Interviewing the 24th Bentley Business Bowl Champions
March 15, 2021
The 24th Bentley Business Bowl was held virtually on February 20, 2021. The Business Bowl is a one-day campus-wide business case competition held annually. In past competitions, participants had to build their presentations within four hours after their task. In the current virtual environment, the 24th Bentley Business Bowl was held online with the difficulty of the case increased and extended time to prepare.
Xiaoshuang Liu, MSBA '21, Xiaojun Zhang, MSBA '21 (Food Science Background), Guo Rui, MSBA '21 (Finance and Accounting Background), Yanjun He, MSAA '21, and Ziyun Miao, MBA '21 (Computer Science Background) formed a team.
The team was the first group to present in the first round, but they didn't receive any updates until the last minute. The team adjusted their presentation content according to suggestions from judges and practiced several times before the next round. Xiaoshuang Liu also added an essential evaluation part to the presentation, which positively surprised the judges. Our graduate students were able to help enterprises solve problems, extend the case beyond economic benefits, and put an exclamation point on their presentation.
Tips and tricks from the Champion team include:
- Diversify team member backgrounds to be well prepared
- Ask previous participants about their experience. It helps!
- Learn from real-world business cases to solve business problems
- Focus on the process of the competition not the result of it. Take it as an opportunity to learn and grow.
Xiaojun Zhang, MSBA '21 on competition difficulties: First, five of us have three time zones, such as Boston, Florida and Beijing time. As the business competition was one day, I decided to stay on the same schedule with my teammates at night and catch up on sleep during the day. Secondly, the question we got was open and broad. There were no sample solutions or even outline we could refer to. So, there were chances that we might misunderstand the problems. Since we prepared several case outlines before the competition, we overcome this obstacle.
Q: What are your most significant gains from the competition:
Xiaoshuang Liu, MSBA '21: I appreciate that the previous participants shared their experiences with us. The Bentley community is helpful!
Xiaojun Zhang, MSBA '21: It's a good experience including researching with peers before the competition and throughout the whole competition. My team is the best! Every teammate was friendly to help and willing to put effort forward in this journey. This is one of my best memories at Bentley.
Ziyun Miao, MBA '21: The business competition is a great experience to apply my knowledge and network with new friends. Everyone is dedicated to the competition. Xiaoshuang is a great leader. We supported each other to win the game.
Guo Rui, MSBA '21: The Bentley Business Bowl was close. As soon as we noticed that we entered the final rounds, we rolled up our sleeves and put all of our time into it. We changed the PPT at the last second. I want to thank my highly collaborative team members who brainstormed together for 15 hours! Always try your best and never give up!
Yanjun He, MSAA '21: This experience was like a rollercoaster ride as we were not confident entering the final round, but we were informed at the last minute that we did win first place. It is just like a turn of the tide. The bonus is even more unexpected. Best Online Team!
Interested in Bentley graduate programs and graduate student experiences? Don’t forget to register for Graduate Preview Week starting March 20, 2021 to meet our students, faculty, and staff through informative sessions. We welcome this opportunity to showcase the technology and flexible formats that make Bentley’s graduate programs a top choice for busy and aspiring professionals.