24-hour case strategy.

Overnight cases reward process. Talent without a clock produces a beautiful appendix and a confused pitch. The Case Competition recommends a visible timetable that a tired team can still obey at 04:00.

A 24-hour skeleton.

1. Hour 0–1. Read, underline the decision, write situation-complication-question.
2. Hour 1–2. Issue tree, criteria, role split, data request list if interviews are allowed.
3. Hour 2–8. Analysis sprints. Each sprint ends with a written claim.
4. Hour 8–10. Options workshop. Choose. Write the recommendation in one paragraph.
5. Hour 10–16. Governing slide and spine. Model freeze. Exhibit redraws.
6. Hour 16–18. Red-team Q&A. Fix only what changes the recommendation or a material number.
7. Hour 18–20. Rehearse standing up. Cut slides. Sleep in shifts if the rules allow.
8. Hour 20–24. Final polish, print or export, backup file, speaker order, appendix tags.

Move the blocks if the contest is 6 hours or 48 hours, but keep the same sequence: question, tree, claims, choice, spine, attack, rehearse.

Freeze rules.

After the recommendation is written, new ideas must beat a test: does this change the action, the economics, or a risk that a judge will certainly ask? If not, it goes to appendix or the bin. Overnight teams lose by reopening strategy at dawn.

Keep one master file. Version in the filename. Export a PDF an hour before deadline even if you keep editing. Confirm fonts, video, and presenter mode on the actual competition machine if you can.

Human factors.

Eat. Assign a sleep window. Do not let the fastest talker own the recommendation by default. The quiet modeller often has the only number that matters. The lead’s job is to hear it.

This page is a rehearsal method for students using the archive cases. It is not a claim about a particular contest’s official rules. Always follow the brief in front of you.

Pair with team roles and how to compete.