Silver placing for Victoria Law students in business case competition
Four Victoria Law students, all members of Victoria’s Business Consulting club (VBCC), have taken home second place in the national business case competition this year.
The students hadn’t competed together before gaining second place in the national business case competition in July.
But they were, as team member David Cheng said, “a well-oiled machine”, and impressed judges with their presentation skills, business nous and problem solving.
David, and fellow Law students Kathleen Best, Tamara Jenkin and Robert Teagle were selected to represent Victoria in Auckland after performing well at the VBCC’s internal competition.
“A lot of our students are law students. It allows us to diversify, and generally be able to make connections with business. It’s really valuable”, comments Robert.
The competition was new territory for three of the members, as only David had previous experience at a Student Development Society’s national-level business case competition.
Each of the five teams from various New Zealand universities was presented with a stack of business documents, stripped of internet devices and given five hours to devise a solution to multifaceted real-world business problems.
They then had 10 minutes to present their business case to the judges, followed by 10 minutes fielding questions.
David says a lot of time went into honing their presentation skills prior to the competition with coach Hayden Berkers from Deloitte. “We spent over 10 hours practicing with Hayden. We would prepare presentations, present, de-brief, receive feedback and identify key areas to work on.”
“The advice he gave was invaluable,” Robert adds. “We were able to learn from his experience and learn what makes an effective presentation.”
Both David and Robert agree the case competition provides valuable experience developing their skills in analytical thinking, presenting, leadership and collaboration. David notes, “It also provides the opportunity to travel and meet some really cool people.”