The Judges

Senior members of the business community judge the competition, giving students exposure to some of Asia’s most qualified business talent. Many of the judges are from HSBC. Watching videos of previous years competitions will give you a good idea of who judges the competition and the questions judges can ask.

Judging Criteria

Judges are asked to consider the following criteria with respect to the presentations:

Key Issues

• Is there a clear definition of the key issues, possibly divided into key subsidiary issues?

Analysis

• Have both qualitative and quantitative points been brought into the analysis?
• Are they consistent and do they reinforce each other?
• Have the key ideas in the presentation been supported with facts and logical reasoning?

Evaluation of Feasible Alternatives, Solutions, and Recommendations

• Are the recommendations realistic, and are the solutions practical?
• Do the solutions and recommendations have a strategic focus?
• Do the solutions and recommendations tie in with the rest of the presentation?
• Have the recommendations been adequately justified?

Implementation and Plan of Action

• Has the team considered cost and control issues?
• Has the team worked out a realistic timeline and identified possible unforeseen issues?

Question-and-Answer Session

• Has the team defended its position in a convincing manner and remained consistent to the presentation?
• Is the team able to handle questions effectively and with confidence?
• Is the team relatively well balanced in terms of strengths?
• Do the team members work well together, smoothly transitioning from one speaker to another?

Presentation Form and Style

• Did the team have good communication skills and presentation style?
• Did the team present creative ideas?
• Was the team professional at all times?
• Were the acetate slides easy to follow and did they add to the presentation as opposed to distract from it?
• Did the team budget its time appropriately?

There is no pre-defined weighting for the various criteria, and judges are free to decide what criteria they deem most important in deciding the result.