Casebooks were shared in the groups, and I tried to go through them. Instantly, I knew it would be impossible to be on par with other students as the knowledge needed was enormous. I made up my mind that case competitions were a topic I should avoid at all costs when classes started because people would realize that I am not as smart as them.

 

Fast forward a few months, I reached the final round of six case competitions and won two of them. So, what caused this complete change? When our classes started, I got to meet these smart people in person, and they quickly became my friends. It took me time to share this insecurity with them, but they were more than happy to help me. Slowly but steadily, I started to understand what these competitions are and how to prepare for them. Some of the people whom I looked up to from those groups a few months ago were ready to team up with me, which gave a huge boost to my confidence.

 

I started to participate in as many case competitions as possible. I registered for a lot of competitions but participated in only a few of them due to time constraints. Initially, I was getting eliminated in the first round itself, and by luck, I reached Round Two of the prestigious ABFRL competition. I worked day and night on it but still couldn’t clear it. It was hurtful and insightful at the same time. Slowly, I started to find a pattern. Firstly, I was more interested in working on competitions related to marketing, and secondly, I had to put in more effort to give reliable sources, improve presentation aesthetics, and create a proper structure for my submissions. As a result, I started to selectively choose my registrations and participated only in marketing case competitions. At the same time, I started to analyse each and every presentation that my batchmates presented as our class assignment. I even ended up asking them to send the presentation so that I could dissect and use the best parts of it. For example, I noticed that one group regularly used the concept of user persona in all of their presentations, which kept me interested and created a story out of data. So, I started to use it in my submissions.

 

competitions that excite you, dissect and steal ideas from all the presentations you see, and volume is key. The more you participate, the more you learn, and the more chances you have to win.