If you think a business degree is about sitting bored in lecture halls and auditoriums, think again.
To prepare for business schools, students gear up for lecture room cold-calling, months of career recruiting, and enough networking to last a lifetime. What many MBA students don’t anticipate are case competitions.
An often-underrated way to derive value from your business school education, case competitions offer students the opportunity to consult for real clients, helping to solve pressing business problems. These competitions have become almost a rite of passage at graduate schools across the nation. Plus, they tend to pay generously – a perk always welcomes on an MBA budget.
Among busy MBA schedules, making time for a case competition may be difficult. However, it can be one of the
most rewarding experiences of a business school. After competing and succeeding in a couple during my first year and interacting with some like-minded
junta at XIMB, I’ve gleaned some helpful tips and tricks for designing a “winning” solution and getting the most out of the case competition experience.
1. Make it Human-Centred
Get out there and talk to people! Secondary research is important. Where possible, your ideas should also be informed by robust primary research. Judges will be impressed when you are able to cite conversations with people who are “living the problem.”
2. Keep it Laser-Focused
When solving an innovation challenge, there are typically a number of exciting possible solutions. I’ve found that it is most effective to select the
one solution you think is most compelling Then, tell the audience
why you chose it, and build it out in detail. The audience will be much more impressed by a single, deep and well-studied solution than a set of broad and shallow ones.
3. Make it Beautiful
The value of an aesthetically compelling presentation cannot be overstated. This will keep your audience alert and engaged. Straightforward, crisp slides with simple design elements will go a long way. If you want to take it one step further, don’t be afraid to get creative by adding illustrations and vivid imagery.
4. Know your Numbers
When it comes to Q&A time, it’s always satisfying to respond to a judge’s doubting question with, “Yes, and we have data to support that.” If you’re going to whip out that reply, make sure you’ve done your homework. While only key numbers should be presented, an appendix is a helpful add-on for all the numerical content that you may want to pull out of your arsenal during follow-up questioning. Make sure you practice speaking confidently about
how you arrived at those final numbers as well.
5. Make it Actionable
Ultimately, judges want solutions that feel tangible – ones they can execute readily, with an existing budget, and feel excited to promote to internal stakeholders. Craft a clear outline for how you’ll launch your idea, what money you’ll leverage, and what existing resources you can draw on. If you want to add some glitz, you can always build out a roadmap for how your solution might evolve and grow as you scale (three, five, or ten years down the line).
6. Tell a Story
Business jargon and charts might seem impressive, but if the judges aren’t hooked they may miss the genius of your solution. Storytelling can be a critical lever for standing out and connecting with your audience. Share emotional and powerful stories of personas or real people you spoke with to demonstrate how this solution will transform the lives of customers and stakeholders. Coming full circle to my first tip: speaking with people out in the world will enable you to deliver compelling human stories.
One Bonus Tip to Remember: Be sure to make it fun! That may sound cheesy, but it’s hard to envision and build out a business solution under time constraints if you’re not curious about the subject matter. Find teammates you enjoy spending time with, and let your enthusiasm shine when pitch day rolls around!