1. Developing The Mindset
The key to being competitive is having a thoroughly prepared team. Studying the subject matter, rehearsals and trial runs require considerable individual and team effort. The team members should be aware of the additional hard work and commitment that will be required and expected of them in preparing for the competition. Additionally, they should recognize that there will be no individul stars and the success, if any, will be the result of the team effort.
2. Establishing The Team
Members of the team were selected by the Construction Department faculty from a group of interested students. The following criteria were used:
o Senior level students
o Advanced course work completed (estimating, scheduling, etc.)
o Field experience
o Ability to work as a team
Because the competition limits team size, a select group of students was established. Additional students were selected to serve as alternates and to participate in the preparation. In addition to the student involvement, a faculty advisor and an alumni coach were also involved in the preparation for the competition. The team was established soon after the start of the fall term to allow preparation for the competition in early November.
3. Kick-Off Meeting
At the kick-off meeting, team members discuss the components of the competition. Each person should describe what he/she can contribute to the team, including such things as technical ability, presentation skills, and past experience. A student should be selected to lead the team. This makes the group comparable to a "real life" project team, with the leader acting as a Project Manager. The team leader must take responsibility for providing the necessary direction and for coordinating the details required for the competition. The selection of the team leader is critical to the success of the team.
Based on each individual team member’s characteristics and abilities, each should be assigned a role as either estimator, scheduler, presentation organizer, computer specialist, or project manager/field superintendent. Additional roles may be developed as the team works through the process, but this allows the team to focus on each of the principal roles that are needed. The kick-off meeting may last 2 hours. One week later, this team should hold a Strategy Meeting.
4. Strategy Meeting
At this meeting, the project team should focus on understanding the rules of the competition, defining exact roles of the team members, and developing a strategy for preparing for the competition. It is important that the strategy meeting be held for team members only (without faculty and alumni coaches). This allows the team the opportunity to openly develop a concensus regarding how to approach the competition prior to seeking the opinions of others. The team should establish the strategy and a detailed schedule, including the frequency of meetings and goals of each meeting. Because time is of the essence, it may be helpful to create an activity schedule by working backwards from the actual competition date. The short time frame will probably dictate weekly meetings.
The rules for the 1995 competition specified that the team would be acting as a Construction Management Firm selling its services to the owner. This may vary from year to year. The team should discuss several different ways to satisfy this requirement. For example, the SIUE team weighed the advantages of "being" a General Contractor as opposed to a firm that offerd only Construction Management (CM) services and decided to "be" a CM.
The project team must determine the appropriate roles to be represented in the presentation (such as vice president, project manager, safety director, and field superintendent). The type of presentation and the use of slides, handouts, and/or a written proposal must be agreed upon at an early date. Due to the varied opinions and some uncertainty, the SIUE team assembled a group of faculty members and construction industry representatives to discuss this topic further at one of the preparation meetings.
5. Preparation Meetings
The real work takes place between these meetings. The meetings should be opportunities for each member to present his/her work from the past week and to obtain feedback from the rest of the team. It is critical that the detailed schedule be constantly updated to include newly-discovered "to do" items. Each of the preparation meetings may last up to 3 hours.
Some of the major items to be completed during the final 4 weeks prior to the competition include:
6. Dress Rehearsal/Feedback Meetings
The project team should hold formal rehearsals of the presentation to gain feedback. A variety of people, including faculty from different disciplines within the university and representatives from local construction companies should be invited to attend these meetings. It is recommended that an initial dress rehearsal meeting be held at least three weeks prior to the competition. This allows time to refine the presentation and to conduct a second dress rehearsal prior to the competition.
Each guest/reviewer should be provided with a copy of the rules and the presentation evaluation form. The team should distribute a final written proposal on a fictional project and make a presentation.
The presenters must observe all the rules of the competition. After the rehearsal, the reviewers should be asked questions and provide a critique of the presentation. The weaknesses of the team with regard to presentation skills and overall project knowledge should be examined, and suggestions for improvements offered. After hearing all of the reviewers’ comments, the team should meet privately to discuss the feedback and to develop a plan to implement improvements.
7. Wrap-Up Meeting
A final wrap meeting should be scheduled one week prior to the competition. This will allow for discussion and a consensus of what still needs to be done. The team should attempt to simulate every forseeable situation, such as packing the van, unloading the van and setting up the computer system at a new location. Each student should be given areas of responsibility and should develop back-up procedures for those activities. This allows each member to know exactly what he or she must do and how to respond to unanticipated events.
CONCLUSION
Preparation for the ASC Regional Student Competition was educational, challenging and fun. This competition improved the team’s understanding of how to approach a problem and to truly work together as a team. The team fully enjoyed this competition and learned more about the roles played by the various members of a project team. In our opinion, the competition did what it was designed to do - give the students a real life educational experience in an enjoyable format.
SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION
Following the presentation of this paper, there was considerable discussion on the topic of the student competition planning, rules, and execution. Numerous comments suggested that the planning effort for the competition should be done by a committee whose membership should include a representative from the previous year’s host school. This would allow a building of experience and knowledge regarding the successes and failures of various initiatives, leading to a progressive improvement in the competition.
Suggested planning changes included scheduling the annual conference later in November to allow students more time to learn more about the concepts necessary to compete, and to develop as teams. One major change suggested with regard to the competition rules was to have the teams do the estimating and bidding of the project at their individual schools over a period of one or two weeks in October, administered by the faculty. The results would be submitted to the judges approximately two weeks before the conference date. At the competition, the students would focus on presenting their oral proposal to the judges, and defending the proposal. This rule change might improve the students’ ability to learn more about the aspects of project estimating, bidding and scheduling, as opposed to the current emphasis on graphics and proposal preparation.
Suggested changes in the competition execution included the provision of resources such as binding machines, copiers, color printers, and computers by the host school. The current arrangement is burdensome to the competitors who must bring many items from home. Another suggestion was to increase the presentation time from the current seven minutes to approximately 20 minutes. This would allow the judges to more adequately question the teams on their knowledge of the subject project. A student suggested that the student team be provided with a clock in view rather than a person running a stop watch to reduce the time pressure.
Many positive comments were made regarding the competition. Students commented that consideration should be given to participation in a national competition such as the National Association of Home Builders competition.