Deliverables

A list of the work to be done

Differential workload: MSA

Gcom7832 carries two credits. MSA students are required to do some additional work to get to 3 credits.  Work with your program director for the details.

Differential workload: MSMIT

To balance the workload between domestic and traveling students, MSMIT students can optionally skip the following MOD 2 activities:
- Virtual class on 12/17
- In-person class on Friday, 1/9
- The "Project review"
- The "Project review to AI-Driven transformation roadmap"

‘Optionally skip’ means that if you are interested in the content of these meetings or desire non-graded feedback on the accounting assignment, you may still attend those classes and submit homework free of extra tuition charges. In addition, you will also be able to access the recordings of those events.

Your first team meeting

As soon as you know the composition of your Argentina team, call a meeting with all team members. "Your first team meeting" will help structure it. If you are not very experienced with virtual meetings, read "Virtual etiquette".

Team Bio

A team bio is a polished, one-page .pdf that introduces your team to the Client.
Include pictures of each team member, names, emails, the company that employs you, your position, and your expertise. Use the UVA logo.  Make it look professional:  this is your first impression with the Client.
Send the Team Bio to the Client when you set up your pre-departure client call. 

Evaluation criteria: Deliver a professional looking document (well formatted, nice pics, well lined-up, etc).

Pre-departure client call

Before departing for Argentina, setup a pre-departure client call.

Evaluation criteria: Send a professional, cordial email and hold a well-run meeting following all the instructions in the provided document. Explore the problem, not the solution. Do not lock yourself into a requested solution.

Client presentation

On the Friday before departure for the US, you and your team will deliver a short presentation to your clients.

• Goal: present insightful, actionable recommendations
• Content: the results of your analysis and your recommendations
• Audience: your client
• Language spoken: depends on your Spanish skills and the Client’s English skills. Translators will be available
• Location: either the client site or the Hyatt
• Length: 15~20 min. + Q&A as needed. The expectation is to have a robust conversation about your findings and recommendations
• Engagement: Find ways to involve your client during or after the presentation. Ideally, this will be a conversation rather than a presentation
• Dress code: business.

Tips for success: We suggest to use the format: hook > bluff > story & recommendations > conclusions.

• This class allows you to experience international consulting in a real-world setting.  Jump in with both feet!  Do not think of yourself as a team of graduate students taking a course, but as professional members of a small consulting company hired to perform a project audit.  The experience should feel like a real-world consulting engagement, and your mission should be to deliver real business value to your client.
• Use the format: hook > bluff > story & recommendations > conclusions.
• Identify and share actionable recommendations sensitive to your client’s business context, including financial, organizational, and technical feasibility.  Recommendations are actionable when the audience understands what to do and who should do it, believes that they can do it, can afford it, and is motivated to do so.
• Avoid using technical jargon and mentioning methods or techniques that might not be familiar to your audience.  For example, do not just recommend adopting “agile methods” or “machine learning.”  It may mean little to the Client (even if they say they know what it is).  Explain clearly what it means in concrete action-oriented terms.
• Assess the chances of adoption of your recommendations.  If low, revise them.
• Tell a good story.  Start and end strong.  Make it flow.  Make it vivid and concrete by using specific examples.  Use little/no abstract concepts.
• Showing trumps telling. Pictures trump words. Stories trump lists.
• Prototypes and screenshots are always powerful and well received
• Make sure to highlight financial or quantifiable benefits.
• Use standalone titles if it makes sense.
• Speak slowly, either in English or Spanish.

Evaluation criteria: Present recommendations that are valuable, insightful and actionable.
'Valuable' means that following the recommendation will generate quantifiable business value for your Client. 
‘Insightful’ means that they are non-obvious to your Client.
‘Actionable’ means that they are feasible in your client’s business context, including financial, organizational, and technical feasibility. Recommendations are actionable when the audience understands what to do, who should do it, believes that they can do it, can afford it, and are motivated to do it.
Successful presentations engage the audience in a conversation or discussion, either during or at the end of your talk.

Project Packet to the Clients

As a last step in the course, send a warm "thank you" email to your clients (copy Dr. G. and the SAM staff).  The email includes:

• the presentation deck
• the leave-behind deck
• any additional materials you prepared, (e.g., a demo, an "how-to" manual, computer code...).

The leave-behind deck conveys the same content as the presentation, but without requiring the team presence and without time or space constraints. Therefore, it is much more verbose and includes considerably more detail: analyses you made, data you collected, ideas that you consider valuable but were cut for the presentation, and a list of your sources

The leave-behind deck will have as much Spanish as the audience demands and your team skills allow. The goal is to communicate effectively with your audience given your and your audience's linguistic constraints.

Make sure that the client can access the materials you send. Email programs often have limits to the size of the allowed attachments.

Evaluation criteria: Same as for the presentation, but with the additional requirement that the information in it must be easily understood by somebody who did not attend your presentation, and that all the details necessary to implement your recommendations is added.

CCLs (MSMIT only)

The collection of CCLs will be ongoing, as in the domestic class. It will marginally modify the participation grade.