If You've Ever Wanted to Sleepover at School...
You'll have the chance at the Fisher College of Business. Not just once - but TWICE!
Kidding. Sort of.
The Annual Fisher MHRM Internal Case Competition was held the previous weekend (November 7 and 8) and I'm 100% certain I've never spent that much time at school in my undergrad - or ever. While this might not sound like the party you'd expect to have during your weekend, it was an absolute blast.
The case competition goes like this: you wake up at an ungodly hour, attempt to make yourself look like a normal person, and arrive at school by 7:30am (how on earth did I do this on the regular when I was in high school?) Don't worry; coffee and breakfast are supplied. Shortly after, you'll be given case rules and then be presented with a live case*. Once the case has been introduced, you break into your (previously determined) teams and begin to come up with a viable solution for the company which presented the case. Some teams may finish quickly...others may not finish until well after midnight. My experience was the latter.
Despite being in the same room on campus for more than 15 hours, the time flew by because our team was coming up with great ideas as well as having a great time (pretty sure we played Taylor Swift's new album at least three times).
The next day we had to be on campus again at 7:30am. More coffee - more breakfast. We were then given our presentation times and set out into our team rooms to practice our pitch. We definitely played T. Swift a few more times to harness some positive juju.
Nerves were high until we were in front of the judges ready to present. Rather than a lecture-like presentation which we've all experienced when presenting a project for class, the presentation is very conversational. The judges ask questions, you answer. Generally, your classmates don't have a ton of questions for you regarding your presentation. But many of the judges are from the company which presented the case or a company facing a similar problem. They want to know why you came up with the solutions you came up with. Everyone in the room is very engaged. You're allotted 25 minutes to present your solution and most people still have plenty they want to say when the time is up.
My suggestions for anyone interested in participating in the case competition: bring a pillow and blanket (kidding - sort of); get up and walk around when you've been sitting for too long; make sure you're well-fed and hydrated (food and beverages are provided the whole day. Take advantage of that); you're not given enough time to present all of your ideas - pick two to three of your best ideas and prepare to go into detail about them; have proof about why your ideas will work - while businesses generally value creativity, they also value results. Prove that your solutions will give them what they want.
Most importantly - HAVE FUN.
*Case details are omitted for confidentiality.