High achievement always takes place in a framework of high expectation. This proved very true in the case of Communication360, India’ss 1st Annual Inter-college competition held by The Writers Block (TWB), on the 25th November, 2009 at “The Chancery”, Bangalore. The competition which received an over-whelming response from 38 colleges all over India, saw the chosen final 10 teams out of the 98 entries received, battle it out, to be the best! While creativity surpassed all expectations, presentations by the teams were eminent. The teams were required to make a poster, a brochure and a user guide on how to use an Apple iPod touch.

Communication360 is inspired by the huge role technology plays in our lives and the need to keep communication relevant and sharp. SJBIT, Brindavan college, Auden technology and Management Academy, Christ University , R.V College of Engineering and Acharya Institute of Management and Sciences were the colleges which produced the top ten teams. The panel of sjury and speakers included consisted of:

• Mr. Rakesh Shukla-Founder and Managing Director of The Writers Block (TWB).
• Ms.SandhyaPrasad,President of the STC(India) and Director of Information Development-BEA/Oracle Systems.
• Ms.Aarohi Singh-A self taught artist and an information architect.
• Ms.Arundhati Ghosh-Deputy Director of India, Foundation for Arts and a paticipant in the lead India campaign.

The day kick started with Mr.Rakesh Shukla, CEO/Founder of The Writers Block sharing his perspective about Communication360 with the audience, following a talk on how “Communication marries Technology” by Ms.Sandhya Prasad, the President of the STC(India), Director of Information Development, BEA/Oracle Systems.

The Competition began with Brindavan College presenting their Poster, Brochure and User guide to the jury and the audience. The jury continued with a 5-minute long rebuttal. This was followed by the other teams who were questioned on various aspects like the content of the user guide, the usability of the brochure, the exhaustibility of the user guide, design of their poster, the various aspects it covered and the like.

After breaking for tea, the event was followed by a talk on “Art as Communication” by Ms. Aarohi Singh and an interactive session on “Communication in a multi cultural context” by Ms.Arundhati Ghosh. Aarohi spoke with great insite about how communication relies heavily on the visual medium – the role of color, of visual balance, of context including social, economic & historical in visual communication. There was applause and great interest from the participants in general and some specific to their entries. Arundhati spoke eloquently and put communication in the perspective of the culture including how the cultural background of the receiver of the information and the provider of the information play key roles in the overall effectiveness of the communication. This was illustrated with relevant and hilarious examples from everyday life. The Panel session, in some ways, was the highlight of the afternoon, since it allowed student to have a high quality interaction and gain from the perspective of the eminent panel.

Then, it was time for the most awaited and exciting part of Communication 360, the prize distribution ceremony! All the teams had their fingers crossed as it was not possible for one to even guess who would win as they had been subjected to a very tough competition from all the 10 teams. The jury and the speakers declared Debanga Nimal and Ganesh Acharya from SJBIT as the Winners, C.M. Chandan and Manoj.M from Auden Technology and Management Academy as the First runners-up and Livin Varghese and Shailesh from Christ University as the Second runners-up.

The event received a thumbs-up from all the teams. While some were heard saying that they had a lot of fun while preparing for the event, some were heard saying that it was very educative. Kudos to Communication360 and TWB!