Shrinky-dink Rockets

Marketing:
the first half of class was devoted to our marketing class. Brother Eager lead the discussion, of which Team 6 presented their take on the VW New Beetle case we read over night. They did a great job, especially Brooke. She showed all the guys up with her loud and clear voice. They thought it would be best for the Marketing group to target the youth (16-30). This is actually the same decision our team came up.
Brother Eager then went on to discuss the Steps of good marketing:
Strategic Direction: Figuring out a focus for your new product or service (like the Braun [really pronounced Brown seeing that it is a German company] focused on the mouth, or teeth, or other bathroom appliances)
Identifying/Creating Consumer Need: Asking focus groups what they need or following people around and finding a need. And then filling the desire.
Ideation/Creation: Lots of testing is involved in making sure the product is right.
Consumer Validation: Will the people buy it? Surveys and more group studies will help in realizing if your idea is worth it after all. This could be done in small scale markets.
Product Launch/Roll out: If all goes well, you launch your product. Hopefully Nationally and hopefully without negative results.
Brother "E" ("Did you just call me Brother E.? Wow! That's kinda cool." -Brother Eager) Then went on to discuss, quickly, an example of how they "rolled out" (good pun, eh?) the Stuffed Crust deal for Pizza Hut. Then another example, more in detail, of the "launch" (yet another good pun) of the Kids Rocket Drinks. It did very well.
Next, we talked about Segmentation and Positioning:
Segmenting: (when you think of your friends, where you place them, Hang out friends, informative friends, helpful friends, NCMO friends etc.)
Target a particular segment: go after those inferences.
Position: Taking the segmentation and moving forward with that focus by differentiating yourself from the pack.
For example: Volvo = Safe Car
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I'm not going to talk too much about what was said in OB because Brother Holt really just went over the Syllabus (which will change, so rely on the one on iLearn) and a Powerpoint Presentation on What is OB (featured below). He did say this though, "The biggest disappointment, I have, is students who learn how to behave and don't!"

Wilderness Survived?

I feel like a heel after this afternoon's activity. We did a Wilderness Survival Team Activity. I thought I knew a lot about it, but I was off by so many things. Here you can see the horrible action.This took up most of the time. I've already done two of these before in another class and learned the key points in this. Basically, if we hadn't listened to me we would have done a bit better, the point is that a team will do better than the individual, and that you need a team. Brother Holt said there there is healthy discussion instead of argument just to argue that makes for a better team.
In Marketing we went over grading and some of the things to look forward to in that class. We also went over (and took a good chunk of the time discussing) what it takes to be a marketer, how much to expect and such. We then talked a bit about the case. Tomorrow, he says, we'll cover it a bit more. I hope so. I don't feel like I got what I needed out of it. Now we have another case to read and finish by tomorrow that our group needs to have a presentation ready to show about the case. We'll see how that goes.

A Three Hour Tour!?

Today was day #1 in the long list of three (or 2.5 hours or less) classes we have ahead of ourselves. I was one of the first to enter the classroom. Immediately found a few people I knew from previous classes such as Accounting 201 & 202, B 220 (although I knew her from a mutual friend). We got settled and then were told to take down the tables... that's always frightening to think that we won't be needing desks and ease of movement.
Oh well, the next thing is we went over our thoughts of the IBC program. What we had heard. No one really wanted to say anything about the horrific things they heard. Next we played a game. It was a great get to know you game. BINGO! Well it was a bit different. The object was to fill in the grid of 25 with people you were meeting. Then after everyone gathered the desired amount of names we sat back down in our seats then they proceeded to call out names off the role. Once you had five in a row you would "enthusiastically" yell BINGO! and come to the front and point out the five you got. Well it seemed harder that it sounded. Most people didn't yell out Bingo because they knew they didn't know everyone they got names for. I had done the smart thing and written down things like, "light yellow shirt", "grey hoodie", "curly hair" (it was a guy), etc.
After that embarrassment, we got to hear from the individual teachers. Remember this is four classes in one and plus some. It appears all of our teachers seem to be a bit dysfunctional. They went in turn and explained a bit about their background and how they got there. Pretty interesting... sort of. I know it will get better with the time of the classes. I think they were rushed or weren't too prepared.
We finally got our first break. I didn't even check the time to see where we were in the 3 hours. At this point we got a journal, which I'm sure they will describe better later. From what I understand at this point, the notebook is to be used to journalize our experience and then we will need to "write a paper using your notes". Here I am ahead of the curve using digital. We also got a chance to purchase a BYU-I book bag. I didn't even think to see if my behemoth of a laptop could fit in it. I have a 17" monitor. It barely does, but not in the cushy part it's supposed to fit in.
With break over we now moved the seats to the sides of the room and played IBC Olympics. I'm not going to go into each of the tasks assigned to us, but suffice it to say it had a bunch of silly things and we all had to break out and get involved. Now I think we were supposed to stay with our group as much as possible, but I have to admit, I found myself going wherever people needed someone to fulfill what I had already accomplished. Overall I think my group was the first one done and so helping others was always more fun than just sitting on the sides and waiting.Here's some of the fun. The first is a quick pic, so not something I would put in a yearbook, but good enough to see a bit of fun. Second was our group making a human pyramid.
Next we got in a big circle and were separated by our major and emphasis. As it turned out there was only one guy that was an accounting major in the whole of the IBC. To be in a company with him was to be coveted for sure. We then got broken into 2 teams... our companies. Then broken into our own teams. I was one to be in a team with the ACCOUNTANT! But our group had 7 people and we were only to have 6. So I sacrificed myself to go with another group. I hope I made the right choice.
After that it was getting to know when your team could meet and so we sat around swapping info... sort of. Here's my group:

Picture #1 Colette Brown and Stephen Madsen and Rachel Huey. Picture #2 Stephen Madsen and Rachel Huey. Picture #3 Chris Meyer and Shane Ririe.

Golden Retreater

A couple of weeks back I received an email from Amy Staiger (the sweet business department secretary. aka the brains behind most that goes on) concerning our retreat for IBC. Luckily this is my only class, outside of a Doctrine and Covenants (D&C) class I'm taking online (I've already taken it, but I got a D+, so this is hopefully raise my grade and overall GPA), so I won't be missing out on any class.

The email went as follows:

Students of IBC

As a part of your IBC experience you will be going to Badger Creek and outdoor learning facility at the base of the Teton mountains. This experience will last two and a half days. You will spend one night out in a tent and one night in a lodge. I need you to come prepared for this experience so it will be enjoyable. I have attached a equipment list you will need. I wanted you to have enough time to be able to bring things with you from home before you go. We will also give you more information when school starts. Also to have time to work this out with your spouse (if you have one) and employer if you are working.

The morning session will be going on January 20th-22nd. You will be back by noon on the 22nd.

The afternoon session will going on January 22nd-24th. You will be home by noon on the 24th.

This is the attachment to the email of what is needed:

EQUIPMENT LIST FOR BADGER CREEK WINTER

We will be at Badger Creek an outdoor facility at the foot of the Teton Mountains 45 miles from Rexburg. We have enclosed a suggested list of equipment that you will need. We wanted you to be able to have time to gather items before school starts and bring them with you when you come. If you do not have these items you may be able to rent items from Outdoor Resource Center (ORC) on campus or possibly borrow from others. If these are things that you want to buy do so, but don’t buy things if this is the only time you feel you will use them. Most items may be rented from the ORC or borrowed from friends or team mates.

Equipment List for Winter Conditions at Badger Creek (Highs: 25-30 Lows: -10 to -25)

Good warm boots. Need to be able to repel water and snow.
Wool Socks and thermals. Ski pants or water resistant shell, Water resistant Gloves
Warm Coat or layers of polypropylene or fleece with a shell. Stay away from cotton. Cotton absorbs moisture and we want moisture repelled.
Hat and stocking cap. Sleeping with a stocking cap will keep you warmer
Extra clothing and socks. We will be there 21/2 days. We will not be coming back to Rexburg until after the two and a half days.
Flashlight or headlamp
Two Water Bottles: if it is a Nalgene bottle you can heat water and put it in the bottom of your sleeping bag and keep you warm.
Below Zero Sleeping Bag or better or two sleeping bags
Sleeping pad and ground cloth
Backpack or duffle to put your gear in
Sunglasses
Medications
Journal and pen *(journal not scriptures?)

Team Equipment List:
A cooking camp stove (Camp Chef) will be provided for two teams to share. If you don’t want to share then your team should bring their own stove.
Cooking gear, i.e. pots, pans, spoons, spatulas, can opener, plates, cups and utensils. Keep in mind that you will need eating utensils cups for staff members
Enough food to feed your team and one to two staff members. Money will be given to your team to buy food.

* added by me

Most likely I will not be able to blog during those days, but I will try my best to use Dial2Do on my phone to blog maybe a few things. That is if I can get any phone reception out there. Rumor has it there is a slim chance of having any signal at all. If that does happen I will be taking time to jot down my thoughts and I will upload them on the following day.

Delayed by 2 Days

Luckily for me, class doesn't start until 2:00 pm. I noticed how empty it was in the other parking lot well before getting fully ready to go to school. Sure enough after looking at the School's Calendar I was informed that school actually starts on Wednesday the 7th. Well there goes my 12th Day of Christmas Drummer outfit.

On a good note, I can read some more of the books that are required for IBC. Here are the books required for this semester:

• Leadership & Self-Deception by Arbinger Institute _{$12.80 used at BYU-I Bookstore}
• Good to Great by Jim Collins _{$22.00 used at BYU-I Bookstore}
• 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey _{$12.80 used at BYU-I Bookstore}

In The Beginning...

This is my digital journal of all that goes on during my semester of going through the Integrated Business Core (IBC) program at Brigham Young University-Idaho (BYU-I). I am preparing to take the IBC courses during the Winter semester from January 5th through April 9th.

In short, the IBC is there to help students understand how to run a company by starting up a live company and shutting it down by the end of the semester. According to my research of past companies, not one has broken the $9,000.00 mark. This could have been done over the fall, but I plan to secure my teams lead by creating a company that will make $10,000.00 in net profits. You can view the history of past companies Here

Here are some links:

• IBC Homepage
• What is IBC?
• IBC Handbook _{(Which I plan to change)}

Feel free to add comments and vote on my polls I may put on. The more interactive, the more I can get out of this experience, the more others can benefit from reading.