Saturday, 4 July 20265:00 PMHilton Chennai · Grand BallroomRound-table dinner
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Tonight, at a glance
One room. Fifty hosts. A story five years in the making.
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SVaaN hosts
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Guests
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Round tables
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Voices on stage
5:00
Doors · PM
What changed: the room is now round tables, not theatre rows · and the whole SVaaN team are the hosts. Every guest is seated beside people who know them by name. You are not attending this event. You are running it.
Two acts, mirroring the theme: Gratitude · the people who built SVaaN, honoured by name · then Growth · the room still to come. Use the Everyone / Host / Speaking switch at the top to see only what you need tonight.
The room
Hilton Chennai · Grand Ballroom
A pillarless ballroom that seats our whole family in the round. Know the space before the night: where guests enter, where the stage sits, where your table will be.
Images show the ballroom; our layout for the evening is round-table banquet facing the stage · see the floor plan below.
Round-table layout
Where everything sits
Fourteen round tables of ten, fanned around the stage. Each table has its SVaaN hosts and its guests. Aisles kept clear for the honouring walks to the stage.
Gold-ringed tables nearest the stage seat the guests of honour and their hosts. Backdrop reads "Gratitude & Growth"; the journey wall at the entrance (empty first office → today) is the photo moment.
If you're a host, read this
Your four jobs tonight
You don't need to memorise the whole evening. You need four things. Do these, and your guests will feel like the most important people in the room · because to you, they are.
1
Welcome
Find your guests at the door. Walk them in. Learn their names. Get them a drink. Make them feel expected.
2
Seat & settle
Bring them to your table. Introduce them to each other. When the program starts, phones down, warm attention.
3
Lead the room
You set the energy. Start the applause. Stand first when Dinesh asks the team to stand. Keep your table with the moment.
4
Dinner & goodbye
Guide your table to the buffet in a calm wave. Keep the conversation warm. No guest eats alone. Thank them as they leave.
The one rule: a guest should never have to look around for help. If they need anything · a chair, a drink, directions, a name · you are already there. That is the whole job.
Your night, minute by minute
The host timeline
The same evening as the stage runs · but written for you, the host. What to do, and when.
Before · from 4:30 PM
Host huddle
Arrive by 4:30, dressed and ready
Get your table number + guest names
Find your table; check chairs, water, name cards
Note if a guest of honour is at your table
2-minute huddle: cues, buffet plan, emergencies
5:00 · 6:24 PM
Doors & welcome
At the entrance as guests arrive
Greet by name, walk them to the table
Drinks, introductions, warmth
Watch for lost or first-time guests
By 6:20, gently seat everyone
6:25 · 8:15 PM
The program
Sit with your guests
Phones down · lead the applause cues
Stand first on Dinesh's "stand up"
Help any honoured guest to the stage & back
Keep the table quiet during speeches
8:22 PM onward
Dinner & farewell
Guide your table to the buffet in a wave
Keep conversation going, refill, include everyone
Help with photos at the journey wall
Walk your guests out · thank them personally
The energy is yours to lead
The six cues to lead the room
A room follows its hosts. When these moments come, you go first · the guests follow. Two of them are silences: let them land before the applause.
Golden rule of cueing: never clap over a speaker's line. Wait for the full stop, then bring the room up warm and sure.
Table assignments
Who hosts which table
The working plan. Guests of honour anchor the front tables; every table has a lead host and co-hosts. Organisers: fill the names before Saturday and each host reads only their own row.
Table
Lead host
Co-hosts
Anchor guest / of honour
This is a fill-in framework, not a final seating. Replace the italic slots with real names from the guest list. Keep the honoured guests on the gold front tables so their walk to the stage is short.
The evening
Run of show
The full agenda, 5:00 PM to dinner. Each stage moment shows who speaks and, where it matters, what hosts do.
The timing rule that saves the night: the team talks and honourings run tight · every speaker keeps to their minutes, and there is a timer light at the lectern. When it blinks, land your last line and step back. Warmth beats length, every time.
The voices
Scripts & teleprompter
Every stage voice, in order. Tap Read to see the script here, or Teleprompter for a big, auto-scrolling version to read from the podium on your phone.
Speakers · please make it yours. These are strong starting drafts in the SVaaN voice. Where you see a highlighted line, swap in your own true moment. The best three minutes you can give this room is an honest one.
Gratitude, by name
The guests of honour
The heart of the night. Dinesh names each one; a ponnadai / silk shawl is draped on stage, and a framed line · "your piece of the picture" · is given. Hosts: when a name is called, help them rise and reach the stage.
Online honourees appear by video · Dinesh introduces, the room watches together. Their applause matters just as much; lead it.
Production · day-of
Nothing forgotten
Stage & AV CONFIRM
PA for 150 · lectern mic + lapel & handheld backups
Screen + media player · clicker
Lectern timer light · every speaker
This playbook open on a podium phone/tablet
Online-speaker video files tested + backup
Room & tables SET BY 4:30
14 round tables · 10 covers · name cards
Gold front tables for guests of honour
Aisles clear for honouring walks
Backdrop "Gratitude & Growth" · journey wall
Ponnadai shawls + framed lines at stage-left
Hosts BRIEF 4:45
50 hosts checked in · table numbers issued
Guest names + VIP flags per table
Applause cues walked through once
Buffet-wave order agreed
People & flow
Emcee (Thirumahal) + stage manager
Registration & ushers at entrance
Photographer + multi-cam video
Banquet coordinator on standby
Films & content
Cold-open ("the empty room")
5-year montage · speaker name slides
Holding loop before doors
Dinner
Buffet opens 8:22 · hosts lead waves
Warm ambient light + music
Candid coverage continues
Who's in the room
The guest list
Everyone we are honoured to host tonight · who invited them, how they know SVaaN, and whether they join us in the room or online. Search or filter to find your guests.
Source: the Gratitude & Growth guest workbook. Online guests join by video · the room applauds them together.
First it lives in the mind. Then it lives in the room. Tonight, you are the room.
SVaaN @ Five · Gratitude & Growth · 4 July 2026 · Hilton Chennai
