Deadlines
2019 High School Business Language Competition
Competition Information
Competition Guidelines
The High School Business Language Competition hosted by the Whitmore Global Management Center at BYU consists of two parts: a marketing plan development and a marketing plan presentation. Participants are required to complete both parts to participate in the competition.
Teams
Each team must consist of three (3) High School students who are currently enrolled in the sponsoring high school. Each high school may sponsor a maximum of TWO teams per language (Spanish, French, Chinese, Arabic).
Marketing Plan Development
Teams will have until the day before the final event to learn about the company, the product, the target consumer, and to develop a plan to market the product to young adults in Japan. Teams should use the company details on the website, https://marriottschool.byu.edu/event/hsblc2019/custom2.
The following steps are recommended to create an effective marketing plan:
- Learn about the company. Understand the basic details of the business. Learn about the products they sell, understand the way they market and sell their products, and find out the type of consumer they target. Analyze the key trends of the industry to which they belong and identify key competitors.
- Learn about the products. Understand what the products is used for, there unique qualities, benefits and cost.
- Learn about the target consumer. For this competition, your target consumer is to young adults in Japan. Teams should learn about the behavior and attitudes of the target consumer, where and how they shop, and what influences them in making a purchase decision as well as the accessibility of the target consumer.
- Understand the basic principles of marketing. Understand the basic marketing fundamentals (price, product, place, and promotion). Learn about the industry’s channel of distributions and marketing tools.
Teams can refer to the company’s web site, government agencies, books, and other publications. Please do not contact the company directly.
Marketing Plan Presentation
Each team will present its marketing plan to a panel of judges who speak each respective language. The presentation should contain all three items listed below. Items 1 & 2 should be emailed to businesslanguage@byu.edu on February 22, 2019 by 8:00 am.
**Teams will need 6 printed copies of items 1 & 2 (4 slides per page for the PowerPoint presentation) for judges for review 5 minutes before the oral presentation.
- A 1-2 page report with the proposed marketing plan.
The report should be written in appropriate business style and should include information about the company, the product, the consumer, and the team’s marketing plan. The teams will give copies of this report to the judges 5 minutes before the presentation begins. During these 5 minutes, the team will set up their presentation while the judges briefly review the document.
- A copy of the PowerPoint presentation with a maximum of eight slides per team.
No audio allowed in the PowerPoint presentation. Teams should bring one USB flash drive with the presentation on it AND a laptop computer to plug the USB drive into (If this presents a difficulty for your team, let us know in advance so we can lend you a laptop for the presentation).
Your PowerPoint presentation should contain the following:
-
- Company and industry background
- Profile of target consumer
- Marketing plan and communication strategy (using at least two marketing tools)
- Marketing plan financial analysis
- One or two visual aids of the proposed marketing tools and marketing message.
All presentations and written materials must be in the team’s competition language. All members of the team must participate in the oral presentation of the plan. Each team will have ten minutes to present its plan and five minutes for questions and feedback with two different panels of judges. A timekeeper in the room will notify teams when they have five minutes, one minute, and 30 seconds left in their presentation. Presentations will be stopped at the ten minute mark.
Teams will be scored on language ability, written and oral presentation skills, and the content of their original marketing plan.
Coach Participation
Students, not the coach, must prepare the marketing plan. The coach can help the team by teaching the students business and marketing principles and providing guidelines on how to write a marketing plan. However, the coach should not give specific suggestions for the development of the marketing plan. Coaches do not have to be native language speakers. They may direct team members in grammar and business terms as needed. The coach is not allowed to participate in the presentation of the marketing plan on the day of the competition.
Coaches may only watch their respective teams’ presentations, entering and exiting the presentation room with the team.
Judging
Judges will not, and should not, know which school the presenting team represents! Teams must not infer this information verbally or through colors or graphics (on clothing or in presentations). For competition logistics purposes, teams will use a fictitious name assigned to them the day of the competition. After the second round of presentations, there will be a thirty-minute window to compile the scores to determine competition winners (1st, 2nd, and 3rd place).
Each team presents twice, once in the morning (Round 1) and once in the afternoon (Round 2). Winners are determined based on a cumulative score from their Round 1 and Round 2 presentations. The GMC Staff will compile scores to determine 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place teams to be announced in the award ceremony at the end of the competition.
While scores are being added up, there will be a judges panel held for all competitors to hear from and have questions answered by select competition judges.
Other Important Information
Honor Code
By registering for this competition all teams and coaches agree live the BYU Honor Code while at BYU. For details on the BYU Honor Code please visit the following link:
https://policy.byu.edu/view/index.php?p=26
Attire
Professional business attire is appropriate for this competition. No jeans.
Supplies
The presentation rooms will be technologically equipped to plug in PC laptops. If you have a Mac/Apple laptop to plug in and present with, please bring your own Apple Mini Display Port to VGA or HDMI Adapter. However, all USBs work well. It is the responsibility of each team to bring all other necessary supplies and equipment.
Copying and printing
It is recommended that all necessary copying and printing be done before arrival at Brigham Young University. However, printing is available on campus for $0.07 per page.
Contact Information
For questions or concerns, please contact:
Mary Kay Lloyd
Email: mklloyd@byu.edu
Madison Small
Email: businesslanguage@byu.edu