Hadi's Blog

This past weekend, Jan. 22nd to 24th, Ryerson University hosted the first JDC Central.

The Jeux De Commerce competitions originally started in Eastern Canada and brought together students from most universities in QC and it’s surroundings. The universities of Eastern Canada have created an organization called REFAEC (Regroupement d’Etudiants de Faculte d’administration de l’Est Canada) and have been encouraging universities in Western and Central Canada to create a JDC competition for their universities.

It has also been a tradition that whenever a new JDC is launched, the hosts invite a REFAEC team to show the other students how it works and to promote spirit and sportsmanship. This year for the first JDC Central, I was among the few students from JMSB on the REFAEC team.

My teammates, Briac G and Emil V, and I represented REFAEC for MIS. Not only did we perform very well, but we brought home gold!

The JDC competitions have a different style of preparing and presenting than the competition Emil and I have been prepping for this past semester. Their are two fewer hours to prepare and five extra minute during the presentation! And our last minute team had not really prepared!   Further more, during our presentation we had a tiny mistake in the introduction that forced Emil and I to switch parts and improvise! But no one knew that we actually improvised and apparently the judges were clueless!   Several hours after our presentation and after most of the awards had been given out, it was time for MIS…. third place was not ours… second place wasn’t ours too… Emil and I looked at each other with disappointment… We thought it was the same scenario as the ICBC weekend; But then, as the head judge was announcing First place, he says to the public in broken up french “Where is the only french speaking team?!” and my teammates and I went crazy…. We knew at that point that we won, that our last minute team had impressed the judges! We all ran up to the stage and received our awards and certificates and then chanted our schools song! Oh what a feeling it is to win. Much more intense than what I had imagined.

To be honest, I needed to podium after being disappointed during the first competitions results ceremony. But first place was incredible and a brand new experience!

I owe it to our coaches and delegation for supporting us and allowing us to attend these competitions. My team and I are grateful and will never forget what we have all achieved together.

All in all, I think that the first JDC Central was a success! A few things need to be organized better, but for a first the organizing committee did a great job! Specially the opening party which was held at Dundas Square, Toronto’s “Times Square”! Partying there for 4-5 hours in the middle of the day was awesome! Even the news channels had no idea what was going on!

Although my weekend at JDC was memorable, I cannot deny that my experience at ICBC was much more intense and at the top of my list! Case Competitions in general are a life changing event. Hopefully I will get the chance to keep involved.

Here are some pictures of my JDC Weekend. The pictures from the awards ceremony have not been released yet. I will post them ASAP though.

Enjoy…

On Jan. 7th the ICBC delegation from the John Molson School of Business (JMSB) headed to Queens University in Kingston ON to represent JMSB at the most prestigious academic competition in north America. 17 members from JMSB including students and coaches drove to Kingston to show the world what JMSB is capable of. Read on for all the details from that weekend and to see some of the pictures. In addition, browse through the links below for more info on ICBC and what JMSB achieved as well as a quick post from our MIS coach.

ICBC – News at Concordia

ICBC – website and results

Ian’s Blog post on ICBC 2010 – A Coaches perspective

This year JMSB had 3 teams reach the final round of the competition, MIS represented by Emil V. As well as myself, B.Policy represented by Valerie L. Benoit C and Alex R, and finally HR represented by Rebecca G and Louis M; the three competing teams did extra ordinary! All our coaches and team mates were stunned by all three performances and everyone at Queens found out what this years JMSB students were all about. The results at the end of the weekend were just as reflective! We all drove home with 2 podiums (HR & B.Policy) and a nice trophy for school of the year. MIS finished in forth, but my team mate and I were extremely happy with our performance and our coaches are proud of us. I guess that’s what counts in the end.
Of course I was looking forward to come on stage and receive a trophy for MIS, but the judges were looking for a minor detail during our presentation and we saw it to be a given and disregarded it. Apparently attention to detail is just as important when you only have 5 hours to prepare a business case! Oh well, what is done is done; and my team still stands in forth position among all universities in Canada; that counts for a lot and we are all proud.

As for the non-academic events of the weekend, I think it was clear that we had a blast; specially that we won the spirit award!! But everyone should have seen peoples faces when 17 people walk out of one elevator wearing the same BEAUTIFUL winter coat! They were all stunned! Even at the karaoke night and theme night during the weekend all of the JMSB team was present to show spirit and sportsmanship! And we all had a blast doing it. I can easily classify this weekend to be one of the memorable ones I have had.

Here are a few of the pictures from the ICBC Weekend:

The start of 2010 has been an incredible experience so far! In fact the whole year leading up to the first two weeks of 2010 has been a long, exciting, and defiantly an exhilarating experience.
This post is at least a week over due, this post is dedicated to my family and loved ones who have been waiting impatiently. So here goes nothing… I hope my few readers enjoy it.

Before you read on, keep in mind that this post is broken into three main paragraphs; Academics, Social, and finally “What comes next?”.

Academics:
For those who know me well, you know for fact that school was never my favorite place to be and studying could easily be classified as the worst past time I have! 2009 however was a bit different! I was introduced to a new world of academics, the case competitions. I have to thank my girlfriend for it… She was after all the one who pushed me to try-out!
This new world of Case Competitions has been the highlight of my university life! (at least until now!)
Throughout most of 2009, I have been busy with writing case reports, analyzing business problems, and preparing presentations; partially for an elective class but mostly to be part of the ICBC competition that took place last weekend at Queens University. ICBC or the Inter-Collegiate-Business-Competition is a well known and extremely prestigious competition that brings together the best students of North America and gets them to compete for the trophy. In fact only 6 out of 45 teams get chosen for the final round of each event. My teammate and I were either lucky or smart enough to get in! But either way, we made it there and we did well! I won’t go into the details of ICBC, but you can read about it all in my next post. (pictures, details, and all!)

Other than the case competitions my academic life has been quite ordinary except for one specific class that I will never forget. Systems Analysis with prof. Büyükkurt was probably the most useful and interesting class I have taken so far. Not only for the contents of the course which is outstanding, but for the teaching methods and valude added Dr. Büyükkurt has to offer. Most MIS graduates of Concordia know what I am writing about and should agree with me that this class teaches us much more than what the books do.
That is pretty much it for Academics in 2009, but I have to say that all the academic events coming up in 2010 look promising! Specially with a few more case comps coming up!
I’ll cut it short on the academics… after all, how much fun can one have reading about school for too long?!

Social:

My Social life in 2009 has been quite amazing actually! I met my girlfriend early in 2009 which pretty much opened up a whole new world!

2009 was also full of beautiful trips. Lebanon, Miami, New York, Boston, Kingston, and Toronto…

This past year was full of meeting new people. Whether it was at school, during my trips, or during other social events; I have met extremely interesting and influential people. I feel fortunate that I can easily talk to and meet new people so easily. I’m not quite sure if its a personality trait or just good circumstances, it might be a combination of both for all I know. I do however know that 2009 turned out to be a great year with regards to expanding my network with many intellectual and culturally rich people.

My social life during 2009 was not only about meeting new people. It was a lot about who I was last year and who I have become today in 2010. I am still the same person… but I do think that my experiences this year have taught me to see a different perspective of many circumstance. Some may call it “becoming more optimistic” others call it maturing. Who knows what the right answer is. Either way, I have grown and learned a lot this past year. Being so busy and forcing myself to organize and use an agenda is a big change and I now understand why my sister always has her little notepad on her. I have my phone and my note pad; and I use them both! Believe it or not, doing so allows me to keep up with all the little projects and events that I need to attend. All these little changes in my life that occured in 2009 have paved the way for a hopefully successful and fun 2010 the only wish I have is to spend more time in this new year with my family who I have been away from for a few years now. New years resolution #1: spend more quality time with the family in 2010 than in 2009.

What comes next?
This section of my post is, for practical purposes, the only documentation I have on what my new years resolutions are… Not the entire section, but quite a few ideas here are in fact resolutions I intend on fulfilling.

For 2010, the first goal I have is to continue on building a solid path for my professional career. I intend on doing so by continuing on competing in the case competitions, getting to know the participants and the judges and listening to what they have to say about the industry they are in. So far I have already narrowed down my hopes for the future to a more specific career. In addition to that, I am looking forward to applying for a position as an executive for one of the associations at JMSB. Either the case competitions committee or the decision sciences associations; both of these associations need all the help they can get and any of the two will open up numerous doors for the future!

Second on the list of What Comes Next; Finding a job or even possibly creating one!

So I have this urge to find a Job! I am looking for a job that will challenge me, something that keeps me thinking, a job that requires research and hands on work. In short, NOT a desk job that required me to crunch information in all day. Their are potential jobs that I am looking at right now, some that I might be hired for by the time you read this post, but all are entry level positions. The next step is finding the right job for me and going at it full force. Wish me luck readers. Oh, and concerning creating a job… That is going to require some more research and the idea of a lifetime, but hopefully a dream come true in the near future.

Finally the most important resolution, although already mentioned earlier in the post, spending more quality time with the family is a priority in 2010. Its hard when we are all on different continents and so far away from one another. But family sticks together one way or another, and its my primary goal for 2010 to do that. I’ll have to start re-exploiting Skype to get in touch with them for now… Getting on a plane and flying there a few times a month is not within my budget just yet.

That is all I have for this post. Do however read the next post for all the details on ICBC weekend. (First Competition weekend)

Watch this great presentation!! Not only does it portray GREAT presentation skills, but it is also a great story. The moral and final note made in this clip is inspiring and true.

Please spread this video! and enjoy…
H.A

http://podcast.concordia.ca/index.php
We finally have automatic podcasting at Concordia University!

Please encourage your professors to use it!

Good news for all of us who are in the IT sector or field, as well as for those of us who are graduating soon.

Reuters.com – CEOs’ switch from cost cutting to boost IT: Gartner
http://www.reuters.com/article/email/idUSTRE5BD3CE20091214

I have a big presentation coming up in a few hours… My group members and I worked hard on completing a systems analysis report for a local frozen yogourt store in Montreal. Now that the 118 page document is ready to be submitted we are getting ourselves ready for the presentation.

I consider myself a good presentor, I’ve had a lot of practice, exposure with important people, as well as the confidence in myself to present and speak in public. I am also blessed in having a strong education and a powerful English. It always helps when you have to words you are looking for.

Here are a few tips I keep in mind befor every presentation:
- know that everyone in that room is equal to you.
- know your material, know what you are talking about, beleive in what you are saying, and most importantly know the answers to all the questions that could arise.
- be presentable, clean cut and dressed with confidence. You can wear baggy jeans, but if you do, be able to pull it off.

On that note, I just got myslef a nice clean cut shave and hair cut. Not for the presentation though. More for my Freinds who keep telling me I need the cut. It does however help when the audience trusts you with their company. And clean cut is always better than afro.

Wish me luck my readers… Wherever and whoever you are.
If I have any readers, please comment to let me know you are there. It’s good to know that I don’t write for no reason.

H.A

I finally had enough time one afternoon to re-organize my websites and all domains to portray the right reasons!

Now, all my domain names point to the same site, http://blog.hadiazar.com.

Hopefully this structure for my sites will be the right one and I will no longer have to change anything!

Please visit my site, comment on the posts, send me feed-back, and tell me what you would like to see posted!

thanks!

H.A

Inspiring talk this morning, with one of the worlds top 50 influential women in the business world.
- Leadership in the 21st century
- Promoting social change from within the core values.
- Why these vanguard companies survived the current economic crises.

Rosabeth is a figure head at the Harverd Business school as well as a well published and successful author. I would suggest that you all do some research and follow this increadibly influential woman.

I have decided to use wordpress for my website and blog.

The reasons:
- WordPress is a customizable service that could with no doubt serve my needs as a webmaster and blogger.
- With some patients and time I was able to discover the full potential of WP and found the plug-ins that I would need.
- the iPhone app (being used now) is a powerful tool that allows me to edit, update, and post on my blog and website.

I think that WP is the most powerful service for my needs.

Also after trying WP on my blog subdomain I realized that I could switch my entire site to WP and enjoy the power of WP and it’s plugins for full control.

so my google wave invites were received by most of my friends!

Most impressive though is actually using it with my group members for a school project!

Loving the wave!!

I am now testing for the first time usig wordpress on the iPhone.. Seems pretty simple. But will it work when I have to Internet connection??

So my wordpress blog is finally set up and ready for use.

Let the traffic begin!!

Tomorrow is the Big Day!! iPhone 3.0 finally released!

Hurra for Cut, Copy, and Paste!!!

also looking forward to the the TomTom GPS app.

Just registered my MoblileMe Account and I am trying to host my website on it!

If the Add a Comment tab shows… it worked!