It will be a pressure-cooker situation over the next two days as nearly 500 students and faculty from 13 colleges across the province will compete for top honours Ontario Colleges' Marketing Competition, hosted by St. Clair College at the Centre for the Arts in downtown Windsor and Main Windsor Campus.
The Ontario Colleges' Marketing Competition (OCMC) is a student-focused experiential learning opportunity which provides participants the ability to demonstrate their essential, vocational, and employability skills before industry professionals. OCMC serves as a stepping-stone from academia to industry by creating real-world experiences and networking opportunities.
"It is the type of experiential learning opportunities that we love to bring to our students at St. Clair," said Justina Ciarlariello, the lead organizer of this year's OCMC and professor of Business Marketing at St. Clair College's Zekelman School of Business.
This year's theme is "Innovation Powers Growth," symbolizing the growth students experience during this competition and serving as a nod to the exciting economic and business developments unfolding in Windsor-Essex County.
"This gives us a unique opportunity to showcase our amazing campuses and all the enhancements to them in the past decade," said Ciarlariello. "It also brings in hundreds of participants from across the province who may not visit Windsor otherwise. It also allows us to showcase Windsor and Essex County and all the amazing and innovative industries and projects we have going on here."
The event, which runs Nov. 14 to 15, brings hundreds of highly motivated business students and dynamic faculty together to showcase their business talents and earn top awards for teamwork and strategic thinking.
"Since its founding almost 60 years ago, the fundamental - and uniquely valuable - philosophy of Ontario's public college system has been ‘employment preparedness through real world, hands-on educational experience,'" said Michael Silvaggi, St. Clair College President. "The OCMC has been the epitome of that philosophy. Annually, the event has been the most intensive, challenging, high-pressure replication of the fast-paced, think-on-your-feet, idea-generating world of professional marketing."
A different Ontario College annually hosts this prestigious competition and this year, it's St. Clair College's turn, something for which third-year student Mimi Nguyen is both nervous and excited.
"I think there is that pressure because it is home turf," said Nguyen, a third-year Business Marketing student at the Zekelman School of Business, noting she and her fellow classmates have been preparing for this contest since their first year of study. "It's really cool to see how everyone's grown over the years, and people coming out of their shells to participate in this competition."
The first major event during the OCMC is the Quiz Bowl on the evening of Thursday, Nov. 14 at the Student Life Centre at the Main Windsor Campus. It's a boisterous and electric contest which challenges students to think strategically in a fast-paced and time constrained situation. Teams of four students represent their respective college in this exciting test of marketing concepts and current events, while teammates cheer on from the sidelines.
"The Quiz Bowl event is like a combination of a trivia night mixed with a game show, with the energy of a championship varsity football game," Ciarlariello said. "There are mascots, noise makers, team uniforms and everyone is cheering for their team to win. I've never seen energy like this from an academic event."
Nguyen was at OCMC last year in Collingwood and remembers the experience fondly.
"It's like taking a big test in front of everyone," Nguyen said. "Everyone's making noises during Quiz Bowl. When we were finally there last year, I saw all the cowbells and the blowup inflatables, and that's when it started to feel real."
On Friday, Nov. 15, the Tradeshow and Case Presentations take place between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. at the St. Clair College Centre for the Arts, followed by a Gala Dinner and Awards Banquet from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
A lot of the case studies that are used as real-life learning opportunities in this competition come from local businesses and highlight business opportunities and marketing challenges that are unique to Windsor-Essex.
"It's just you, your partner and your brains, and you have to be able to create a presentation to deliver in front of judges for at least 15 minutes," said Nguyen. "So, it's a little nerve wracking, because you know you're being watched, and you're being judged on everything that you say."
Ciarlariello said the nerves and anticipation are part of the growth process for students.
"All the students that I have coached for this competition start out terrified of the idea that they need to complete a case study in 30-minutes and then present that to a panel of industry experts," explained Ciarlariello. "Our coaches work with them over a period of several weeks and by the time they end up competing, they have improved so much."
"In fact, most students come out of their OCMC events saying that they've ‘crushed it.' They know that win or lose, they are 100 per cent better the day they compete than when they started, and it's that confidence that they gain during the training that makes it such a memorable experience for them and us coaches," she said.
All events during OCMC are judged by a panel of industry experts, engaging the local business community with students in a unique networking opportunity. The panel of judges scores each team based on predetermined evaluation criteria.
At the end of the day, all the scores are added up and the winners are announced at Friday's Awards Gala dinner. At the end of the night, the school with the most trophies wins the Overall College award.
"Most of our program alumni say that OCMC is their favourite memory of their whole college experience," said Ciarlariello. "We actually have about 20 of our Alumni volunteering at this year's event in some capacity, and they were all so happy to be a part of it when St. Clair decided to host."
