence that Cocofly’s coconut water entails because it comes sans any preservatives or sugar, MC Sid wooed the audience with his rapping skills!

Hungry after all the interesting convos and discussions, the gathering dispersed for a cocktail break; sipping on Cutty Sark’s iconic whisky and Witlinger’s satiny textured beer, the crowd indulged in delectable sushi and used the opportunity to build a rapport with each other. The stage however wasn’t left empty! The cocktail break was peppered with a breathtaking performance by singer Dhruv Visvanath who left an enthralled audience cheering for an encore.

After the breezy concoctions and networking opportunities, was the time to immerse ourselves in another stimulating conversation that revolved around ways to bridge the gap between confluencers and brands. Moderated by Ritesh Singh, CEO of ARM Digital, the discussion involved influential panelists including the likes of Prince Khanna, Founder & CEO of Eleve Media and Karan Bhandari, Digital Director at Weber Shandwick. Collectively, the panelists highlighted ways to build better networks between brands and bloggers.

Having witnessed a number of refreshing conversations in the span of one evening, we could see that the audience was brimming with questions. The floor, was then, therefore thrown open to questions, and to answer them we got on board Naina Redhu, eminent luxury & lifestyle blogger and photographer who appeased the crowd with her crisp and succinct answers.

“Bloggers usually tend to work in isolation, so events like this are really important so that bloggers can meet their fellow bloggers and basically learn how not to kill themselves while working (laughs). It’s a really cool place and I really liked the subjects that had been chosen for the panel discussion for their utmost relevance to what bloggers have to actually deal with.” - Naina Redhu 

What followed was The Confluencers Pitch wherein 3 bloggers namely Devyani Kapoor, Faizan Patel and Pallavi Chaturvedi pitched their ideas for a campaign outreach program to a panel of four distinguished guests including Swati Gupta, Zoya Shakeel, account lead at WATconsult, Abhik Choudhury from North Star Co and Priyanka Kamboj from Design Aqua. The best pitch had been slated to win an Armani Exchange Watch.

Pallavi Chaturevdi took home the laurels.

After the heated pitching, we moved on to the much-awaited raffles give away, where 5 lucky winners were bestowed treasures such as meal vouchers, designer sunglasses and lots more.

Post the scintillating conversations and the awarding ceremonies came the part that we weren’t particularly excited about – the closing note, because it signified the lovely evening had come to an end. But all good things must end! To express her gratitude to all the bloggers and the influencers, Priyanka Sharma, co-founder of So Delhi took the stage to impart the closing note.

Post the closing note, the bloggers were seen indulging in The Lalit’s world renowned Dal Baluchi. We also heard rave reviews about the spaghetti which was being made in a big bowl of cheese! 

Heinrich Heine once said “Where words leave off, music begins” and we couldn’t agree more. 
Now at a loss of words given that the mesmerizing event was ending we took to music to end it in style. Delhi Drummers with their exhilarating performance made sure the night left an indelible imprint with the attendees.

As much as we didn’t want it to end, the event was concluded amidst much fervour. However, we promise to bring the most-talked-about-event-of-the-town back next year. We hope to see you there!