Anant's blog: Be careful what you wish for, it might come true

Before we (the Campaign India edit team) left for Goafest, I wished we would get interview slots with all the speakers.

I wished we got slots with all the key winners of the media and creative awards.

I wished we chanced upon some extraordinary content opportunities.

I wished we would be able to smoothly do live text from the seminar halls.

I wished our photographer got great photographs.

I wished our video team, especially the editor, could turn around the production quickly.

I wished the internet bandwidth would be good.

Almost all that I wished for came true. The only wish that did not come true was regarding bandwidth. The speed (and the connectedness) that we got from our Tata Photon data cards when we were in the seminar halls were disastrous.

So we had a mountain of sessions to cover, a mountain of interviews to conduct and edit (both for print and for video). We managed the live text sessions by a painful relay from mobile phone to mobile phone to laptop and Internet – and didn’t miss a single session. Our guest bloggers delivered, our photographer delivered, our video team delivered and our dotcom consultants (by and large) delivered.

So much to do, and the team size the same.

And in Goa, I met numerous Indian and international CEOs all wishing that their India growth ambitions hold true.

And going by my experience of the last weekend, I suggest they have a long, hard look and ensure that their team size and quality is adequate for the growth they wish for and foresee.

Thanks to the global downturn, team sizes in advertising and media agencies in India have remained constant for the past couple of years, despite the work load increasing significantly – and, in many instances, the breaking point is fast approaching. Check on what the "capacity" of the existing work force is; assess whether additional business could be at the cost of loss of existing business thanks to stretched resources being unable to cope.

If the Goafest had carried on for another couple of days, my team would have reached breaking point and we could have lost a colleague or two thanks to sheer fatigue.

I've learnt a lesson or two;  I've to ensure that I do what I suggest you do.

Or I'll have to deal with the consequences.

As will you, if you get it wrong.