Hi everyone, for this week's blog, I will be posting about the experienced of attending the NBPC from one of the groups from Edmonds College
National Business Plan Competition is a competition that challenges community college students to leverage their creativity and knowledge from their academics studies. And the team that won the first session of Edmonds college NBPC was "Telemac". "Telemac" has consist of five members from different education fields who had to bring their innovative ideas together.
Here, I have attached the answers from two members of Telemac regarding their experiences
Response from Leticia
1. What are your preparations for the competition?
- I did not prepare that much as my part were only for the finance, and I did it according to my teammates wish. Hence, my preparations was a simple one, unlike the others. Though, it was quite hard coming up with the finance as it was my first time.
2. How long did the preparation take?
- It took around 6 hours for the first round and around 8-10 hours for the second round.
3. How did you communicate with each other?
- I was not really vocal during the preparation as the 4 of them seem to have a mind of their own, making them good teammates and sharing the same idea. Simultaneously, I was pretty much not available during discussions, so I did not have the chance to voice my thoughts during the idea submission. Since my name was already written, I just listened to what they wanted for this project and went with it.
4. Were there any difficulties? How did you make it until now?
- Coming up with the finance was quite a hassle as there was a lot of requirement, and I do not mainly grasp the ideas my teammates were going for, as I found it too big of an image for a simple business plan. However, everything works out at the end of the day.
5. Were there any memorable moments?
- For me, 1 of the most memorable moments was looking at the participants' idea, which was a pleasing sight as almost everyone has a distinct way of presenting their argument, tackling problems which this society currently lacks or innovation such as a face mask subscription for the current COVID-19, and have a clear goal in mind—seeing those things made me more aware of the process of coming up with ideas for a business and how it was judged.
6. What can you learn from the competition?
This is my first time joining a team for a competition as I could not register individually due to the dorm's wifi and their particular blockage for specific websites. I have always been an individual type of person, so being in a team is a new experience. I learned a lot from the competition, such as; how important it is to have a clear goal in mind, to use every resource possible to understand the competition more, not to half-heartedly do things, be more present and manage my time better to communicate with the group, check the chemistry for the suitability, and to bounce if not suitable with the group and not stay silent since that will lead to a feeling of dissatisfaction and discontentment. Overall, it was a new experience.
7. Where's the idea from? What made you choose that idea?
- I haven't a clue where the idea came from. My other teammates will know as they were the ones who came up with it as I was not available while they were discussing their ideas.
Response from Gary
1. What are your preparations for the competition?
- During the preparation process, my team met two times to brainstorm then determine the final business idea. In addition, the TeleMec team meets mostly every night 4 days before the competition (College round).
- After we passed the first round, the TeleMec team spent a day to rest then started to develop a website for the Regional round.
2. How long did the preparation take?
- College Round: About a week
- Regional Round: one week
3. How did you communicate with each other?
-We created a group chat on WhatsApp to communicate and we use Google meet for the presentation development.
4. Were there any difficulties? How did you make it until now?
- It’s hard to find a time that works for everyone.
- It’s a challenge to develop a company that is a new field (Remote Surgery.)
5. Were there any memorable moments?
I have one memorable moment was the moment that we just finished the Regional round. The Judges asked really educational questions which woke us up that a team/company in the real business world has to be 100% prepared with all the strategy, finance/budget plan, and how to think as an investor to develop our presentation.
6. What can you learn from the competition?
I have to say that this competition was a great learning process that helped us use our textbook knowledge to apply to the real business world. I Feel like we are starting with 0, I think it’s a valuable experience.
7. Where's the idea from? What made you choose that idea?
I was born in a small city in China, every time when I hear someone in my family needs to travel regionally or internationally I always feel bad for them - People already suffering from their illness but they also need to deal with long-distance traveling. After the Covid-19 pandemic, millions of people could not receive their medical treatment due to travel restrictions. One day I read an article that a Chinese doctor did remote surgery for a Parkinson patient with robotic arms and 5G(https://www.livemint.com/) which lightened my hope and idea that remote services will have great potential due to its convenience. More importantly, people can finally receive high-quality medical services in their community.
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