Xavier Institute of Management’s fest Xpressions (file picture)

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 10: Managers-to-be residing on the lush green campus of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB), get to move out of their classrooms to put theories into practice during this time of the year.

Xpressions 2011, the annual business and cultural festival of XIMB, began today with the students burning a wooden X signifying the start of the event. A fusion dance, presented by the students to depict Xpressions, was followed by a Flash presentation and theme music. Then the game committees were out to finalise their teams.

The theme for Xpressions, this year, is “Iridescence — The Colourful Reflections”.

The festival includes about 50 events, both business and cultural. It is all set to see more than 1,500 participants from over 70 B-schools and 20 undergraduate colleges and a footfall of nearly 10,000. “There are participants from the best colleges in the country, including the IIMs, JBIMS, FMS and XLRI, and most of them have started arriving,” said Jyoti Prakash, a student.

Conclave, the inaugural event of Xpressions, will begin tomorrow morning. Reputed business personalities will discuss issues and answer questions at the event.

This year, the guest speakers include Rita Soni, CEO of Nasscom Foundation, Harish Bijoor, CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults Inc and Bibek Chattopadhyay, head (corporate communications) of Vedanta Aluminium Ltd.

“The guests will mostly speak on various issues the Gen Y is facing,” said Kartik, another student. The flagship events at Xpressions will include Gladiator, an event that tests a range of skills — both managerial and interpersonal. Moreover, there will be Kurukshetra, a cross-functional business strategy game that tests business acumen and decision making skills by simulating a real world business scenario.

The festival will also consist of events such as Skill City, a creative series of skill-based games, Helios, a management game designed exclusively for undergraduate students and Spardha, a test of social entrepreneurship quotient. Moreover, there will be events, organised by the academic committees of XIMB, namely Parikrama, Nirnay, Case in Point, Maven and Trade wars.

Decibelz, a rock band competition, will be performed on November 12, apart from Carnival De Vogue, a fashion show put together by students of various colleges and CeleblitZ, a night of music and revelry which will see singer Lucky Ali on the last night of Xpressions. Informal events such as Thirkan, Goonj and Nukkad would also be organised, said the students.