Teams ranging from 3 - 4 students are presented with a case brief problem and the goal is to ideate, design and present the most innovative solution to that problem. Different types of competitions include typical business management competitions, hackathons, environmental competitions and much more - you are bound to find something for you!
Following the release of the case brief, the initial judging is based off the quality of the slide deck submitted in order to make it to the first round of heats.
The case library includes some examples of high quality submissions!
Following admission into heats, presentations are given either in the form of a video or live pitch, judged by our sponsor representatives, who will select the teams that proceed into finals.
This is the final step! Presentations will be given to a live audience, generally in person, and judged by our sponsor representatives, where placings and prizes will be decided at the event.
The art to case competition success unifies a combination of aspects including good team culture, extensive research, innovative ideation and well pitched presentations. These can thus be broken down into 4 main components, the first being team formation, understanding working styles and setting expectations and goals.
When forming a case competition team it is important to have a diverse range of strengths amongst teammates. Teams typically have 1 person applying analysis, 2 brainstorming solution strategies and another working on implications and financials. To further breakdown exactly what these roles entail:
The Analyst is responsible for presenting insights and the quantitative data that supports the team’s solution. They must be able to produce logical frameworks and evidence-based findings in engaging and effective ways.
Skills and Attributes:StorytellingCritical ThinkingLogical ThinkingResearch
The Strategists (often two on a team) present your team's solution to the case problem. They must be able to think creatively and break down complex strategies into digestible ideas, captivating the audience with their presentation skills.
Skills and Attributes:CreativitySlide DesignBusiness AcumenClear Communication
The Financial Planner is in charge of calculating and presenting the impacts of your team's solution on the business, running through the solution's implementation phases and the financial figures of your proposed solution
Skills and Attributes:CreativitySlide DesignBusiness AcumenClear Communication
Although each role is highly important in turning the wheels for a successful competing team, they are not constrained to these 3 personas. Successful teams will also have a leader/visionary who organises the logistics, a good communicator to keep the team on track and a perfectionist who will seek to beautify the slide deck and presentation. All in all, formulating a great team sets up a strong foundation upon which a good case solution can be built. Once the team is formed, understanding each other's working styles and setting goals/expectations is the next step in getting the team to work harmoniously.
You now have your team but are unsure of how to take the first initial steps with the team. Now is your chance to work out how each other will work best together throughout the competition. The first team meeting is important in relaying the brickwork for the weeks that will follow during the competition. This meeting can be conducted in a number of ways, but here lies a simple set structure that your team can undergo to set the tone.
Whether you have teamed up with your friends or have entered as an individual with a team of new faces, having that initial conversation to break the ice is always a good way to start.
Your team may also want to set a few expectations to establish the standard for a quality submission. These expectations can take any form and are up to your team.
Once the team has gotten comfortable, it is important to set goals to achieve throughout the competition. This could be in the form of deadlines and wanting to push to get tasks done at certain times or may involve ranking well in the plans. Goals may even involve developing specific skills such as presentation, ideating or even working with a team. Whatever your goals may be, make sure to write them down for everyone to refer back to.
Using the roles previously mentioned to delegate, gives everyone a greater insight into what their role entails and who to approach when seeking assistance for a particular task.
Use tools such as ‘when2meet’ or google calendars in order to work out everyone’s availabilities and set a consistent meeting time. Every team will conduct these differently- see what works best for yours!
Although this is not a set structure for your first meeting, these 5 steps will help unify and guide the team in a direction that everyone is aware of. Once the first meeting is conducted, your team can now move on to reading the brief.
It’s now time to analyse the all-important case question with your teammates, but where do you start? To successfully analyse and understand a case problem, you can break the process down into 3 key steps:
Different cases require different types of approaches and answers. So make sure you understand what type of case question you are working with, which can come in three different forms: problem-solving, option selection and idea generation.
Reading a case takes a planned and strategic approach, and is vital if you want to ace the case! It’s best to read the case in its entirety first. This is generally a scan read, noting the important facts and statistics, which will help you start to think about the key issues and challenges in the case. Overall, once you get a sense of the brief which will usually detail information about the company and its financials, you can begin narrowing down on the specific points of data you feel are most relevant to your analysis and solution to the question. Most cases will have specific questions your team will need to respond to, so it’s often useful to scan these questions as part of your initial read. Sometimes the questions will be set out clearly at the end, while other times the questions are embedded within the case.
Winning teams put time and effort into their research! After narrowing down on the specific issues you want to focus on within the case, develop a plan for research and allocate research across team members to maximise the use of your time and draw on the skills of various team members. When the research is completed, come back together as a team and share your findings. It’s likely you’ll continue to research across the case-solving period.
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Different cases require different types of approaches and answers. So make sure you understand what type of case question you are working with, which can come in three different forms: problem-solving, option selection and idea generation.
In order to ace the case, taking a strategic approach to reading the brief is vital. Start by scanning the case in its entirety, noting important facts and stats. Once you get a sense of the brief, including detail about the company and its financials, begin narrowing down on specific points of data most relevant to your analysis and solution. Most cases have specific questions your team must respond to, so always take note of these before your initial read. Sometimes questions will be set out clearly at the end, whilst other times they are embedded within the case.
Winning teams put time and effort into their research! After narrowing down on the specific issues you want to focus on within the case, develop a plan for research and allocate research across team members to maximise the use of your time and draw on the skills of various team members. When the research is completed, come back together as a team and share your findings. It’s likely you’ll continue to research across the case-solving period.
So you’ve read and analysed the case briefly, and have a ton of research... what next? Let’s look at the next step, idea generation! Coming up with an effective and innovative solution to the case problem will be a process that differs for each case competition. But there are some concepts that can be the building blocks that lead you to that winning idea!
Be prepared to challenge any assumptions made, and further ponder key questions with your team. Judges are looking for solutions that work, have value, and can deliver real return on investments.
Find the heart of the case problem and ask:
How can you make the product/service more desirable to prospective customers?
Are there future game-changing shifts in the market?
How does the situation appear when viewed from multiple stakeholder perspectives?
These conversations can lead to innovative answers!
A SWOT analysis examines the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats relevant to the case company/industry. This is a great starting point to identify the pain points for a business by conceptualising its weaknesses and ideating with your team potential opportunities to mitigate this weakness.
You may observe a company with low quality products and struggling customer retention when reading the brief, and realise its opportunities to globalise and create new distribution channels in order to access higher quality products to boost customer satisfaction.
A SWOT analysis can begin the process of ideating a winning solution.
The best-case competition solutions that lead to the prized first place, are the creative ones! Showing the judges a solution that is not obvious and immediate and presenting an innovative idea they haven't seen before is a fantastic way to distinguish yourself from the crowd and rise above the competition! Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box and go above and beyond!
Your team has done the hard yards to get an awesome case submission-ready. Now it's time to get into how to present it. The final key to a great case solution is having an engaging pitch and slide deck to complement it. Various pieces of advice can be provided to better your slide deck and speech, but below we have hand-crafted a comprehensive list of tips that will very much get you to a final round submission.
An audience gets bored very quickly. Try integrating a relatable and emotional story that can engage and convince your audience. An emotional pull is important and ensures your presentation remains top of mind.
Effective persuaders modulate their voice, and by doing so, appear to be more confident in their argument. By raising and lowering the volume of your voice, and alternating between a high pitch and low pitch while delivering key messages, your presentation will be more influential, persuasive, and commanding.
Predict the questions or concerns that your audience may have by looking at their experience and thinking in their shoes. This will help in determining what content should be heard during the main presentation versus being justified in the Q&A section.
Create a ghost deck
To capture your viewer’s attention you must consider what message or emotion you want to evoke through your slides. Visually presenting your analysis either with a vertical or horizontal flow, can assist in organising your storyline.
Persuasive
Less is more! Limit slides to 2-3 colours with 1 accent colour, consistently use 1 font, ensure textboxes are aligned correctly and maximise each slide’s white space. Cleaner slides will improve your audience’s focus on the core message. For efficiency, using PowerPoint’s slide master can help create template slides with placeholders such as the tagline text box that can be easily reused.
Decoration is not design
A ghost deck acts as a work plan that allows your team members to align on the approach and direction before you populate your slides. Focus on creating meaningful headlines that develop a strong storyline before delving into the aesthetics of slide design.
Doing your first case competition can be daunting. You might find yourself with a big brief and little idea of how to approach it. For this reason, here are some points to guide you on how to get started so that you can tackle the case with confidence. Let’s begin with an example. Company X is a top player in the retail industry but has been struggling lately. They’re facing declining profits and are wary of new competition in the market. They’re here today to seek your help in devising a strategy which will improve profitability and help them regain market leadership.
Your analysis starts here when you open the brief for the first time. Note down the most important points – you can synthesise this by using a “SCQ” structure: Situation, Complication and Question.
There may be gaps in your knowledge that you’re still questioning after reading the brief. This is where you start to search online. Questions might include:
Just remember to not get trapped and start researching for hours – prioritise what you need to know now.
Get the team together and begin brainstorming your strategy. Try and go wild with this. Even if you think it’s unrealistic, note it down and discuss it as a team. Although those “rocketship” ideas might not be feasible, they could offer some inspiration and form the backbone of your strategy.
Now that you’ve brainstormed, flesh out your strategy and add those extra details you were missing before to give it some “wow” factor. Then, start thinking about your storyline – how are you going to explain the situation and your strategy all in your allocated time, and translate the messaging effectively onto slides? This will help structure your slide deck so you are able to sell and convince the judges that your strategy is the best.
By this point, your team should be working away at slides and feeling confident about the strategy. If you discover any concerns and or questions about your strategy at this stage, ask yourself whether it is something you can resolve with a mitigation strategy in place.
