On November 9-12, KCCNA was excited to create the first ever Knanaya Young Adults KYA Convention at the Planet Hollywood Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. This event was created for the 25-35 year old young adults in the Knanaya community to help connect with fellow young adults in their community. We created this event as there is no other official platform or sub organization within the community that covers this age group. After months of planning, we were able to bring our Knanaya Young Adults to Las Vegas to be surrounded by their fellow family and friends in our community!The Planning Committee’s focus for this convention was to create more unique ways to “ Meet and Greet” each other beyond the social activities that they normally do with their peers. We can successfully say that we had a lot of positive feedback from the participants as they were able to meet a lot of new people thanks to the events that were planned for the event! All the 200 plus Young adults who took part in this KYA convention had a great time and really enjoyed the various events laid out on all days of the event. Events included multiple speed dating sessions, group game activities, Vegas exploration, and clubbing. The final night ended with a formal banquet for everyone to “dress to impress” and have a nice meal with the new friendships that they have made.
All credits for a successful finish to this first ever KYA convention goes to the tremendous dedication and relentless hard work of the KYA Convention Planning Committee itself. KCCNA hereby thank each one of them for all their efforts, persistence, time and dedication for putting on this very needed event! This planning committee included KCCNA officers Jobin Kakkattil, Naomi Mnathuruthil, Phinu Thoompanal, Neil Edat, Becky Idiyalil, Albin Uppootil and Michael Kannan Chemmacheril. We couldn’t have made this event a success without you ! We were able to get really positive feedback from our participants.“The KYA convention in Vegas was one of the most organized, fun events for young adults I have attended. There were enough events that allowed everyone attending to meet different people and get to know people closer to their own age. I think it was very well catered to the crowd and everyone had an amazing time!”“The KYA Convention in Vegas was such a fun experience for our age group. It was so nice seeing people I haven’t seen in years! Kudos to the planning committee who took the time to plan this event for us. They did a great job communicating with the attendees and making sure all needs were met. I do believe that future conventions can improve by having a variety of activities planned that caters to all participants.
Having options in the schedule will allow people to bond over their different interests. Overall, it was a great opportunity to rekindle friendships and make new ones! I would highly recommend attending the next one.”“I’ve been to a few Knanaya mixers and Las Vegas by far was one of the best organized and most fun ones I’ve been to. The events were well organized and memorable, the food was delicious. An underrated aspect was the break that was implemented into the schedule. During such busy weekends, this break allowed my roommates and I to recharge and be ready to mingle. The organizers seemed like they were on top of everything and were able to adjust on the fly leading to minimal issues for the people attending. They also had great personalities that were reflected whenever they were leading events using the microphones, which led to a more relaxed environment all around (something that is tough when you bring a bunch of strangers together). They seemed to really care about ensuring everyone had a good time.”We want to give a special thanks to our KCCNA President Shaji Edat, Executive Vice President Gipson Purayampallil, Secretary Ajish Thamarathu, and Treasurer Samon Pallatumadom for having the vision of making this happen. We wanted to create an event for our Young Adults community and the KCCNA executive was 100% behind us every step of the way! We also want to specially thank our sponsors Accel Entertainment LLC, Simon & Elsa Kottoor, and James & Jessy Machathil for their great generosity that provided us with more opportunities to plan the events the way we had imagined. We couldn’t thank them enough!
All the participants parted ways having had a fantastic few days of fun and enjoyment with the desire to continue to connect the newly bonded relationships.
