Grand Oral

(Big Speech)

In order to complete my studies at ESC-Clermont, I had to participate in what is called the “Grand Oral,” the name pronounced by many students with dread and fear. The Master in Management program I am in is a 3-year program, and at the end of the last year, every student has to participate in the Grand Oral to graduate. We were in classes with the 3rd year students, therefore, we also had to partake. Essentially, the Grand Oral is a individual presentation each student gives in front of a 2-3 person jury of professors and professionals from the area, in order to prove that you have actually learned something in your studies. You arrive at your assigned time, pick three topics out of a box, business-related, ranging anywhere from business culture, strategy, politics with relation to business, management, etc. They are all fairly general so that, for example, a marketing student does not have to talk about finance. Out of the three random topics you have chosen, you pick one, and have an hour to prepare a 15-minute presentation about it. You cannot use any notes, computers, or anything, just your own brain! After the hour or preparation, you go into a different room and present for 15 minutes and then answer questions for 15 minutes. This is, in fact, a pretty nerve-racking ordeal because there is not much preparation time.

I completed my Grand Oral last Wednesday, and thankfully was allowed to do it in English. Yes, I probably could have done it in French, but with my degree on the line, I preferred to express myself in my native language. Some of the French students chastised us Americans for doing this since we are in France, but it’s not our fault that English is the language of business and that we had that option. Although we do not learn many languages in America, we are fortunate to at least know an important one!

The topic I chose was “Developpment Durable, vrai concept ou faux débat?” (Sustainable development, real concept, or false debate?). I think I presented well, organized, and was not too nervous, until the questions came along. Always the hardest part because you do not know what is coming. My jury consisted of one American professional, and one French professor. The French guy asked me most of the questions, first in relation to what I had presented, which went okay. Then he asked me about the Copenhagan climate summit (which happened in December), and about the politics and money allowances for sustainable development. Yikes! One, I knew the climate summit had happened but that was pretty much the extent of my knowledge about the conference. Then, he asked my what Mr. Obama had said at the summit. I had no idea. THEN, he proceeded to basically tell me how both Obama and China had not brought positive influence to the conference and the whole summit was pretty much a failure, and left me in sort of a place where I was supposed to defend what Obama had said. Uhhhhhh…..as gracefully as I could, I said, “I don’t know.” Dang, I just got grilled! My presentation was fine, aside from the fact that I focused mostly on the marketing side of sustainable development and not the political side (albeit important). I’m not too worried, because I actually stood up there and did it and all you need to do is pass, but I still felt slightly put off afterward. C’est la vie!