So Jan. 10th was circled on the calendar as a big day. We were to give presentations of our case analysis to Emirates Airlines on the performance of their company. All of the groups were up late the night before trying to finishing their slides and preparing for today’s presentation. There wasn’t much confidence within the group that this would go very well as we didn’t feel we had adequate time to prepare and we worried that we would all present the same things 4 times (there are 4 groups in our class). The morning started off with a presentation from Emirates, which would have been nice to see before we prepared our presentation.
After they gave their presentation they took us on a tour of their facility. They have life sized models of their aircraft in which they would practice safety measures and service delivery. A number of these models even moved to simulate turbulence or crashes. All of it was quite impressive and seeing the quality of their planes made me mad that I had to take a United Airlines flight home. These two airlines are on totally different ends of the spectrum, they don’t even compare.
After the tour it was time to give our presentations. Our group was to go last so we had the advantage of listening to everyone’s presentation and learn from their mistakes. We quickly learned that their Powerpoint software wasn’t working properly so we changed our Powerpoint to a 2003 version and also saved it as a PDF file. So when we went up Dr. Hassan said we had to hurry along as we had another appointment to make. We get up there and try to open our slides and NONE of the files open. GREAT! Every other group had a chance to open their slides but since we had to hurry, I decided to start the presentation sans slides. I remember almost all the key points from our presentation and delivered an almost perfect introduction before our other members were able to get the slides working. Our presentation finished strong and we pulled it off. Afterwards, I was given major props from one of the Vice Presidents of Emirates Airlines, both of the professors, and multiple classmates on how I handled the situation. I felt proud of that.
The next part of our day was a surprise and we found out why we had to move quickly through our presentation. We were to meet with the COO of Jumeirah International, the company that owns and operates the Burj Al Arab, the world’s only 7-star hotel. This is the building in Dubai that is looks like the sail of a boat on the beach of Dubai. This hotel is gorgeous and the gentleman who met with us was one of the smartest, engaging, and friendly guy I have ever met. He found out we would be skipping lunch to get to their on time so he provided us with lunch. And let me tell you this was one fancy lunch. They had caviar topped sushi (this was the first time I tried caviar), foie gras, and some more appetizer type foods, but the highlight had to be the deserts! They had a number of different deserts that had edible gold foil on it. It was by far the most extravagant things I have ever eaten and it was provided to us free of charge. After word we took a tour of hotel, I won’t even try to describe it. Wait for the pictures.
After our lunch we headed back to the hotel. It was a bitter sweet moment. We were coming down from the highs of finishing our presentations and seeing the Burj Al Arab, but this would be the end of our trip. We were heading back to pack and relax before most of us headed out that night to come back home. After finishing packing a few of us decided to make a quick trip back to the souks to finish our shopping. Afterward, we headed back to Dubai Creek to grab a quick drink and enjoy the scenery for the last time. Check out the video posted below. It had been a blast and some of the experiences were just out of this world. I enjoyed my entire time here, but I was ready to come back home.
My flight left Dubai at 12:50am on Jan. 11th and after 14 hours I was back in the United States, extremely grateful for my experiences. This trip is something I will never forget and emplore all of you to go sometime if you have the chance. The weather during the winter is beautiful, the country is almost crime-free, and the hospitality of the people are unmatched. A lot of the media is portraying Dubai and the UAE as irresponsible with money, and while they aren’t without fault, they have a plan and are sticking with it. In the end Dubai will be fine and are strategically positioning themselves as a hub of everything (business, trade, culture, tourism, etc.) in the growing Middle East.
Last picture post after the jump.
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