One such incident is Cerebrate. Almost a month after the event is over, here I am putting some of my thoughts together.

Cerebrate has been an idea two years in the making. Ever since I learnt about FooCamp and the fantastic people who gather together every year, I have always earned for such an event. Then I come across this fantastic event called TED, and my grouse and longing only grew bigger.

There’s no way I would either be invited to such an event as FooCamp or would I be able to afford the exorbitant fees of a TED. I also wondered why don’t such events ever happen in India. That’s when I decided that instead of waiting and wishing that someone does it, let’s roll up our sleeves and get it done ourselves. That’s how the event came to be.

So, what is Cerebrate? In simple terms, it’s getting the very best minds from different fields together for three days of togetherness, ideating and sharing knowledge. These are folks from Law, Movies, Technology, Theatre, Sports, Management, Photography, Medicine, Journalism, Music…. The only connecting factor amongst the lot is the excellence. These are folks who are driven and have achieved in their own chosen fields.

I’d like to encourage you guys to take a look at the key people who we invited for the first edition of Cerebrate. The event took place at the beautiful Club Mahindra Resort on Varca Beach. Club Mahindra have bought into the idea and have been generously helpful in supporting the event for the long term.

Here’s a quick picture log of the event.

The cap

Cerebrate in progress.

Eliciting a point.

The main essence has been the sharing of experiences and learning from one another.

Everyone engrossed in Sudhir’s bazooka of a camera. Learning the tricks of wildlife photography.

More togetherness.

Casual hallway conversations.

The outdoors ideation session.

That’s the view from one of the rooms. Fabulous pool.

One of the rooms.

Panoramic view of the ground

The Dune Shack on the Beach where we had our dinner.

View of the reception

Group snap before departure

A select panel of 10 CEOs have been invited by NASSCOM for an exclusive round table with Ray Ozzie, Microsoft’s Chief Software Architect. Or better known as the man who took Bill Gates’ place when he retired.

The invitees are:

1. Sharad Sharma, CEO Yahoo! R&D who is also the Session Chair & Moderator.

2. Ramalinga Raju, Founder & Chairman, Satyam Computers

3. Biren Ghosh, CEO Kahani World Inc.

4. Ashish Gupta, CoFounder and Managing Partner, Helion VC

5. Rajiv Mody, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Sasken Communications

6. Anand Deshpande, Founder Chairman and Managing Director, Persistent Technologies

7. Kiruba Shankar, Blogger, Columnist, CEO, Business Blogging, Founder, F5ive Tech.

8. Mohan C M, Chief Scientist, IBM India

9. Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman and Managing Director, Microsoft India

10. Ram Narayanan, Vice President, Yahoo! R & D

The discussion is going to be on the topic, ‘Is the Rise of SaaS an Opportunity for India?’ To me, the coincidence couldn’t have been any higher. Exactly the day before I got the invite (which was two weeks ago), I had scheduled ‘SaaS’ as the subject for my column in Business Standard for next week. I’ll just advance it now. I shouldn’t have any problem getting the best quotes!

Being a blogger, I’m the natural choice for being the guy who documents the meeting discussion. With such brilliant minds around, I’m going to be one busy ‘note taker’.

The round-table with Ray brings up my memories of a similar meeting with Kevin Turner, the COO of Microsoft. It took place almost exactly one year ago.

One of the big reason why I’m eagerly looking forward to the meeting is because I’ll get to meet 8 of the 10 people for the first time. The only people who I’ve met before are Sharad and Ravi Venkatesan. It’s always interesting connecing up with new people who have accomplished a lot in their life. (which has been the motivating factor for me to start Cerebrate.)