"5 Minutes to Convince," a 100% win-win contest

[Article] - Published on January 28, 2022 in Enhancing Your Education

Knowing how to be persuasive and present the best of your professional project in a short period of time is the goal of the "5 minutes to convince" competition created by the SCUIO-IP's Professional Integration Assistance Office to improve the professional integration of students. Explanation with the creator of this competition, Cédric Bizaud.

There was excitement in the air on Thursday, January 27, on the Triolet campus for the final of the "5 minutes to convince" competition, which crowned its three winners.  The goal? "To reward the best presentation of a professional project before a jury from the socio-economic world and higher education," explains Cédric Bizaud, who initiated the project. He came up with the idea for this competition when he took up his position as head of the SCUIO-IP's professional integration assistance office.

"In their future professional lives, students will often find themselves in situations where they will only have a few minutes to introduce themselves and promote their project." How can they feel comfortable in these stressful but decisive situations? How can they ensure that they are chosen over someone else? To help them meet this challenge, which will contribute to improving their professional integration, Cédric Bizaud "draws inspiration from what is done in North America" and has created the "5 minutes to convince" competition, the first edition of which took place in 2012.

Dare

Open to all students at the University of Montpellier preparing for a national degree (DUT, bachelor's, master's, doctorate, etc.), the competition is divided into three categories: A, B, and C. "The first category involves presenting a professional project as part of an application for an internship or job; the second category concerns a professional project in the context of starting a business; and the third category is reserved for doctoral students," explains Cédric Bizaud.

And SCUIO-IP does everything possible to ensure that candidates are ready on the big day, including a competition preparation workshop on the theme of "Dare to pitch." "Led by a communications professional, this training course teaches them the fundamentals of oral preparation and a methodology for preparing and presenting a lively, effective, and convincing pitch," explains Cédric Bizaud.

This year, out of the 88 candidates who submitted applications, 33 students from all areas of study were interviewed by a panelProfessors professionals. During these five precious minutes, candidates were evaluated on both form—oral expression, conviction, persuasiveness—and substance—approach, business plan, skills assessment, etc.

100% winners

The prize is a laptop for the winner in each category, but also—and above all—specific support for their project. For category A, this support involves help with defining the project and professional research lasting three months, based on an assessment by the firm Hays Occitanie. In category B, support for business creation will be provided by PEPITE-LR, and finally, for doctoral students in category C, support for business creation will be provided by SATT AxLR or by a coach for a period of six months, with one two- to three-hour meeting per month.

Although only three winners were chosen, all participants were winners in their own right: "During their presentations, each participant received personalized feedback from the jury members, who drew their attention to their strengths and areas for improvement." So there were actually 33 winners who took part in this^11th edition. "We have since noticed that the initiative has spread to other institutions, "says Cédric Bizaud with a smile. An event created at UM, often copied but never equaled.

Keywords: Students, Professional integration