Last fall I participated in the Deloitte case competition held at the Goizueta Business School. A case competition is a mock business problem where students are tasked with creating and presenting their unique solution to the problem.
At the beginning I was nervous. This was my first time presenting to a panel of professionals.
In the end, the experience taught me that hard work, perseverance and passion for your work pays off.
We had three hours to prepare a case dealing with a merger and acquisition of a technology company. Nobody on my team had knowledge or experience with any components of the case. At first we decided that this was going to be a lost cause, especially given the experienced senior teams that we were up against. We spent half an hour deciding whether or not we should just give up and forfeit.
I convinced my teammates that participating in the competition would be a valuable experience for us, even if we lost.
With only two and a half hours left, we delegated tasks for each section of the case and got to work. I was under a lot of pressure to become an expert on the structural issues of mergers and acquisitions and on the technology marketplace. I developed an idea of how to articulate the key argument, but I was still a little uncertain.
It was time for us to present.
I was not the first speaker, giving me some time to practice the speech in my head while my teammates were presenting. I was nervous, but the more I focused and practiced my part, the more confident I became. It was my turn and I began to talk. Everything I had wanted to say came out flawlessly. I was done with my part and handed it off to my teammate.
Although I did not win, I was happy with the results of my presentation. All my hard work in the last three hours paid off. After the competition, the judges told me that I did a phenomenal job for my first competition.
– Ravi Shivarajpur, BBA13
