Meet the Webinar Man of India
Turning adversity into opportunity is the principle that is followed by those who attain high success. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is one such time which tested the mettle of individuals on how they coped with the tough times which threw challenges for everyone.
One of such persons who stood out and turned adversity into an advantage is the dynamic Founder and Pro Vice-Chancellor of Himachal Pradesh based Shoolini University, Prof Atul Khosla, who richly deserves the title of the “Webinar Man of India”! Over the last four months, he has organised and participated in over 200 webinars, and counting.
The sudden lockdown in the country brought almost everything to a standstill and educational institutions were among the hardest hit. Lakhs of students across the country suddenly found themselves confined to their homes with educational institutions shutting down. For the young who would like to go out and meet their friends and experience the world, it was and continues to be an unwelcome time.
From corporate world to academia
Prof Khosla, who has transitioned from the corporate world to academia, is an alumnus of IIT, Kanpur with an MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. After his starting his career at McKinsey, he travelled the world and set up a successful business before moving to head Oliver Wyman in India and finally to Shoolini University.
How to keep the students engaged and how to bring the best of talent to them was a challenge which was taken up by Prof Khosla. He was able to turn the depressing situation into a fruitful one and in fact took advantage of the circumstances to the benefit of students.
The beautiful location of Shoolini University, in the Kasauli hills, also has the disadvantage of being a little difficult to access by high achievers, famous personalities, opinion makers and role models to physically visit the campus due to their hectic schedule.
That’s exactly what Prof Khosla planned to “exploit” the situation. With these personalities too confined to their homes, he reached out to them to participate in a series of webinars, called Yogananda Virtual Guru series, while sitting in their homes. The likes of cricket hero Yuvraj Singh, singer Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan, first woman IPS officer Kiran Bedi, actor and activist Dia Mirza, famous singer Jasbir Jassi, thespian Anupam Kher and actor and politician Gul Panag among others, were roped in to speak to the students and faculty. Besides them, a number of leading academicians and industry leaders have participated in the series. So far about 50 such webinars have been organised.
Yet another series is called “Expert Talks” in which experts from various fields participate and interact with the audience.
The University has organised several virtual international seminars including those on yoga, literature and experiments being conducted to find prevention and cure of Covid-19.
‘Master Class’
In another series of webinar initiated by him, in association with former IAS officer and motivational speaker, Vivek Atray, several senior serving and retired officers interacted with students. The series, called “Master Class” is aimed to provide tips to the aspirants for civil services. I’m yet another success series of webinars, called “Ideas That Matter”, he has so far interacted with at least 1,00,000 school teachers and has spoken on education and leadership qualities.
The schools are offered a few ideas on which their teachers would like to interact. “The concept behind the series is to create a platform for exchange of ideas and to enhance knowledge base”, Prof Khosla said and added that it has proved an effective way to inspire students through their teachers.
Among the latest webinar series led by him are “Master Speaks” in which industry experts are invited to speak and share their domain knowledge with the staff and students of the University.
Such has been his reach and influence that several institutions are now approaching him to deliver talks and participate in webinars being organised used by them!