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Challenge 7: Presentation

FieldValue
Duration45 minutes
TypeTeam Presentations
Points5
Deliverable8-minute team chalk-talk with objection handling

Present your complete migration strategy to Contoso Bakery’s leadership (facilitators and peer teams) in a chalk-talk format.


Contoso Bakery’s Managing Director and IT Manager are meeting to approve the migration project. Your team has 8 minutes to convince them that your plan is solid, addresses their concerns, and will deliver business value.

After your presentation, you’ll face 3 objections that you must handle convincingly.


Before starting this challenge, ensure:

  • Challenges 1-6 artifacts are complete and available
  • Your team has agreed on speaking order and timekeeper
  • Whiteboard photos and key outputs are ready to present

This is NOT a slide presentation. Use your whiteboard photos and diagrams to walk through your design.

ComponentTime
Migration strategy overview3 min
Tool selection and sequencing2 min
Cost and governance2 min
GDPR compliance approach1 min
Total Presentation8 min
Objection handling4 min
Total Time12 min

Your presentation must cover:

  • How you discovered the environment
  • Key assessment findings
  • Readiness summary
  • Wave plan with rationale
  • Tool selection for each workload
  • Timeline estimate
  • Dependencies addressed
  • Key risks identified
  • Rollback triggers and procedures
  • Who has authority to stop/revert
  • How the curveball changed your plan
  • Data residency approach
  • Compliance controls
  • Total monthly cost estimate
  • Optimization strategies applied
  • ROI/business case summary
  • Management structure
  • Key policies
  • Azure Arc strategy (if applicable)

After your presentation, facilitators will raise 3 objections you must address:

“Why are you migrating the SQL database to IaaS VMs? Shouldn’t we use Azure SQL Managed Instance for better PaaS benefits?”

Prepare to discuss:

  • Your rationale for target choice
  • Trade-offs between IaaS and PaaS
  • When PaaS makes sense vs IaaS

“What happens if the web server migration fails during a critical business period? Walk me through exactly how you’d roll back.”

Prepare to discuss:

  • Specific rollback steps
  • Timeline for rollback
  • Data synchronization challenges

“How can you guarantee that customer data will never leave the EU region, including backups and disaster recovery?”

Prepare to discuss:

  • Target regions for all data
  • Backup and DR strategy
  • Monitoring and enforcement

By the end of this challenge, your team should provide:

  1. ✅ An 8-minute chalk-talk covering all required sections
  2. ✅ Clear responses to all 3 mandatory objections
  3. ✅ A concise migration recommendation with business justification

CriterionPointsDescription
Clear delivery2Well-organized, within time, all content covered
Objections handled3Convincing responses to all 3 objections
Total5

There are 4 teams, and each team has exactly 12 minutes (8 min presentation + 4 min objections). Strict timekeeping ensures all teams present.

TeamTime SlotDuration
🔴 Team 116:00 - 16:1212 min
🟠 Team 216:12 - 16:2412 min
🟢 Team 316:24 - 16:3612 min
🔵 Team 416:36 - 16:4812 min
gantt
    title Presentation Schedule (16:00 - 16:48)
    dateFormat HH:mm
    axisFormat %H:%M

    section Team 1
    Presentation    :t1p, 16:00, 8m
    Objections      :t1o, after t1p, 4m

    section Team 2
    Presentation    :t2p, 16:12, 8m
    Objections      :t2o, after t2p, 4m

    section Team 3
    Presentation    :t3p, 16:24, 8m
    Objections      :t3o, after t3p, 4m

    section Team 4
    Presentation    :t4p, 16:36, 8m
    Objections      :t4o, after t4p, 4m

⚠️ Watch out: Time is strictly enforced. Practice to stay within 8 minutes!


  • ✅ Use your whiteboard photos as visual aids.
  • ✅ Have different team members present different sections.
  • ✅ Speak to the business value, not just technical details.
  • ✅ Acknowledge trade-offs and risks honestly.
  • ✅ Be concise — every second counts.
  • ❌ Read from notes word-for-word.
  • ❌ Go over time (you will be cut off).
  • ❌ Let one person do all the talking.
  • ❌ Be defensive about objections — address them directly.
  • ❌ Make up numbers — use your actual assessment data.

While other teams present, consider:

  • What did they do well?
  • What approach was different from yours?
  • What would you adopt for future projects?

After all presentations, you’ll have a chance to share appreciations.


Facilitators will score based on:

CategoryExcellent (5)Good (4)Adequate (3)Needs Work (2)
Content CompletenessAll required sections covered thoroughlyMost sections covered wellSome gaps in coverageMajor sections missing
ClarityCrystal clear, easy to followClear with minor confusionSome unclear areasDifficult to follow
Time ManagementPerfect timingSlightly over/underNoticeably offSignificantly off
Objection HandlingAll objections addressed convincinglyMost handled wellSome weak responsesUnable to address
Team ParticipationAll members contributedMost contributedOne person dominatedSingle presenter

Before presenting:

  • Whiteboard photos ready to show
  • Decided who presents each section
  • Practiced at least once
  • Prepared answers for the 3 objections
  • Have your assessment data accessible

Facilitators will tally scores and announce the final standings:

  1. 🥇 First Place: Challenge champions!
  2. 🥈 Second Place: Excellent work!
  3. 🥉 Third Place: Great effort!

Each team shares one thing they appreciated about another team’s approach.

Facilitator-led discussion:

  • What did you learn today?
  • What will you apply in your real work?
  • What questions remain?

After all presentations:

  • What different approaches did teams take?
  • Which objection was hardest to answer?
  • How would you improve your presentation next time?

  • Going over time reduces score impact even with strong technical content.
  • Weak objection handling can outweigh a polished opening presentation.

Congratulations on completing the Azure Migration MicroHack!

  1. Complete the Feedback Form
  2. Cleanup resources — Run the cleanup script
  3. Stay connected:
  • Your whiteboard photos
  • Assessment export files
  • This workshop repository (bookmark it!)

Thank you for participating! 🙏