Case competitions revolve around the all-important case – a problem statement (long or short) that you must solve. In preparing the case for XLRI Jamshedpur’s Clockspeed Case Competition, I learned one very important lesson – the solution to a case doesn’t revolve around extremely detailed quantitative analysis. It requires what I call the CEO’s Eye. The first step while reading the case is to identify the most critical issue – what would be the CEO’s primary pain point? Once you can put yourself in the CEO’s shoes, life gets easier, because then you can think of solutions as a CEO would – keeping all stakeholders in mind, minimizing the cost needed to bring about whatever change is required, and doing all this staying true to the company’s vision and values.
The PPT
In virtual case competition finales, your presentation would be shared on a Zoom screen with the jury panel. Nobody likes looking at a cluttered or unattractive presentation. On the other hand, a presentation without all the necessary analysis would not get you into the finale in the first place. Solution: Learn to own every pixel of the screen – know what to leave blank, what to write where, but actual spend time thinking of the design and the aesthetic. If your presentation is pleasing to look at, that definitely aids your effort. There are plenty of templates available online, but they will be of no use unless you actually plan your slides out. The templates are the tool, not the master.
Presenting Live
The all-important national finale, with you and about 10-12 other teams or individuals, all presenting to a jury panel. The most critical element here is often overlooked – the script! Have a script ready – don’t try to come up with clever things to say on the spot. With enough practice, you’ll get used to being able to read seamlessly off the screen. This keeps you focused and within the time limit. Also, don’t simply read off the slide, but focus on the key insights in each slide. Why is that slide there at all? If you find that a slide has no insight, you suddenly know that it can easily be excluded.
Case competitions are a lot of fun, teach you most of the key elements of business, and allow you to test your mettle against students from all over India. Also, winning the prize money doesn’t hurt either!
I hope sincerely this article was of help to the readers, and at the very least gives you enough confidence to go out there and participate!
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