Hello from Montreal.
Yesterday was a challenging 10 hour drive from Orono to Montreal. The roads were extremely difficult in the mountain pass from SugarLoaf in Maine to Sherbrooke in Canada. We then experienced the tail end of a windy snow storm on Rt. 10 East to Montreal. Although slow going, everyone was in high spirits and very supportive when we arrived and enjoyed a quiet dinner at Boccacino’s — a perfect ending to the long day.
Our first day in Montreal was filled with registration, a team adventure activity, the opening ceremonies, a fine cocktail party at a private Montreal business club, and a team dinner at the Keg.
I personally enjoyed seeing old friends, other coaches from past years, particularly Gerd Rainer Wagner from the Heinrich-Heine-Universitat Dusseldorf (Germany). It was also great to see our team step out to meet their competitors from around the world. The University of Maine Business School is well represented and I was very proud of their approach. Whatever the final results, I am confident that our team is as well prepared and as competent as any other entrant in this prestigious international event.
Tomorrow the case competition begins. Our division consists of the University of Porto Business School (Portugal), University of Kaiserslautern (Germany), Asper Business School-University of Manatoba (Canada), and John Molson Business School-Concordia University (Canada). Stay tuned.
On a personal note, I continue my Tokyo marathon training in the Fairmont Hotel’s health club. 17 miles was scheduled for yesterday or today. I did handle 11 miles on a treadmill today and plan to do multiple workouts each day between the case presentations and other competition activities to stay on top of my training schedule.