BBICC 2019

Student Ambassadors' diaries

The big day was here. Belgrade Business International Case Competition has officially started with young and passionate people arriving from around the world. The whole team of ambassadors and organizers has worked hard that it brought so much joy when this moment happened.

On the first day, at the airport, I welcomed the advisor of the Wilfrid Laurier team, Sofy Carayannopoulos. Sofy brought with her this amazing energy and positivity that spread rapidly and I couldn’t help but smile. The rest of the team arrived earlier to go sightseeing in Belgrade.

From the moment the team was completely gathered in the hotel, the Radisson Collection Hotel, Old Mill Belgrade I could feel the energy of excitement and at that moment I felt privileged to be their ambassador and help them in any way I could.

I bonded with my team quickly, and the main reason was that they were so interested in Serbian culture, history, and language. This was an instant friendship – we shared laughs, exchanged experiences and ideas. They tried and loved some of our snacks and food which made me super proud.

The day went by quickly and it was time for the cocktail night. The ambassadors, their teams and advisors gathered in the lobby and started chatting.

That night was so special and the only thought that went through my mind was: Wow! All of the great minds are gathered right here! Just imagining how brilliant and exceptional these people are, and they all made it to compete here at BBICC.

The cocktail night was followed by the next event – the Barkviz. All of the teams, advisors and BBICC organizers gathered at the bar and had an amazing night of laughter, talks, and quizzes. They were served with different topics where they had to answer the questions in teams, but the greatest part of it all is that every team was mixed, so all of us got a chance to meet everybody and get to know each other. Getting to know them and understand how different individuals work and are motivated was valuable to me as I aspire to be a part of multicultural teams.

Day One came to an end, and it was time for the teams to rest, but little did they know that the fun had just started.

I knew that BBICC would be an amazing experience in so many ways, but I didn’t quite understand how powerful uniting people from different parts of the world could be. This gave me such enthusiasm and thrill for the following days.

BBICC had just started and it already made a mark and an impact on my life. The precious things are the relationships we formed only during the first day and I knew it would be everlasting. I couldn’t wait for the following days!

I woke up on the 2nd day of BBICC very excited about the activities that were awaiting me that day. It was Amazing Race day followed by Gala night. To say that that day was booked from 7 am to 11 pm would be an understatement.

Yesterday I met my team and was ecstatic to see them again but I would have to put that on hold for today since my assignment was to lead a group of foreign students from mixed teams and show them around Belgrade. At first, I was kinda scared- not sure if I’ll be able to entertain them for a day, are they going to have fun? Those were the kind of questions that kept popping up inside my head but as soon as noon I knew that my worries were completely excessive.

Even though all of us only met 10 minutes ago we already clicked and started exploring hidden parts of Belgrade! I was very happy to see that all of them were having fun and that they found this experience invaluable for networking and of course making friends from all over the world that they would remember 10-20 years from now.

After visiting the Temple of Sveti Sava and many other beautiful parts of the city we met with other teams at Kalemegdan fortress where we all agreed on our mutual love for pizza and shared a couple of slices to keep us filled until the Gala night that was awaiting us. Fast forward a few hours, 20 different teams with their ambassadors were waiting in front of the Palace hotel for Gala night to begin.

Getting their best outfits on they were ready for one of the most beautiful nights of BBICC.

Greeted with amazing food and performances from various artists everyone enjoyed their night and networking their feet off until 10 pm. After this day ended I was sure that BBICC was even more than I ever hoped it would be.

In the past 24hours, I made friends with people from another side of the world, saw Belgrade through the eyes of foreigners and tasted delicious food.

For competitors and their mentors, BBICC started on day 3! That day, everyone was so serious and with a competitive vibe. The organizing team and ambassadors were in the same situation. It was the first case and we had to show why we are at the top 10 case competitions in the world. I woke up at 6 am. I was in a hurry and I had only one thing on my mind that morning – don’t forget the bowtie! My friend Lazar picked me up and we went straight to the hotel (our home for that 7 days).

All ambassadors met at the hotel’s lobby where Nina, Marina, and Mina were waiting for us. Once again we had to go through tasks and responsibilities. I was always making jokes at these meetings, that’s why ambassadors loved me.
At 7 am, I was waking up my team (I used to call them ‘my children’) Val, Pim, Molly, and Sarin. They were a little bit nervous but very excited and confident. We talked about yesterday’s Amazing Race and teams in their division.

At 8 am, they finally found the company for the first small case. When I saw Val (team leader for Thammasat University ) I knew that they were ready for this case.

The next 6 hours were more than exciting for me, because of Isidora (ambassador of the University of Florida ). We talked about everything, and at that moment I knew Isidora would be an extraordinary case competitor.

After 6 hours, each team should submit their solutions and soon after went to the presenting room to meet up with the BBICC jury.

I couldn’t wait to listen to my team and see what they did, because I had fate in my team and I knew that they were prepared for this because they were best cases from their university.

Finally, the moment that everyone was waiting for had come. We were waiting for the results of the first competition day and the start of the non-official part of the day. The third day of BBICC was tiring for everyone, but in the end, we were very proud and satisfied.

Day four, we are ready for you! BBICC mornings always bring some special energy. The lobby of the Radisson Collection Hotel is filled with people all dressed up in suits, with purple bow ties, waiting for their day to start. I was one of them!

I am already getting used to being up before the Sun and going through the whole day after less than a few hours of sleep. The excitement got me through it. I couldn’t wait to see my team! I was making sure that they were up on time and feeling good.

Walt, Gregory, Nadia and Sara, the Berkley Haas team, seemed confident and prepared for their second case.

Why am I nervous? “Stop worrying, Aleks!”, they would always tell me. I felt like it was me waiting for the case draw. We became close so quickly!

Dinko, their advisor, was always bright and positive. He grew up in the Balkans, so he was familiar with all the customs and we’ve had a lot in common. He wishes the team good luck!

Before we knew it, 6 hours had gone by. It was time for presentations! It was a whole new experience seeing the team in a business setting.

Watching and listening to students from one of the best business schools in the world was breathtaking. I was so proud of them. We could finally stop holding our breaths.

The official part of the day was over. That, as always, meant that it’s time to go out with my team. They loved Belgrade and were always looking forward to seeing a new part of the town or trying out a new restaurant. We had so much fun together!
That was quite a day! We couldn’t wait to get some rest. But more importantly, we couldn’t wait for another BBICC morning.

Drum roll…3,2,1: D-Day is here – the day of the big case. Even though the teams went through the mini cases in the past two days and achieved great results, the big case was worth most points so it demanded the most attention of all three.

The alarm set for 6:00 but I beat it by 5 minutes. Oh boy was I excited!

My team from Canada is finally going to show how much they prepared and worked to win the competition. A quick morning routine was done, and I was off to the Radisson Collection Hotel, Old Mill Belgrade. It was a bit cloudy and I remember thinking on the way there how to motivate my guys for the upcoming 24h case.

Walking past the front door the first people I encountered was my team getting off breakfast. All with these huge smiles on their faces. Since the case overview was going to be at 10 we had an hour to kill. How did we spend that hour? Like the past 4 days, cracking jokes and tearing up at Adriano’s impressions of Slavic ways of life. I truly felt like a part of the team. They were a really happy crew.

Then it was time for the case overview. From joyful to serious in seconds. I’ve never seen such dedication and motivation in my life. They rushed out of the conference room, every second counted. We ran through the fire escape because the elevator was taking too long. The sounds of work then followed up. Somehow, I knew they were going to kill the big case. I was rooting for them with all my heart.

I couldn’t believe I was feeling this way for 5 people I met just 4 days ago.

Then my shift started. Ten hours into the shift I started doing some push-ups just to keep me from falling asleep. Nothing worked…I dozed off for 10 minutes. When I woke up I saw 6 of my fellow Ambassadors along with colleagues from the IT department and the Head Organizer of the competition, Nina. “What happened? Why are you all here?”

Since it felt like I slept for hours, everything was blurry and slow paced. “The IT department got some IT from somebody trying to hack the system, and it came from this floor!”. “Impossible.”- I said. Since Ambassador Aleksandra and I were both taking shifts for our fellow Ambassadors, they managed to convince me that because I had fallen asleep, some team snuck past me and used the Internet. To be honest- small heart attack.

Fifteen minutes in, they all hugged me and guess what- IT WAS A PRANK.

I said goodbye to my team informing them that my shift has ended and wished them good luck. The BBICC experience was, without a doubt, a life changing experience. To this day, I still am in contact with my team from Canada. I learned a lot from them but most importantly, became friends with the most wonderful people.

As I am writing this to you, I think I am experiencing post-BBICC depression.

It was that delightful.

Day number 6. The only morning I could’ve gotten up a bit later, but guess what, 6 am and I was on my feet! I got so used to getting up early, that I didn’t even have to set an alarm. It was a casual day, since I was just supposed to go to the hotel and wait for my team to finish, so I can turn in their case solution. So, no purple bow today, my favorite part of my outfit. I will let you guess the color of emojis on pictures I kept spamming my friends with since BBICC started.

And so, I get to the hotel expecting to see tired faces of the logistics team who were on duty while Ambassadors were gone. But guess what?

I enter the hotel and I hear laughter and feel amazing energy! 8 am you guys!?

How did they remain so fresh? Well, I guess it’s BBICC enthusiasm that never goes down. I never thought that someone can be so excited about sitting in a hotel hallway, but that’s what just occurred.

I assume that if you haven’t been pranked during BBICC, you weren’t even there.

The story goes on. I got up to the amazing fourth floor, the place where Nikola, who was an Ambassador as well, and I have been so productive during the past 5 days. We did all of our assignments for classes, filled out all applications, had deep talks, wrote down some rhymes, made up some moves and most importantly cheered our teams. Luka, who was our sub, and Nikola are just having a random conversation about a bottle of water that was sitting just next to them. They tried to convince me that I am not able to drink it all at once. Tell me I can’t do something and you’ll see me trying in a second. Well, it appears that they had filled the bottle with salt and with no place to spit, just imagine what happened next.

After pranking went wrong, it was already 11:55 and we were all set to pick up that last final case for this year. Nikola and I were nervous each time we had to knock on that door. Even though we’ve gone through the whole process multiple times, you never want to distract your team.

It was 12:00 and we knocked on the door.

Tired looks and one loud “Nedostajala si nam!” (“We missed you!”) came out as soon as I opened the door.

Can you imagine having a team from Indiana, US and hearing them say random words in Serbian? Well, that’s what happened to me. Simona was originally from Serbia, Morgan lived in Serbia for a few months and Emma and Chris just picked it up. Coincidence or not, it seemed so cool to me. Finally, I turned in the last case. My team was tired, so they decided to take a nap after a 24 hour brain-burn.

Going home after a long day of work is a common situation. Well, when it comes to the BBICC organizing committee, we just love spending time with each other, bonding and having fun afterwards. As the day continued, we felt even more excited about what was coming and ready to spend some quality time with our teams.

The day 7 and BBICC was coming to an end. Time flies when you’re having fun! I remember getting up that day with special energy because I wanted to use the last day the best way that I could. I suited up and went to the hotel.
My team was already awake and they were rehearsing all morning for their presentation.
Full of positive energy and confidence, focused, committed … And all that after 3 solved cases and sleepless nights.

I still remember the way they presented their solution, how they answered all questions during the Q & A session and how great they seemed as a team. To be honest I didn’t think that I would be able to bond with a group of people in such a short amount of time, but during that week I really felt like part of the team and we were together in all ups and downs.

The competition was really tough and unfortunately they didn’t make it to the finale, but I am proud of them and what they accomplished. In those seven days I had a chance to learn so much from them.

At the finals, you could feel the excitement in the air! When every jury member was introduced I was so impressed, but I felt nervous for the teams that were about to present. All the previous presentations were done in front of a smaller jury and a few people in the audience. Now, in the finals, the best four teams had to present their solutions on stage in front of a huge audience and a big jury. The finalist teams went up on stage one by one and delivered their amazing presentations.

The teams were incredible, their solutions were impressive and the Q&A session was fascinating.

After all the teams presented we were waiting for the members of the jury to decide who would be the winner of BBICC 2019. You could feel the tension in the air. I was happy that I wasn’t in the jury’s shoes, because I wouldn’t know how to pick a winner among such great teams. The winner announcement started and the room went silent. Every time a team’s name was called out you could hear applause and cheering in the room.

Finally the winning team was announced! “And the winner of BBICC 2019 is Wilfrid Laurier University!” The level of energy, excitement and happiness in that one room was surreal.

Now we could all celebrate and enjoy ourselves at the Gala Dinner. After the Gala dinner, the teams, the advisors and the organizing committee all went to a party to celebrate another great competition.

It’s hard to describe how grateful I am that I had a chance to be an ambassador for SFU, to spend time and become friends with Idrina, Stefanie, Louisa, Liam and their great advisor Matt. We had so much fun together and made great memories. I really wish that week could last forever.

BBICC was really a life changing experience. It feels great to be surrounded by so many young, talented people and to learn about their cultures and traditions. BBICC is full of special energy that leaves a big mark on you and it will always have a special place in my heart.

Snapshots of the year

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