Presentation day, probably not everyone’s favorite day of the trip, but a great chance for us to showcase everything we have learned the past 2 weeks. All in all, other than our presentations, there was nothing else on our itinerary, so I was able to sleep in a little bit and get my head right for the presentation. I got up around 10:30 and got dressed into my presentation outfit I had picked out before the trip started. I then headed to the university to grab lunch before practicing our presentation with my group.
After getting fueled up, me and my group headed to the library to practice one final time before we had to present at 2. A couple days before, we went over the time limit by about 3 minutes, so we needed to make sure we got back under the 25 minute mark, while still hitting on all our points. We wanted to convey the message that while BMW has had lots of success built around a premium brand identity with gas-powered vehicles, their future success will depend on how effectively it adapts those strengths to the rapid change in the market being transformed by electrification, software, and automation. After about an hour of practicing, we felt very confident in our delivery.
We expected that we were going to be first because our company was the first visit, and we also were the first mini presentation at the beginning of the trip. However, when we got there Dr. Feick threw us all a curveball and flipped the order from the first presentations, so that put us in the final spot, which isn’t the most ideal after sitting for almost 3 hours. We did not let that faze us. We embraced the final spot and I thought we did a great job conveying our message and delivering it confidently. Although we went a little over the limit, we all hit our points and answered Dr. Feicks questions confidently. For a presentation with 4 German students who had to speak in their secondary language and had only known them for 2 weeks, I thought we did an excellent job.
After taking everything in from the last 2 weeks, the hardest idea to communicate to someone who wasn’t able to experience this is the German culture and community. As I said on the first day, it was astounding to me to see no trash on the sidewalks, kids walking around without their parents, and rarely seeing any homeless people. It is such a testament to them as a community, with the healthy foods, free schooling, and free healthcare. They seem to have this bond that is bigger than life and everything they do is for each other, I wish we had more of that in the states.
