Queen’s Business in the Environment Today

Millie Wu (BCom’16) – Queen’s Business in the Environment Today (QBET) 2014

Time: October 30th – November 1st, 2014

Featured Companies: Shopify, Scotia Bank, Telus, The Globe and Mail

Website: http://www.qbet.ca/

My name is Millie Wu and I am a fourth year student specializing in Human Resources and Business Technology Management. I attended Queen’s Business in the Environment Today (QBET) 2014 conference in Kingston, Ontario. This three-day conference was from October 30th to November 1st. The theme this year was “Bridging the Gap” between consumers and companies. I choose this conference because of two reasons: timing and interest. The timing of the conference was perfect because I did not have a lot of work planned during this week and as well customer experience is very important in any organization. I wanted to understand how companies approached their customers and what methods they used to create a better customer service experience.

Overall, my QBET 2014 experience was exciting! I was the only student from that far West so people noted my dedication to come to the conference. I have to admit, I was incredibly tired 80% of the trip. I had minimal sleep each night because QBET packed the delegates with workshops, mini-case competitions and events throughout the night. The highlight of my trip would have to be the Mergers Mystery, which I was put into a team of 4-5 individuals. Each person has a role and I was the Chief Financial Officer. Every 10 minute, there would be an email blast detailing the event that occurred. From this, we had to create strategies to negotiate and acquire different companies. It was very exciting because I got to apply skills from my negotiation course into a real life setting versus to a peer in class. I enjoyed the Mergers Mystery very much as it was unexpected and required us to think strategically and work in a fast-paced environment.

One thing I thought the conference lacked was the diversity of students. I was amongst the only fourth year student in the conference, where more than half of the students were first and second years. I thought this made the conference too generalized and lacking in areas, which I hoped for. I would recommend this conference to students of younger years but perhaps not to a third or fourth year student.

From this conference, I was able to network with processionals from LoyaltyOne and Reliance to improve my networking skills. I always take conferences as an opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and talk to everyone. I got to meet incredible people from this conference, even first and second years that I have added on my social media accounts and hope to keep in touch. I enjoyed my trip and was very happy to be back in the East Coast for a short period of time.