SOM498 Capstone Course Case Competition

Coaching Advice

What is expected of the Panels?

We ask you to provide realistic and helpful critiques of presentations that will help students understand what the expectations are for entry-level managers at local firms. This presentation is a practice run for the students before they give the final presentation, therefore, they will not be graded. The students receive the feedback and used it to make dramatic improvements to their presentations for the second (graded) run through.

My comments are often consistent from presentation to presentation. I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but I do want to point out areas for improvement. How should I handle this repetition?

Unfortunately, students don’t always learn from others’ mistakes. If you feel feedback is appropriate for a particular presentation, please provide the feedback in the most constructive, professional way possible.

Do the panels discuss their opinions among themselves before giving the feedback to the students?

Usually the panels do not confer before offering feedback. We encourage the coaches to rotate the order of who provides comments first, second, etc. You’ll find that many of the comments are applicable to several of the presentations.

How candid or cautious should I be in giving feedback to the students? I’m concerned that I will be either too severe and critical or too general and soft.

We want our students to be treated as if they worked for you. Imagine that the student teams reported to you and that their report reflected on you and your organization. Would you accept the presentation as it is? Or would you want it changed? What standards do you have for the work that is done for you? Provide the same level of candor and specificity to our students as you would give your direct reports.

Does the panel ask questions during a presentation or at the end?

We do ask that the coaches wait until the end of the presentation to ask questions. The students tend to be quite nervous and we like to give them an opportunity to present all their research prior to being questioned.

Will all the students in the groups be presenting?

The presentation groups vary from 3-4 students. I strongly encourage all members to present, but you may find some students are so adverse to public speaking that they do not participate in the oral part of the project. We do allow the students to make the choice.

Should I focus on evaluating the presentation style or on the content?

As you know, presentation skill really covers both delivery style and the quality of what is being presented. We ask you to provide feedback on presentation behavior, speaking style, and on the completeness and appropriateness of information included. The “Presentation Checklist” is provided to help you organize your thoughts.

I am concerned that my comments may be contrary to what the students are learning in class. Should I be?

In a perfect world we would never have to deal with ambiguous signals or assessments. Since most of us have been in those situations where we receive conflicting information, we fully anticipate that this may happen during the coach feedback. This day is an entirely developmental exercise and part of the development is learning to deal with ambiguity and benefit from multiple perspectives.

What are the Panels?

Panels consist of 3 or 4 business professionals from area firms, representing a variety of functional and industry backgrounds