Wake Forest!

Because I all about working smarter not harder, here is an article I wrote for the MBA newsletter about our adventures at Wake Forest. I figured why write about it all over again!

The first week of February, seven BYU MBAs left P-town for the 18^th annual Wake Forest Marketing Summit MBA Case Competition in North Carolina. Brigham Cochran, Anthony Nielson, Mike Davis, Spencer Hill, Derron Bishop, Tom Orito and I spent the weeks prior preparing. Although we felt ready to compete, we were unprepared for the celebrity welcome we received upon arrival. Wake Forest treated us to a SUV limo ride, walk down the red carpet (complete with paparazzi flashbulbs and reporters shouting “Who are you wearing?”), plus lots of food.

Following the announcement of the super secret Summit sponsor (it was AllTel Wireless), our team locked ourselves in a study room for the next 36 hours to work. We busied ourselves getting up to speed on the current state of the wireless industry and filling the walls with Post-its of ideas. Two nights and lots of Diet Coke later, we presented our recommendations about how to take AllTel’s business to the next level.

Although we didn’t come away the champion, the Chief Marketing Officer of AllTel met with us for more than an hour discussing our ideas and presentation. He even told us we should have won the competition, but the panel of judges from companies outside the wireless industry ultimately chose a team with a more polished presentation.

Being chosen as one of only seven teams to compete was an honor. It was a fantastic experience to go up against other top MBA programs like Duke and U of Virginia and discover we can hang tough with the best of them.

There were a few more things that I didn't include in the article. We got to hear from Dan Heath who wrote the book, Make to Stick. His speech was interesting. He covered many of the highlights of his book, but made some good points about finding a big idea to get your product, service, candidate, etc. into the forefront of the consumer's mind.As I said in the article, it was an incredible experience. Wake Forest put on a top quality conference. It was obvious a lot of work went into it. Hopefully we will get chosen to compete again next year and maybe even come back with a win.