Challenge Info

60 min · 10 pts · Presentation (facilitator-scored)

Challenge 8: Partner Showcase 🎤¶

Overview¶

This is your moment to shine! Each team will present their FreshConnect solution to a "customer" (played by another team) while Microsoft coaches observe and provide feedback.

This challenge simulates a real partner-customer engagement — the kind you'll experience when delivering Azure solutions professionally.

The Setup¶

%%{init: {'theme':'neutral'}}%%
graph TB
    subgraph Room[Presentation Room]
        P[👥 Presenting Team<br/>Team A<br/>Partner Role]
        C[👥 Customer Team<br/>Team B<br/>Asks Tough Questions]
        F[🎯 Microsoft Coaches<br/>Observing & Evaluating]
        O[👀 Other Teams<br/>Learning & Taking Notes]

        P -->|Presents Solution| C
        C -->|Challenges With Questions| P
        F -.->|Observes| P
        F -.->|Observes| C
        O -.->|Learns From| P
        O -.->|Learns From| C
    end

    style P fill:#0078d4,color:#fff
    style C fill:#107c10,color:#fff
    style F fill:#d83b01,color:#fff
    style O fill:#5c2d91,color:#fff

Text alternative: Presentation setup

Presenting Team (Partner role): Presents their solution to the Customer Team
Customer Team: Asks tough questions to challenge the presenting team
Microsoft Coaches: Observe and evaluate both teams
Other Teams: Learn from the presentation and Q&A

Role Assignments¶

The coach will pair teams in a round-robin:

Presenting Team (Partner)	Challenging Team (Customer)
Team 1	Team 2
Team 2	Team 3
Team 3	Team 4
Team 4	Team 1

For larger cohorts, extend the rotation (e.g., Team 5 → Team 6 → Team 1). When you're the "customer," your job is to ask tough but fair questions!

Presentation Format¶

Time per team: ~14 minutes

Segment	Duration	Content
Partner Pitch	4 min	Present your solution
Customer Q&A	2 min	Customer team asks questions
Coach Feedback	2 min	Brief facilitator comments
Transition	30 sec	Switch presenters
Buffer	~5 min	Overrun margin and audience notes

Presentation Schedule¶

Time	Activity
14:50	Intro & pairings
14:52	Team 1 presents (~14 min)
15:06	Team 2 presents (~14 min)
15:20	Team 3 presents (~14 min)
15:34	Team 4 presents (~14 min)
15:48	Closing remarks
15:50	Wrap-up begins

What to Present¶

Your presentation should cover three key areas:

1. Architecture Overview (2 min)¶

What services did you choose and why?
How does the solution meet the business requirements?
Show your architecture diagram

2. Technical Decisions (2 min)¶

Key design decisions (WAF pillars addressed)
Security & compliance approach
Scalability and reliability patterns
How you handled the DR curveball

3. Business Value (1 min)¶

Cost breakdown and optimization
How the solution enables Nordic Fresh Foods' growth
What would you do in Phase 2?

Presentation Template¶

Use this structure to prepare your presentation (create slides or use markdown):

# FreshConnect Azure Solution

## [Your Team Name]

---

## Slide 1: The Challenge

- Nordic Fresh Foods needs a modern platform
- Key requirements: [list 3-4 key requirements]
- Constraints: Budget €700/month, GDPR, 3-month timeline

---

## Slide 2: Our Solution

[Insert your architecture diagram]

**Core Services:**

- Web Tier: [service]
- API Tier: [service]
- Database: [service]
- Storage: [service]

---

## Slide 3: Why These Choices?

| Service     | Why We Chose It                 |
| ----------- | ------------------------------- |
| [Service 1] | [Reason - cost, features, etc.] |
| [Service 2] | [Reason]                        |
| [Service 3] | [Reason]                        |

---

## Slide 4: Security & Compliance

- ✅ GDPR: [how you addressed it]
- ✅ Authentication: [approach]
- ✅ Secrets: [Key Vault usage]
- ✅ Network: [security measures]

---

## Slide 5: Reliability & DR

**Before Curveball:**

- RTO: 4 hours | RPO: 1 hour
- Single region: swedencentral

**After Curveball:**

- RTO: 1 hour | RPO: 15 minutes
- Multi-region: swedencentral + germanywestcentral
- [How you implemented DR]

---

## Slide 6: Cost Breakdown

| Service     | Monthly Cost |
| ----------- | ------------ |
| [Service 1] | €XX          |
| [Service 2] | €XX          |
| [Service 3] | €XX          |
| **Total**   | **€XXX**     |

_Within €700/month budget: ✅_

---

## Slide 7: What We Learned

- Biggest challenge: [what was hard]
- Biggest win: [what worked well]
- If we had more time: [Phase 2 ideas]

---

## Slide 8: Questions?

Thank you for your time!

**Team Members:**

- [Name 1] - [Role]
- [Name 2] - [Role]
- [Name 3] - [Role]

Customer Role: Question Bank¶

If you're playing the customer, use these questions to challenge the partner team. Pick 2-3 questions that are relevant to their presentation.

Architecture Questions¶

Question	What You're Testing
"Why did you choose [Service A] over [Service B]?"	Can they justify technical decisions?
"How does this scale when we triple our order volume?"	Did they think about peak season?
"What happens if the primary region goes down?"	Do they understand DR?
"We might expand to Norway next year. How hard is that?"	Is the architecture extensible?

Security Questions¶

Question	What You're Testing
"How do you protect our customer data?"	GDPR awareness
"Where are our API keys stored?"	Secrets management
"Can your developers access production data?"	Access control thinking
"What if someone tries to attack our API?"	Security posture

Cost Questions¶

Question	What You're Testing
"This looks expensive. Can we cut costs anywhere?"	Cost optimization awareness
"What happens to the bill during peak season?"	Understanding of scaling costs
"Are there any hidden costs we should know about?"	Transparency
"What if we need to add more features later?"	Future cost implications

Operational Questions¶

Question	What You're Testing
"How do we know if something breaks?"	Monitoring strategy
"Who gets alerted at 3 AM if the site goes down?"	Operational readiness
"How do we deploy updates without downtime?"	Deployment strategy
"What's your backup and restore process?"	Data protection

Curveball-Specific Questions¶

Question	What You're Testing
"How did you adapt when the DR requirement came in?"	Agility and problem-solving
"Is the DR solution tested or just designed?"	Practical vs. theoretical
"What would you do differently if you could start over?"	Learning and reflection

Tips for Presenters (Partner Role)¶

✅ DO:

Be confident — you built something real!
Admit what you didn't finish (honesty wins respect)
Explain trade-offs, not just decisions
Use your artifacts (diagrams, Bicep, cost estimates)
Thank the customer for their questions

❌ DON'T:

Read from slides word-for-word
Get defensive about questions
Blame tools or time constraints
Oversell features you didn't implement
Go over time (the coach will cut you off!)

Tips for Questioners (Customer Role)¶

✅ DO:

Ask genuine questions (you might learn something!)
Challenge assumptions respectfully
Focus on business outcomes, not just tech
Pick questions relevant to their presentation

❌ DON'T:

Be hostile or try to "catch" them
Ask questions just to show off
Interrupt the presentation
Ask about things clearly out of scope

Microsoft Feedback Focus¶

Coaches will provide brief feedback on:

Area	What We'll Comment On
Clarity	Was the solution easy to understand?
Justification	Were decisions well-reasoned?
WAF Alignment	Did they address reliability, security, cost, operations?
Professionalism	How would this land with a real customer?

Success Criteria¶

This challenge is worth 10 points and focuses on professional skills:

Skill	Points	What You're Practicing
Technical Communication	3	Explaining complex solutions simply
Customer Engagement	2	Handling questions under pressure
Solution Justification	2	Defending architectural decisions
Team Collaboration	2	Presenting as a unified team
Active Listening	1	Learning from other teams' approaches
Total	10

After All Presentations¶

Once all teams have presented:

Coach shares observations — common patterns, creative solutions
Open discussion — what did teams learn from each other?
Celebrate! — everyone built real Azure infrastructure today

Preparation Checklist¶

Before presentations begin, ensure you have:

[ ] Architecture diagram ready to show
[ ] Key talking points agreed within team
[ ] One person designated as primary presenter
[ ] Others ready to answer detailed questions
[ ] Cost breakdown visible
[ ] 2-3 questions ready (for when you're the customer)

Remember: The best presentations aren't about being perfect — they're about showing what you learned and how you solved real problems. Good luck! 🚀