What sets Chetan Sharma apart as an events moderator is a combination of stage presence; strategic business acumen, an understanding of conference communication and an insistence on investing pre-production time to fully comprehend the company, its culture, challenges, industry it operates in and its objectives of organizing the event.
Chetan is a sought after live events moderator, a position strengthened by his vast experience as a TV anchor, columnist and business consultant.
Reputed as highly effective, Chetan has featured in global corporate meetings, theme based conferences, internal restructuring seminars of companies, brain storming symposiums, strategy development meets, product launch interviews and discussions, management off sites and corporate training/orientation programs, amongst others.
Chetan’s moderation skills are widely acknowledged by the companies he has had the opportunity to work with. Chetan uses his deep knowledge and understanding of the Indian economy and financial landscape, management practices, industry and business trends and a thorough understanding of the company he is working with, to engage both the presenters and audience with tact, timing and wit, in order to ensure that the event objectives are met and its messages effectively delivered. His deep experience that comes with having moderated many international seminars, gives him the advantage and familiarity to knit together global thought with Indian action. As a client company spokesperson put it – ‘India needs to address the Globe and the Globe needs to come to India; Chetan is able to clearly make the connection”. Chetan’s ability to understand and deliver on company requirements by always ensuring that the participants look good in front of the audience, as well as being the ‘conscience of the audience’, has been repeatedly complimented.
Given his deep experience in being a specialist conference moderator, Chetan’s understating of what makes an event moderator successful lends to his success. The approach of choosing an expert in a particular field to moderate a related discussion could be erroneous, he feels strongly. Here the discussion can run the danger of becoming academic and most often disengaging. He suggests that a successful moderator needs to have the ability to engage, improvise, energize and with just enough domain knowledge to be able to make the discussion effective, meaningful and result oriented.
Chetan believes in taking the events he moderates beyond the stage and necessarily likes to invest pre-production time with the event management firm and the client to gain a complete understanding of key challenges and issues, consult on planning the content for the event and making suggestions on relevant guests and speakers who could be invited. His involvement at an early stage has been regularly described by clients as ‘insightful and invaluable’.
Chetan’s television career of over 12 years has been focused on business and news. During this time he has held several senior editorial positions at leading channels, including NDTV and TV Today, and has consulted with others, such as ESPN Star Sports and TWI. He is currently a Consulting Editor with Zee Network.
As a television anchor, Chetan has had the opportunity to interview several international world leaders including Warren Buffet, Michael Dell, Carly Fiorina and Dame Anita Roddick; leading Indian industrialists; senior Indian politicians /ministers; foreign ambassadors and Hollywood stars.
Over the years, Chetan has won several awards in media, including the best Television Anchor Award.
Chetan regularly contributes articles for various print publications on a diverse range of social, political and economic issues. He is currently writing a book on the history of the stock markets in India and a book of poetry in Hindi.
Read Chetan’s most recent articles.
A serial entrepreneur, Chetan runs three separate advisories in media consulting, Public Relations and business communication, finance and market research. He has been engaged by large corporate to educate and train their corporate leaders in effectively dealing with the media and has counseled administration departments in large corporate houses in the art of management and public speaking. He also enjoys training young professionals in the art of anchoring, scripting, reporting and team leadership.
He has also been an analyst on the stock markets and a financial consultant for over 16 years. He continues to be on the advisory board of several companies across sectors.