Feature

Kicking off the Battle of Minds
North South University
and Dhaka University Chapters

Star Campus Desk

THE kick off for the once a year extravaganza known as the Battle of Minds (2008) started this year with North South University. The next events of the road show were held at the Marketing Department and Finance Department of Dhaka University.

The final participants from respective universities will be selected to represent their universities in the next rounds.

Saood Bin Masood, Corporate HR Manager, British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BATB), started off the program with his presentations, advice and pep talks. Zakir Ibne Hai, Regulations Manager, conducted the opening session at Dhaka University.

All said and done they were both good preludes to an eventful start of the Battle of Minds. Aside from the cool corporate attire, the North South University Chapter was marked with tactful and eloquent performances. The Dhaka University Chapter ranged from the sublime to the humorous. One participant of the teams competing from the Dhaka University Marketing Department actually attended from the hospital where she was being treated for Dengue. No doubt her mark of dedication, commitment to her team and determination to participate didn't go unnoticed by the judges. Shifting away from the sublime, the session would also stand out in one's memory with the sudden outbreak of songs. In an attempt to present his case in the most novel and memorable way possible one contestant broke into a Backstreet Boys song. Though I'm sure there are less embarrassing methods of achieving the desired results; the performance was definitely the most entertaining.

However the competition wasn't only about miracles and songs. After the opening presentations, the teams, under the careful watch and judgment of BATB, started a 20-minute individual study period about the case put before them. After the individual study time was up each group was provided with laptops to interact and develop their presentations regarding the case put forward to them. As they worked as a team and hashed out their ideas they would be watched and scored based on their individual performances and contributions to the final effort as well as their leadership potential. The trick in this round of course is the team environment and dynamics, how much of a team player are you while still being able to helm your point and possibly steer the course of the team. Each team, in high spirits, animatedly talked and explained to each other their finer points, under the careful scrutiny of the judge. Thus, the judge assessed them under pressure situations with teams and their individual analytical abilities.

Eventually they would have to present their final presentations as well as answer questions regarding their logic and strategies. The ideas that emerged were daring, intriguing and out of the box. After all, I don't know how many people would venture to say that without employee satisfaction you wouldn't have customer satisfaction.

There was also an amazing amount of support shown in each individual university and department. Department Heads of AIS, Management, Finance and Marketing Departments from Dhaka University showed their support by participating as judges. Of course, it goes without saying that no competition of this scale would be complete without the jeers and cheers of the participant's friends and peers in the audience.

The next installments or chapters of the road show will be at the Chittagong University, which will followed by East West University and American International University of Bangladesh in Dhaka. Judging from what we have witnessed so far, one can't help but wonder what more is left in store for us as the future chapters of this competition unfold.