I very naively and blindly participated in the marketing strategy competition at the 2017 AMA International Collegiate Conference in New Orleans. This is something that I really hope and recommend the BSU AMA to practice and try out before heading to New Orleans next year! The case was for Mary Kay makeup. Participants had 20 minutes to read about the company, their mission and goals and present a marketing strategy for the brand to a panel of 3-4 judges.
To me, it was intimidating because I didn't know what to expect and I definitely wasn't expecting the competition to run as it did. Each team showed up to one meeting room at 9 AM and was from there assigned to another time to come back to compete. My teammate and I (after giving up our early timeslot to another group with a timing conflict) had to kill 2 hours and come back at 11 AM. This doesn't need to be intimidating however! Here are a few things I wish I had known:
Practice your 'confident voice''Fake it 'til you make it' is a very real thing. I feel like I could have sounded so much more convincing if I had my confidence voice perfected. Even if you aren't positive that you know what you're talking about, a strong, confident voice can trick the judges into thinking that you know what you're talking about.
Have a plan
Go into the reading & learning part of the competition looking to make a SWOT analysis. Look for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats while you read!
Don't spend all of your time making notes
Don't spend all of your time making notes
Similar to perfecting your voice, make sure you know yourself. If you're not one to be able to talk something up on the spot, spend some of your preparation time formulating sentences and practicing what you're going to say. Charts and notes aren't going to help you in the judgement room if you can't translate them into sentences!
Good luck with the competition!
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