Since many of you were unable to attend the presentation feedback session at Fontana, I wanted to share my notes.
2011 FSAE-California Biz Feedback Notes
Our veteran judges, some who have been here all six years, advised the overall quality was the best they have seen.
This years’ group of judges was the best ever (IMO). We had representatives from Mazda, Toyota, Hyundai, KIA, Suzuki, and Coda. We had journalists, academics and retired racers. We even had a former F1 team manager.
There were several near perfect scores. The top five were all viewed as amazing.
Preparation – It was OBVIOUS who did and did not prepare.
Showing up late in flip-flops and torn jeans and no presentation – just winging it. Really?
To paraphrase Scottish literary critic Andrew Lang; “Many of you use Powerpoint like a drunken man uses light-posts….for support rather than illumination.”
There is a phrase know in industry as “Death by Powerpoint”. Fancy graphics are great if they help you TELL THE STORY. Ask yourself if they did that?
One of the top-five teams used no powerpoint whatsoever. Content and delivery outweighed the lack of fancy graphics.
Handouts – About half of the teams had nothing. Really? Would you go to a job interview with no resume?
For those teams speaking English as a second language, we had very positive comments overall. An outstanding job.
Enthusiasm – The judges, especially the rookie judges, were surprised at how little enthusiasm many of you showed. Not sure if this was nerves, lack of sleep, or having the wrong team members doing the presentation. I KNOW you are enthused, but it failed to show in many instances.
Get help from within your school. Is there any competing university that does NOT have a business department?
Did you videotape your presentation? Why not? How will next years team improve?
Comments from top presentations:
“Extremely good market analysis”
“Original approach”
“Well balanced”
“Nice handouts”
“Outstanding delivery”
“Answered questions well”
“Good energy”
“Students well dressed”
“Well thought out”
“Good talk of customer relationship”
“Excellent financial analysis”
“Great use of team members to answer questions”
Comments on poor presentations:
“Bare-bones”
“Finished too early”
“Ran late”
“Showed up late”
“Blank stare instead of answers”
“No real financial proposal”
“Did they even read the rules”
“Poorly dressed”
“No presentation, just winged it”
“I expected a lot more from a school like……”
“Sloppy presentation”
“Needs to read rule book”
“Made poor use of time.”
“Wasted time in set-up.”
“No sense of market.”
“No clear idea of marketing.”
“Not compelling.”
“Work on delivery.”
“Unsure of what they were pitching.”
“No slides. No show and tell parts. Nothing.”
I've enjoyed supporting this event since 2006 and wish everyone well in Nebraska, Michigan, or wherever you compete in 2012. My goal remains to assist as many of you as possible in finding gainful employment in the industry. My favorite moment was last year when one of the judges DEMANDED a resume from one of the presenters -- he was THAT IMPRESSED with what he had seen that he wanted to talk career options.
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