Heavener International Case Competition

Hotel

AC Hotel Gainesville
151 Nw 14th St
Gainesville, FL 32603
352-792-1151
Directions to hotel

All competition locations will be within walking distance of the host hotel with the university just across the street.

Rideshare services (Uber/Lyft) are also available in Gainesville.

Airports

Gainesville Regional Airport

Other airports within 2-3 hours of Gainesville:

• Jacksonville International Airport
• Tampa International Airport
• Orlando International Airport
• Tallahassee Airport

Case tools

• Laptop
• Charger
• Adapter
• Provided case materials outlined in the Case Information section of the Rule Book.

Travel items

• Toiletries
• Identification documents (e.g., passports)
• Phones
• Sunscreen
• Umbrella/Raingear

Clothes

Clothes for the week, including the following:

• Cocktail attire (e.g., semi-formal)
• Two (2) university t-shirts (one to wear at kick-off ceremony and one to swap at kick-off ceremony)
• Formal business attire (e.g., suits, blouses, blazers)

General expectations

• Submitted materials (i.e., PowerPoint slides) and presentations must be in English.
• Preparation of cases will occur in competitors’ hotel rooms.
• Teams are encouraged to conduct substantial research about the case company/industry prior to arriving at the competition if given the case companies.

Preparation materials

Provided materials:

• One (1) Flip Chart
• One (1) pack of four (4) colored markers
• Fifty (50) sheets of 8.5’’/11’’ paper

Allowed, but not provided materials:

• Calculators of any sort
• Additional stationery material (e.g., post-it notes, pens, pencils)
• Four (4) laptops with ability to connect to wifi networks
• Prepared documentation, research and notes
• Prepared presentation PowerPoint decks (i.e., templates) are allowed and encouraged

External communication

Teams are prohibited from communicating with any outside party during the time they are working on the case.

For Case 1, teams are prohibited from engaging in discussion about the case with anyone other than their team members until after the Question-and-Answer period.

For Case 2, teams are prohibited from engaging in communication with their coach until the finalists are announced. Finalists are prohibited from engaging in communication with their coach until after they have completed the Question-and-Answer period for the final round of presentations.

Division selection and team names

• Teams will be divided into four (4) divisions
• Universities will be assigned a division by a random draw
• Universities will present under a chosen team name (e.g., “ABC Consulting”). Team names may not identify the participants university or home country by any means (e.g., school colors, mascots, national symbols)

Case 1: 9 hours

• 1 pre-read
• 3-minute uninterrupted overview
• 22-minute discussion
• 2 summary slides (not including title slide) & unlimited appendix slides

Case 2: 28 hours

• 1 pre-read
• 5-minute uninterrupted overview
• 20-minute discussion
• 5 summary slides (not including title slide) & unlimited appendix slides

Case 1

Deliverables

• For case 1, teams must submit the presentation in both PDF and PowerPoint file format (.ppt or .pptx)
• A one-page pre-read to give to the judges that provides an overview of your recommendations is submitted the night before
• PowerPoint deck with two summary slides providing overview of recommendations followed by unlimited appendix slides supporting recommendations
• PowerPoint slide size is widescreen (16:9)

Presentation

Teams will present using one (1) personal laptop.

Teams will have three (3) uninterrupted minutes to present a summary of their recommendations. Teams may not access their appendix slides during this portion. Accessing appendix slides during this portion will result in a last place finish.

When the 3 minutes have elapsed, the room monitor will announce the start of the twenty-two (22) minute discussion period. Teams may access and are encouraged to use their appendix slides during this period.

There is no requirement on the number of team members that need to speak during the 3-minute presentation; however, all team members must speak during the discussion period.

Time signals of ten (10), five (5), two (2), and one (1) will be given for the discussion period. A one (1) minute signal will be given for the 3-minute pitch.

After the time has elapsed, the presenters will be cut-off if still speaking.

The judging panel will have access to virtual copies of the presentation.

Case 2

Deliverables

• For case 2, teams must submit the presentation in both PDF and PowerPoint file format (.ppt or .pptx)
• A one-page pre-read to give to the judges that provides an overview of your recommendations is submitted the night before
• PowerPoint deck with summary slides (five slide limit) providing overview of recommendations followed by unlimited appendix slides supporting recommendations
• PowerPoint slide size is widescreen (16:9)

Presentation

Teams will present using a provided computer.

Teams will have five (5) uninterrupted minutes to present a summary of their recommendations. Teams may not access their appendix slides during this portion. Accessing appendix slides during this portion will result in a last place finish. There is no requirement on the number of team members that need to speak during the 5-minute presentation.

When the 5 minutes have elapsed, the room monitor will announce the start of the twenty-minute (20) discussion period. Teams may access and are encouraged to use their appendix slides during this period. All team members must speak during the discussion period and failure for every team member to speak during the twenty-minute time frame results in a last place finish.

Time signals of ten (10), five (5), two (2), and one (1) will be given for the discussion period. A one-minute (1) signal will be given for the 5-minute overview.

After the time has elapsed, the presenters will be cut-off if still speaking.

The judging panel will have access to virtual copies of the presentation.

Deliverables

• The team with the highest number of points in each division will present in the final round. In the event of a tie, the team with the highest score for the long case will advance
• Teams will re-present their Case 2 presentation in the final round. Teams are not allowed to modify their PowerPoint in any way between the divisional and final round
• The order of finalist presentations will be chosen at random

Presentation

Presentation format follows case 2 instructions.

Case weighting: case 1 (9 hours)

• Case 1 weighted at 25% for final round eligibility
• Teams will choose their presentation time for Case 2 in the order they are ranked for Case 1. For example, the first-place team in Case 1 will be the first team in their division to choose which presentation time they want for Case 2

Case weighting: case 2 (28 hours)

• Case 2 weighted at 75% for final round eligibility
• The team in each division with the highest allocated points after Case 2 will present in the final round

In the event of a tie, the team with the highest score for the long case will advance.

Case weighting: point allocation

Case evaluation

Each case presentation will be evaluated by a panel of at least two (2) judges, with no maximum number of judges.

The judging panels will consist of case company representatives and industry professionals (e.g., consultants, bankers, etc.). There will be zero (0) academic staff on the judging panels.

The judges will rank the teams in their appointed divisions, with points allocated to teams as listed in the above table.

Spectator attendance

Competitors may not attend any other presentations during the three divisional rounds; however, all competitors are welcome and encouraged to watch the finalist presentations.

Finalist teams may only watch the remainder finalist presentations after they have presented.

Team coaches are allowed to attend all presentations in their assigned divisions. Coaches are not allowed to attend presentations from teams of another division.

The final round will be open to the public.

Case feedback

After all presentations, teams will be allowed ten (10) minutes of feedback from the judging panels. Teams are welcome to ask questions during this period on ways to improve, or just listen to the feedback.

Coaches are only allowed to attend the feedback of their team.

Rankings will not be given during the feedback, and teams are not allowed to ask for their rankings.

The Organizing Committee reserves the right to disqualify any team for violating any of the above rules. The right to disqualification extends to areas of competition not explicitly outlined in this rule book such as general conduct throughout the competition. Decisions by the committee are binding and non-negotiable.