Attending this conference was definitely an eye-opener. It was my first chance to step into the world of case competitions, and my first shot at travelling alone for an entire week. From hostels to five-star hotels, it was a truly incredible experience. From the perspective of the conference itself, here are some things that I learned along the way.
- I learned that you benefit the most when you put yourself in uncomfortable situations. I volunteered to present our team’s vision, despite the fact that I’ve only recently overcome my fear of public speaking and presenting, and it went extremely well. We were asked to come back and present in a bonus round made up of the 4 strongest performing teams.
- I learned that when you’re driven by the desire to engage and learn, the rewards come as an externality. Two events during the conference drove this concept home. The first was listening to the keynote speaker Drew Dudley, who spoke about how he has learned that the key to success is simply working hard doing whatever you love, and the rewards will follow suit. This could not have been better emphasized than when my team sat down at the awards gala with no expectations to even place in the competition, but with a sense of accomplishment for what we had done and learned over the weekend. We were all stunned when we were called up to receive silver medals – none of us had set winning an award as our priority; we had simply set a high standard for ourselves, which clearly paid off.
- I learned that time management is about always being ready to absorb the next task. It’s not about laying out a timeline that perfectly allows for a task to be accomplished, but rather about strategizing and working to complete something as efficiently as possible, so that you will have some flexibility when the next assignment gets throw your way. The competition kept us on our toes, with new rounds being announced constantly. I believe our team performed well because we were able to quickly prioritize and delegate, rather than panic, when new work arose.
I learned so much more than this, from meeting your expected first year Commerce students that seem to have their direction a bit too figured out (I’m sure they’ll realize this, just as I did), to encountering incredibly welcoming team mates, to forging friendships with strangers from other continents. I had a whirlwind of a week! Only my head can keep count of all the great lessons and friendships that this experience held. Thank you, Toronto!
My fabulous team members at the awards gala