Interactive Poster Session: Say Cheese

November 24, 2014

“Say Cheese” was opened in 1973 as a family owned pizza shop in West Roxbury, MA. It’s founder, Michael Camuso, was first generation Italian American whose parents emigrated from Naples, Italy. Over the years, Say Cheese built a strong reputation and customer following around town. By the early 1990’s, the Camuso family owned pizza shops in six neighborhoods in both Boston and beyond. If you were driving through Newton or Brookline, you could stop by a Say Cheese shop to get a slice or two of your favorite pizza! But what was the secret behind their success? What was it that created their amazing and loyal following? The secret was in the sauce! Michael and his family had the most amazing pizza sauce that could not be beat. It was a little sweet, a little spicy, and everything in between. His secret recipe was truly the envy of his rivals. Today, Say Cheese has been in business over 40 years, and the Camuso family is extremely proud of the small business they have created.

Now, the Camuso family was at a crossroads. After so many years in the business, and the fact that Michael was, well, getting older, he had to think about how the business was going to go on without him when he retires. He and his wife called all of their children together and they had a family meeting. They unanimously decided that his youngest daughter, Helen, was going to take over the business. Helen had been working in the different pizza shop locations since she was a little girl, and she loved everything about it. Unlike her older brother and sister who had other interests, Helen loved her family business. And she knew every aspect of it. She knew how to work the registers, make the pizza, do the bookkeeping and payroll…you name it. Helen had done every job there was at Say Cheese.

Helen had a Bachelors degree from Suffolk University’s Sawyer School of Business in Information Systems and Operations Management, and she had big ideas for her family business. Now that her father left her the legacy of Say Cheese, she wanted to do something big to make her own mark. Helen saw a great opportunity to grow the business, but not though expanding their presence in the local market. Helen wanted to grow by acquisition. He strategy was to double in size in the next 3 years by expanding into resort communities in Vermont and Cape Cod. To start, she wanted to expand by two locations to be exact, and that would increase their number of pizza shops from 6 to 8, or 33%…and she wanted to do it by the end of next year.

Over the past three years, Helen was quietly doing some research and found two locations where there was a great opportunity to acquire pizza shops already established. As her idea and philosophy was to find two pizza shops in resort communities where the infrastructure was already built, she believed it would be a faster and easier way to establish a presence. She sought locations where the customers were transient, so that “pizza loyalty” was not so much as issue. And her objective was to find local owners looking to sell their establishments.

Last summer, she found two locations. First, a fantastic pizza shop in Woodstock, VT, right in the center of town on your way to Killington. The owner only had the shop for about 5 years, and despite their success, he was looking to sell so that he could move back to his hometown of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The second shop was in Stowe, VT. There was a somewhat similar situation…a local owner looking to sell her establishment to re-locate. Helen was able to negotiate fair deals with both of these owners, and Say Cheese was going to grow its footprint to Vermont, the green mountain state!

Now…the work begins! Helen was going to have to move quickly once the deals closed to change the existing pizza shops to Say Cheese. Once they passed papers, time would be of the essence. Same look and feel, same menu, same delicious sauce that made them famous in Boston, same everything. Her dad was of course going to stay involved and help for the duration of this expansion.

The Challenge:

You and your partner are running your own consulting firm in Boston, and you win the bid to help Helen and Say Cheese expand. It is clear that their technology is way behind the times, as you might expect from a business that has been around for so many years. Helen needs to build consistent technology and processes so that all of her soon to be eight locations would operate exactly the same way. This will not only bring her current locations up to date, but it will facilitate the future expansion of her business.

She would like to have the following:
Say Cheese Website – a new website for customers to find menus, locations, directions, place orders, etc.
Say Cheese Smart Phone App – an app for customer to find menus, locations, directions, place orders, etc.
Say Cheese Ordering System– one web-based system to order all supplies
Say Cheese Employee Review System – with 10-15 employees per location, it is now important to use the same tool to conduct performance reviews for employees in a consistent manner

Your team will need to craft a presentation that concisely addresses the work of a business analyst:

§ Understand Domain & Stakeholders

§ Requirements Planning & Elicitation

§ Validate Scope, Prioritize & Model Requirements

§ Identify Options

§ Confirm Solution Solves the Business Need

Supporting, on-going considerations:

§ Plan for Change

§ Risk

§ Communication

§ Planning & Monitoring

§ Evaluation & Metrics

EACH GROUP WILL RECEIVE THEIR PROJECT DURING CLASS.

Interactive Poster Session Guidelines*

The Interactive Poster Session is designed to allow interactive presentations, allowing presenters maximum yet personal interaction with many attendees at one time. Presenters will stand next to their visual presentation as attendees stroll around the meeting room searching for topics of interest. In order to attract attention, presenters need to have an exciting topic and a visually stimulating presentation where organization and clarity are critical. The presentation must catch attendees’ eyes as they walk by and then be easily conveyed in a short time. After that, a more formal, detailed discussion can be conducted. The main goal for presenters is to stimulate informed discussion of your topic.

On the night of the poster session, group members should alternate between visiting other poster sessions and being present at their own poster. The presenting group should always have at least 1 group member at their own poster to introduce their topic and answer questions.

Below are some guidelines to help you stimulate interest in your topic and engage other attendees:

1. The Visual Presentation:

This is essentially your Issue Briefing in visual display on two 3’x4’ wide poster boards.doc#_ftn1″ title=””>[1]. You want to make sure that your presentation is easily readable from a short distance (about 4 feet) and that it is eye-catching (use interesting visuals, large fonts for keywords, different colors for graphs/illustrations, etc.).

2. Size:

The total size of your presentation must not exceed the two 3’x 4’ display surfaces.

3. Handouts:

Be sure to bring at least 20 copies of a one-page summary of your project (these can be single-spaced and double sided) to hand out to interested attendees.

4. Presenting:

At least one group member MUST be present at your poster at all times during the poster session. The purpose of the interactive presentation is to encourage participation and discussion among participants. Each group member should be capable of answering any questions concerning the presentation.

Presenting groups should prepare 10 minutes of “talking points” addressing:

· What is the business need and who are the stakeholders

· Requirements management approach and method of prioritization

· Change management and communications plan

This will be a “rolling presentation” in that you will make this presentation several times as people come and go from your session (you will make it at least once from start to finish, when I visit your poster!). Your job is to make your project interesting. Both team members must be prepared to give this brief talk.

5. Some more helpful hints:
In planning your presentation, draw a rough sketch of your presentation first. Remember the size should be no larger than 3′ by 4′. Graph paper and post-it notes may help you visualize where the components will go.
Carefully edit your presentation to reduce cluttering and improve readability. Make sure every item is necessary.
Use blank spaces to highlight or offset information. Place related materials such close together.
Space your information proportionately. A good way is to divide your presentation either horizontally or vertically into three or four sections, and place materials within those sections.
Usually visual presentations are put up with tacks. You may decide to place Velcro tabs on the back of your presentation pieces and bring along a piece of 3′ x 4′ felt or other cloth to which you attach your pieces. This can make a visually more attractive presentation, and is easier to set up.

*These guidelines were borrowed and adapted from Academy of Management website.

.doc#_ftnref1″ title=””>[1] Elmer’s® White Foam Display Board, 36″ x 48″ can be purchased at Staples for $17 each.

Fall 2014 Poster Session Rubric

Name __________________________________ Grade ___________

Dimensions of Poster Session

Excellent

A range

Good

B range

Needs Improvement

C range

Visually Related – Layout, visual appeal, clarity, readability:

§ Organization: Can the viewer easily find their way through your project?

§ Image Quality:Are the images imaginatively chosen and do they convey your project in an informative manner?

§Words: Do the written words add to the quality of the poster? Are statements concise and informative?

Methodology:

§Does the group use appropriate tools and techniques their poster, and did they include samples from at least six of the areas below. More than six samples are encouraged:

o Define the Business Need

o Stakeholder Analysis and Map

o Communication Plan

o Elicitation Steps Taken

o Elicitation Technique(s) used, illustrating the results

o Key Requirements Collected, Organized and Prioritized

o Specify and Model Requirements

o Verify & Validate Requirements

o Risks and Risk Response

o Change Management Strategy

Intellectually Related: Quality, quantity, process, tools:

§ Content: Does the group show excellent knowledge of subject area? Are appropriate links to BA process and tools?

§ Presentation:Is the formal talk clearly well rehearsed and does it fit into 10-minute time limit? Does the talk add to and develop understanding of the poster?

§ Summary sheet:Does the summary sheet logically outline and concisely describe the most important dimensions of your project?

Question/Answer:

§ Does the group demonstrate a high level of understanding of the topic?

§ Can all members respond to questions and expand upon points the audience finds interesting?

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