Year 10 partook in the 2019 Australian Business Week in early December. We were divided into six teams – red, blue, purple, green, yellow and orange – each with approximately 15 members. I was put into team purple. To start the week off we broke off into groups and played some ice breaker games with each other, the teachers and the principal Mr. Dixon. Then the industry we would be competing in was revealed – hospitality, and we moved into our individual rooms, wherein we designated roles and begun the seemingly unending production of posters.
Our marks for the week were separated into the simulation, wherein we controlled a hotel chain in the computer and competed quarter by quarter for a higher share price. Then there was the business report, where we were to write out a lengthy document outlining the choices we made, the outcomes of said choices and what we planned to do in the future. There was the oral presentation, in which we needed to tout how good our hotel was regarding both what it featured, and the results of the simulation. There was the video advertisement, which had to be 30 seconds long and needed to outline the elements of your business that would attract tourists and finally there was the stalls in the hall, where we were to try to sell our product.
My team - Team 3 - which was purple, performed well in the simulation, we ended up on top and owned three hotels by the end. Our business report outlines our successes and failures, what we had learned and why. Our team perhaps ill advisably took out a $2.5 million debenture, which we intended to use to purchase additional hotels, but it was revealed that we needed a high enough cash flow that the bank would recognise our ability to pay it back – so after holding onto the cash for half a year, we paid it back overnight, though we highlighted our virtually instantaneous recovery in our report.
Our oral presentation consisted of a beginning auction, where I hyped how awesome our hotel was, and strategically placed members of team 3 placed ‘bids’ to show how excited someone should be having the ability to stay at our hotel. Then Catelin explained everything our hotel had to offer before I finished it off with some absolutely mint graphs and a brief explanation of why they were good, and Molly delivered a striking conclusion. Our video manned by Molly Davies showed footage of our hotel (that may not have been filmed by us) and played some awesome music in the background. The display stalls all looked very impressive, it was a chance to show off our newly learned advertising skills. At our stall we were giving away lollies and purple pancakes and a guess at a jar filled with jelly beans. Team 1 – red – won the people’s choice, and we won the judges over.
All in all, it was an awesome week, which we had the honour of winning – our team name Purple Paradise is to be engraved on a trophy, and we each got medals. I think everybody learned at least something, and those who got involved more, certainly seemed to get more out of it. I personally learned much about the hospitality industry, writing a business report, being an auctioneer and jointly owning a business. Good luck to the future years who partake in this great program!
Finally, on behalf of Year 10, thank you to Tumut High Staff for their encouragement and support of this program whilst being our mentors. Thank you to the 3 judges for giving up their time and also a special thank you to Mr Brown for organising the whole week. The students should be congratulated for their efforts, working outside of their comfort zone and for producing some awesome reports, advertisements, presentations and trade displays.
By Harry Bottero
