NetIP Houston – 2011 Year in Review!

NetIP Houston – An Explosive Year!

2011 has been a year of many firsts for NetIP Houston. The best analogy for our growth and our challenges is “raising a child.” For those of you who have experienced this, or even been a close aunt or uncle, you will understand what I mean. Five years ago when the Houston chapter was revived, the board members were motivated but the population was not. They had been burned by the earlier board due to lack of activity and it was clear that the group was not going to grow rapidly and trust had to be established again with the members.

It’s the same feeling you get when you see a child trying to crawl and stumbling and falling. You feel helpless because you know they can do it, but they are just not ready and nothing you can do will push the process along.

Slow and steady, over the past four years, Houston has been building its credibility through a varied range of events such as pottery classes, rock climbing, community service events, networking mixers, dinner circles and speaker series. In 2011, Houston finally reached its tipping point.  We had built enough credibility to start the year off with a bang.

In January 2011, Houston signed up more members than our total number the previous year.  As the year progressed, we definitely saw a decline or rather a steady and slow increase but what was interesting is that people we had never spoken to or didn’t know at all were signing up because of word of mouth.  That in our book is a sure sign of things going right.

The other serendipitous occurrence was that some of our existing board were involved in other community groups in Houston. Our President was involved with the Indo Action Political Committee, our Treasurer was involved with the Indo American Chamber of Greater Houston, and a leadership effort called Share Our Secrets, our Political chair was involved directly with the Mayor’s camp, and we had a long standing history of supporting the India Culture Center, one of Houston’s oldest associations.

The board therefore decided on an outreach strategy. 2011 was the year of building community relationships. Each one of us reached out to different groups we had connections with and we either supported or co-sponsored events with them. For instance we had a booth at the India Culture Center Independence Day Event, we held a Fashion Show for Holi and for the International Festival that came to town, we supported the Mayor’s campaign by helping in the Call Center and we brought down the house at a local radio show event.  This strategy paid off for us in more than one way.  This year we won the Community Outreach Boscar at the national conference and we are now a well-known name in the larger desi community.

With increased visibility comes increased responsibility of maintaining a positive profile in the community. One failed event and we could potentially lose some of the good will we have built, one brick at a time. As a result we now think of the impact of our actions on a wider scale. It’s easier to have things go wrong with a small group, you can manage the damage. But if things go wrong with say a radio station, then the echoing impacts are unmanageable.

 We learned several key lessons in 2011 whilst trying to protect our reputation. Our Fashion Show with a local radio station required a significant amount of damage control due to miscommunication of roles and expectations. Several conversations and discussions later we delivered a spectacular show and we continue to support and be supported by one of Houston’s most popular and fast growing Desi radio stations.

Our most exciting event in 2011 was the Fashion Show we did for Houston’s International Festival. This year the India was one of the focus countries of the event so we felt very privileged to show off Indian outfits. Of course coordination was a night mare. Getting people in and out, selecting the clothes, deciding the theme, practicing the walk; all of it was handled by a crew of three-four people with a lot of help from friends. We picked regional sarees from different eras and then we had a segment on “nouveau Indian clothing,” a blend between East and West. It certainly helped that we have a fashion designer who serves on our board.

As we wrap up 2011 and reflect, we know we have a lot more work to do. We need to establish our political events, we are hosting Krishnan Narayan in March 2012 as part of our “For the Love of Food” fundraiser where we raise money for Houston’s food bank and have a cooking competition as part of the event, we know we have to establish our leadership series and engage many more board members. But all this is part n parcel of growing up, we feel like we are barely in our adolescent stage right now and just about to shoot up into adulthood. The good thing is a fair percentage of the board is staying on, some new enthusiasts want to join and we have nothing but bigger and better things to look forward to in 2011.