The first-year Global MBAs have been busy preparing for the 2020 Consulting Abroad Program (CAP) final presentations scheduled to take place early next month. The 12 student teams intended to deliver their presentations to their Global Partners in Germany, Singapore and South Africa in person. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students will engage virtually with their overseas contacts and deliver their final presentations via video conference next month.
To help them prepare, the Global & Experiential Education (G&EE) program facilitated a virtual panel presentation day on Monday, April 20. The teams presented preliminary recommendations to a panel of expert evaluators including embassy officials, consultants, GW School of Business (GWSB) faculty, and public speaking coaches. These evaluators, including seven GWSB alumni, provided each team with targeted feedback on their content, process, results and delivery.
The teams have remained highly motivated despite unprecedented challenges and are set to deliver impactful and actionable recommendations to their 12 global partner organizations, including Singapore-based international derivatives exchange APEX, Marriott International’s APEC HR leadership, PwC’s Berlin team, and South African digital lender Lulalend.
Evaluator Iola Anyan (GMBA ’16), who now serves as associate director at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, noted that “although the students will not get to travel to Germany, I truly believe that these are high-quality projects that will give them a solid experience to draw upon long after grad school is over. Their willingness to execute a professional and solid presentation in the midst of a crisis is admirable and speaks to everyone's integrity.”
Evaluators also reflected on their time as students participating in this transformational experience. Morgan Marshall (GMBA ‘15), senior manager of HR Consulting at Hilton, said of her participation, “It was such a wonderful experience getting to interact with current students, and very nostalgic to learn about their CAP projects. All of the teams did a really great job and I'm excited for them to give their final presentation to their clients. I hope they receive as much reward and value from the experience as I did.”
The students will utilize their panel presentations day evaluation feedback to enhance their final deliverables and virtual communication skills over the next two weeks under the guidance of their CAP faculty leaders Dr. Anna Helm (Germany), Dr. Dave Halliday (South Africa), and Dr. Yun Zhang (Singapore).