Allow me to impart a little knowledge gained from first-hand experience.  The first year at Ivey can be very trying.  I don't care how hard you've worked at your job, you've never worked as hard as you will during the first term.  Trust me.  I worked for a software startup where I wore MANY hats at the same time, often working 80 hours a week.  The amount of work they throw at you at Ivey is just phenomenal.  It won't necessarily be the most difficult work, but there will be an awful lot of it. 

Reigning in the Babblers

One of the things about Ivey is the stress they place on your participation in class playing a big role in determining your final grades.  In some classes, the amount you speak and what you say in class counts for up to 45% of your final grade.  As a result, students try very hard to get their "face time" in class, whether they have something valuable to say or not.  You will come to see that certain students in the class like to speak - a LOT.  They will speak often.  They will speak long.  Sometimes it will be amusing, sometimes it will just be annoying.  The ones that bothered me the most were the ones that would take the floor and not give it up.  They would start telling a story every time they opened their mouths.  It got to a point where I started thinking there should be a time limit for speakers in class.  Students should get 30 seconds to make their point, at which point the floor reverts to the prof, who can choose - if he/she wants - to pursue the point further with the student, open the point up for discussion with the whole class, or move on. 

But how to police this?  Well, that's no problem.  Shot Clock software!  Just like they use in basketball, but it's software that runs on your computer.  Given that Ivey students are required to have laptops, and 90% of them bring them to class to take notes, it's easy to install the software and trigger it to time a student's babbling. 

After surfing the web for a while, I found the perfect solution:  "Shot Clock" from D&P Systems.  The software can be programmed to set the clock to whatever length of time you desire, and you can have it emit a loud buzzing sound (just like the buzzer in the NBA) when time is up. 

Unfortunately, I didn't think of this idea and download the software until the last day of class so I didn't get to use it.  But this coming year, the gloves are off and this baby is going to do some overtime. 

Bullshit Bingo

The other thing you will notice is that business is a world of acronyms, slogans, frameworks, and sayings.  (Based on the 30,000 foot view, our core competency looks to be a real sustainable competitive advantage and will maintain the operational effectiveness of the firm.)  As the year progresses, students in your class will be spewing these platitudes like the pros that they hope to become.  As an interesting aside, you will notice that the people who spew the most crap also tend to be the ones who inspire the use of the shot clock, above. 

Unfortunately, there's not much you can do to stem the flow of drivel from your fellow classmates' mouths.  All you can do is find a way to turn it to your advantage. 

Enter MBA Bingo™, created by two students in my class who asked not to be named. 

This Excel spreadsheet helps you enjoy the time in class spent listening to classmates try to impress the professors by uttering every platitude they've heard in class.  The way it works is this:  At the beginning of class, you click on the button to "Make a new card".  This selects at random 24 business-school-oriented phrases that you are sure to hear throughout the year and places them in the gray cells (the center, red, cell is a freebie). 

During the class, whenever someone (excluding you) utters one of the phrases on your Bingo card, you highlight the cell and colour it yellow (or green, if you prefer).  If you colour five squares in a row (horizontal, vertical or diagonal), YOU WIN!  Stand up and yell "BINGO!".  It is imperative that you do this, otherwise the enjoyment of the game will be significantly diminished. 

As the year progresses, you will find it easier and easier to complete a  row and stand up to yell Bingo.  The challenge then becomes to keep the game interesting.  Some variations include: 

• only recording phrases uttered by the professor

• placing a time limit (less than the length of the class) before resetting your card

You receive bonus points if you complete an entire row - from start to finish - during one student's uninterrupted babbling.  If you're interested in receiving the Excel document, just email me and ask for it.  Have fun!