Powerpoint Tips for MBA Students

We've been having a party over here at the UVU MBA program, which is the reason why I haven't been posting as much. We are taking two classes this semester, Ethical Leadership and IT Management.  So far, these classes have been the bomb.*

In all MBA programs, you will be subjected to presenting with power-points. Power-points can be your best friend, or your worst enemy. If you are looking to make your powerpoint presentation the best it can be, do not use these tips. (For your sake, and your classmate's sake...)

• Memes, memes all around: If you power point is devoid of a meme, you shouldn't even call it a power point. Go home. Find a meme, then you can actually be ready to present your power point. 

• Beautiful slide introductions: By all means, your power point better have those extremely awesome and cool introductions where the words bounce around the screen, or do some totally legit 

• Fancy, schmancy pics: Make sure that your background pic of the slides is the coolest (and most obnoxious) pic that you can find on the internet. It will be sure to make your power point shine. 
• Have one person dress up. Just one. Every one else should come in their sleepwear. Let's just make them stick out like a sore thumb! 
• Comic sans is king. Like really. This is the preferred font of MBA students at UVU. Forreals. 

• Wrap it up with: "That was it....", and look at the audience as if you are challenging them to ask a question. 

Sometimes this is how I feel after power point presentations: 

Please professionals, students, and especially MBA students, make your presentations better. Here's a beautiful little article from INC. on really making a powerpoint shine. 

*Satire or real? You be the judge. 

"Cheating" in Ethics #win?

Welcome to the second semester of UVU MBA.

We are sitting in our ethics class right now...

We may or may not have cheated on our first ethics group project.
#win
#mba
#yousnoozeyoulose
#winning
#smarterthanothergroups
#ethicssucks
#challengerexplosion

We just had our first assignment in ethics class. Entitled the Carter Racing case, we were instructed to choose whether or not to race a vehicle.

The first thing the professor told us, "Don't look up the case online". Shoot.

I already had.

I'm not gonna spoil the surprise fer ya MBA hopefuls out there, so you are going to have to wait your pretty little heads for it.

Here's to a great semester, no Dick, and no long cases (oh wait)...

But reading a comic book and talking about how to always "be the good guy", all I can say is this semester is gonna be a trip.

Ps, the professor just referred to one of our textbooks as a "door stop".
#promising
#UVUMBA

You already know this, but you don't know the formula

Uh...finance.
Yeeeah, I'm pretty sure I just don't know what you are talking about.

It's World War Three Over Here, and There Ain't No Allies

As the dust cleared, Jana* hammered the keyboard. Left, right, hack, space space space. 

"He thinks I do this?"
"Well, he's a no-good-useless-...."

Meanwhile miles away, in the good city of Konrad-vill, Lord Konrad* fumed as he glared at the white screen.

"How dare that mother--"
"She had no idea that..."

As the rest of the kingdom in MBAlandia** geared up for the ensuing battles, many were armed with well placed jabs, concrete insults, and steely looks that would stop opponents in their tracks.

For the MBA students had started what was called a "group evaluation" project for their Management class, and to say that blood will be spilled, will be the understatement of any of the MBA students' history.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
While this tale may seem like a silly fairytale to you, I assure you good reader, it is not.
This is real life.

As the semester draws to a close, we are faced with looming projects, and our stress mounts.

Our group has been nothing short of dysfunctional. Nearly every conversation we have, there is the feeling of near murder in the air. If we come out of this program without becoming serial killers or murders, I would say we were successful.

While there is tons of research to say why groups are great for learning, and I found some gems I just couldn't help but sharing:

“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.”

Touching really. 

“The nice thing about teamwork is that you always have others on your side”

Someone on your side that you wish would just shut up. 

“The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime.”

Aw Babe (Ruth)... 

Learning to manage groups may be the bane of every person's existence, but from all the reading I've done, it seems if you can get groups to work, it can really be beneficial. Here's to two more weeks before Christmas, and to all MBA students:

Fight on, fight the good fight.

Getting all riled up may seem like a good idea at the time, but take a deep breath and remember your group is working toward the same goal: getting an A. Remember that, and the feeling of strangling your team member just might dissipate.***



MBA students or professionals, what ways have you dealt with a group that annoyed you to no end?

*names have been changed for security purposes
**Although not real in life, MBAlandia is real in every MBA student's heart
***Not a guarantee 

What I Learned at The MBA Consortium Networking Event

Last week, I attended the MBA Consortium (hosted by U of U)--by the way, you can totally say that in a British accent to make yourself sound totally awesome. Besides from being completely disappointed that it was in Layton (over an hour away) and that they didn't even offer my husband a discounted rate to attend (I dragged him to it because I didn't want to drive alone), I did take away some pretty interesting things.

1. I am not completely worthless. Okay, before anyone freaks out about how I don't value myself, what I mean, is that my major or what I do, is valued by employers.
2. Idle talk is not my strong point (but I am getting better).
3. I need better one-liners.
4. I need to figure out how to approach people cold turkey.
5. I need to figure out how to sneakily sneak my business card into the potential employers hand. 

On that note: 

Want to see my business card? 

Here it is in all it's glory...

Cute huh?

If any of you are interested in business cards, I can design them for the cheap. 

I have lots of design experience (after all, it is my hobby) and would love to extend my services to you. 

Overall, I enjoyed myself at the networking event. I do wish that I was better prepared through UVU, and understand how/why networking events are valuable.

However, the conversation was good, I felt extremely confident, and the cupcakes were rather delicious. I took 4 or 5 of them to my awesome husband who was waiting in the car. 

Thankful for ...

As the Thanksgiving holiday draws near, I have been thinking about the things I have been so blessed with.

Being an MBA student this year is nothing short of amazing for me. While I feel I may have started waining in my interested in the program, coupled with the fact that I was searching for a job, I felt no gratitude. All I could think was, "Why is this happening to me?"

However, just a few weeks later (and right before the holiday season), I got an amazing job offer, and my whole mentality changed.

This Thanksgiving, I am completely grateful for all that I have.
I am thankful for my new job, and how little time it took to find it.
I am thankful for my MBA program and the opportunities that await me.
I am thankful for my cohort group that inspire me to do better.


What are you thankful for?

8 Ways to Deal with a Disgruntled Interviewer

Originally posted here: (Enjoy!)

Wow, am I fuming. 

I went to a job interview today. 

I was pretty stoked for it. 

And I know I'm breaking the cardinal rule, the rule where you aren't supposed to post about interviews or whatnot, but I don't really care. 

I was pretty nervous about this interview mostly because time's a tickin' and I still don't have a job. 

As soon as I sat down in the interview, the interviewee takes a look at my resume. 

"Ah, I see you went to BYU, good.
UVU MBA...hmmm...isn't that a step down?"

Umm...

"Why isn't your GPA listed?"
Maybe because I've been working for two years...

"I've seen your writing, and it's good. But I just don't see that you are an organized person."
Well gee thanks. Do I look like a SLOB?

This interview was not going as planned, and I was slowly losing control. Okay, more like, I was speeding towards a brick wall, and there was no where I could veer off to. Have you ever had the displeasure of having an interview where the person just automatically hates you? And they just want to make your whole interview miserable? Been there, done that. Here are 8 ways to deal with a disgruntled interviewer that just wants you to be as unpleasant as them. 

1. Stand your ground. Don't let the interviewer get their way. If they say something that isn't right, correct them, but be polite. 
2. Smile. As much as I wanted to kill this interviewer, I smiled at what he had to say and I {tried} not to let it get to me. {Since I'm blogging about it, it's pretty obvious it did get to me}
3. Laugh. Try to have a good time with the interviewer. Who knows, maybe they will like you, but they are having a crappy day. 
4. Explain yourself. Though it might be tempting to breeze over small things an interviewer asks, make sure you are through and they understand you. 
5. Don't snap. Although it can be very frustrating, never snap at the interviewer. It shows that they have the upper hand. Be the better person. 
6. Don't show fear. Interviewers are like dogs, they can smell fear. Don't give them the satisfaction of knowing they have scared you. 
7. Be prepared. One of my mistakes was that I didn't research the company as throughly as I usually do. I will admit that there were questions that I was prepared for, but there were also some that I should have been prepared for that I wasn't. Always, always do your homework when it comes to interviews. 
8. Get out of there as fast as possible. Once the interview has concluded, get out of there. The interviewer clearly doesn't want anything to do with you, but you never know, maybe they hated other applicants even more. Exit quickly, but don't forget to be courteous. 

Yeeesh. What an interview. Get me out of there! :)