Choosing the Right Event
3 Reasons Why You Should Do A Written Event
With over fifty competitive events, choosing just one to participate in can be one of the most difficult choices to face in DECA. However, a choice that’s much less overwhelming to make but narrows down your choices greatly is whether you want to compete in a written or role play event. A written event involves writing a paper, submitted before competition, and presenting it to a judge. A role play event involves taking a test beforehand and then presenting a response to a scenario you are given at competition. Not sure about which one of these two event categories is best for you? Read on to find out three major reasons that written events might be the perfect fit for you!
You should do a written event if. . .
1) You present the best when you’ve had time to rehearse.
One of the biggest downsides to roleplay events is their on-the-spot nature: you have less than an hour to both brainstorm and deliver a top-notch presentation. On the other hand, if your presentations are best when you’re able to practice them beforehand, a written event allows you to do just that. You’ll be able to spend several months before competition perfecting your presentation so you know it’s the best it can be when you finally deliver it to a judge.
2) You’re a stellar writer.
Your competitive event should show off your best skills. If you have a special way with words, a written event is for you! Your awesome writer’s voice will help you to craft a paper that is both informative yet engaging - a winning combination.
3) You have a unique idea you know you can sell to the judges.
Whether it be a creative way to transform a business whose stock has been underperforming or an idea for the next big tech gadget, a written event is a great way to display a unique, game-changing idea. Use your paper as a tool to pitch your out-of-this-world idea to your judge.
Did any of those reasons sound just like you? If so, check out the DECA website’s competitive events page to find out more about what written events are available!
BY: ANYA KACKER
Related Resources:
Do's and Don'ts of Personal Financial Literacy
The Personal Financial Literacy Event measures the personal finance knowledge and skills a DECA member should possess, it is designed to measure your ability to apply reliable information and systematic decision making to personal financial decisions. You automatically have the advantage in this event when you have prior knowledge or experience whether it be from your personal finances or by taking finance-related courses. Since this is a role play event, you will be required to take a 100-question exam, have 10 minutes to prep time, and then 10 minutes to present your case study before a judge.
1. STUDYING
Let’s just be honest, studying is a major dislike amongst students, but to succeed in this event, studying is vital. Visit deca.org & texasdeca.org to see the hundreds of study materials that's been provided.
DO STUDY THE PRACTICE TEST – One of the best resources that we’ve been granted are the practice tests. These are questions that have previously been used and that you may see again on your actual 100 question exam, so it’s best that you familiarize yourself with them.
DON'T WASTE TIME – Competition season comes very fast so it's best that you give yourself time to prepare. Remember it is impossible to prepare when you procrastinate, You’re on the road to DECA glass!
2. TESTING
Taking 100-question exams in just 90 minutes isn’t an easy task. It’s important that you remain alert and use great test-taking strategies.
DO THE QUESTIONS THAT YOU’VE SEEN BEFORE FIRST – If you took the time to study the practice test, then you will notice that some of the questions are the same or very similar. Do those first so that you have time to focus on more challenging ones.
DON’T EAT A HEAVY BREAKFAST OR MEAL BEFOREHAND – When you eat heavy you get something I call “THE ITIS”. In other words, you get sleepy and instead of focusing on your test, you focus on fighting your sleep. Eat something light on your stomach like fruit or cereal.
3. ROLE PLAY
A role play can be very stressful, especially when it’s your very first time doing one. However, there are ways to get rid of the anxiety and give your judge the best role play they’ve ever seen.
Quick Tip: The very first thing you want to do is greet your judge by shaking their hand, telling them your name and what your role is given by the case study.
DO PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE PERFORMANCE INDICATORS – The performance indicators are the specific topic questions that your judge will ask you, familiarize yourself with them so you know the type of questions you’ll be asked.
DON’T SAY “I DON T KNOW” – If you don’t understand a question, then that completely okay to ask your judge to clarify or explain the question to you. Remember you want to treat this like a job / professional career interview. Would you say I don’t know to a question asked by a future boss?
BY: TAE’ LYN NICHOLSON
Why You Should Compete in a Role Play Event
Roleplays are the perfect way to test your skills of improvisation and quick-thinking or just confidence improvement! If you’re willing to take on the challenge of spontaneity, roleplays are the optimum type of competition for your DECA experience.
Test your knowledge!
Given performance indicators and a scenario, your true knowledge about your competitive event is being put to the test! This best indicates your strengths and weaknesses, helping you build your knowledge and experience of working in the business world. Not only does this improve your skills and application, but also allows you to showcase your abilities on the tested subject. Roleplays really give you a chance to put your best foot forward, if you’re willing to work for it!
Build your confidence!
Learning to present or speak in public can be intimidating and embarrassing, however, roleplays are the icebreaker to gaining confidence in your presentations. Roleplays give you a safe environment to practice your presentation, in a one-on-one environment with the judge. This allows you to have a more intimate environment, giving you tense, yet secure, conditions to grow your confidence skills. A large factor in roleplays includes your confidence levels: handshake, eye contact, posture, and overall engagement. These confidence indicators can boost your presentation, and teach you valuable lessons for future interviews where confidence is key! Considering the factor of improvisation and spontaneity, with practice, roleplays help teach confidence even when you feel overwhelmed in an interview.
Give you an accurate image of real-life situations!
Taking on a hypothetical role and purpose in these interviews allows you to not only assert confidence but gain knowledge of how your skills are applicable in the business world. All roleplays have a situation that is likely to occur in your future of conducting business, whether it comes to customer satisfaction or managing resources. Roleplays give you an accurate representation of problems that employers face and allow you to explore the options of solutions. Not only will this increase your score in a DECA competition, but furthermore prepare you for your future in the business world. Practicing creating new ideas and solutions with originality and leadership in a roleplay inclines you towards being more successful in the future when you approach a similar situation.
BY: MADELINE SEVERSON
Related Resources:
Competitive Event Student Testimonials
Related Resources:
Resources for Written/Prepared Events
This page is currently under rennovations. Please check back soon for updates and information.
SAMPLE PREPARATION CALENDARS FOR YOUR EVENT
Integrated Marketing Campaign Events
operations research events
Professional Selling + Consulting Events
Project Management Events
entrepreneurship events
INNOVATION PLAN
INDEPENDENT BUSINESS PLAN
BUSINESS GROWTH PLAN
START UP BUSINESS PLAN
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS PLAN
FRANCHISE BUSINESS PLAN
Selling and Consulting Events
Financial Consulting (FCE)
(SAMple competitive event page, all events coming soon)
For 2022-2023 you will assume the role of a financial consultant to a local bank.
The bank is looking to close some of its brick-and-mortar locations and transition more of its services to an online/virtual platform. The bank is seeking your recommendation on what services could be transitioned to an online-only banking platform without compromising customer service to its customers.
Related Resources:
Competitive Events Update
Get a head start on the 2022-2023 competition season with DECA's competitive topics and resources for business operations research, professional selling, hospitality and tourism professional selling and financial consulting.
BUSINESS OPERATIONS RESEARCH EVENTS
The 2022-2023 topic for each career category is to research an existing business’s website, products, and/or services and develop a strategic plan to adopt a hyper-personalization approach.
Today companies are tracking and collecting large amounts of customer data and are using artificial intelligence to determine patterns within the data to simulate a customer’s thought process. Consumers have raised concerns about privacy and ethics in regards to this type of data collection. Participants will develop a strategic plan to enhance and improve the company’s existing products and/or services by incorporating this approach and addressing consumer concerns.
FINANCIAL CONSULTING (FCE)
For 2022-2023 you will assume the role of a financial consultant to a local bank or credit union.
The bank or credit union is looking to close some of its brick-and-mortar locations and transition more of its services to an online/virtual platform. The bank or credit union is seeking your recommendation on what services could be transitioned to an online-only banking platform without compromising customer service to its customers.
HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM PROFESSIONAL SELLING (HTPS)
For 2022-2023 you will assume the role of a sales representative for a technology firm that specializes in touchless technology integration.
A local amusement park owner has scheduled a meeting with you to discuss how to implement touchless customer options and learn about the types of products that can be integrated into their company to benefit their business.
PROFESSIONAL SELLING (PSE)
For 2022-2023 you will assume the role of a sales representative of a virtual human resource firm that specializes in employee accountability.
Since the pandemic, the company is allowing workers to work remotely and is looking for a solution to hold employees accountable for their workload. The chief operations officer of a major company has scheduled a meeting with you because he/she is interested in using your services to ensure accountability in the virtual workplace.
Related Resources:
Entrepreneurship Challenge
DECA Presentations
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COMPETITIVE EVENTS 101
PREVIEW
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*The Google Slides and PowerPoint versions each have presentation notes in the notes section of each slide*
INTRO CHAPTER MEETING
PREVIEW
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INTRO TO DECA
PREVIEW
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PRE-COMPETITION MEETING
PREVIEW
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HOW TO HOST A SOCIAL
PREVIEW
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Competitive Event Allocations
Each Chapter/ Marketing Education teacher unit may have TWENTY FIVE (25) total entries, in any combination, in the following events:
Principles of Business Administration Events (must be the first year on a DECA Roster)
PBM Principles of Business Management and Administration
PFN Principles of Finance
PHT Principles of Hospitality and Tourism
PMK Principles of Marketing
Individual Series Events
ACT Accounting Applications Series
AAM Apparel & Accessories Marketing Series
ASM Automotive Services Marketing Series
BFS Business Finance Series
BSM Business Services Marketing Series
ENT Entrepreneurship Series
FMS Food Marketing Series
HLM Hotel and Lodging Management Series
HRM Human Resources Management Series
MCS Marketing Communications Series
QSRM Quick Serve Restaurant Management Series
RFSM Restaurant and Food Service Management Series
RMS Retail Merchandising Series
SEM Sport and Entertainment Marketing Series
Integrated Marketing Campaign
IMCE Integrated Marketing Campaign - Event
IMCP Integrated Marketing Campaign - Product
IMCS Integrated Marketing Campaign - Service
Professional Selling Events
FCE Financial Consulting
HTPS Hospitality and Tourism Professional Selling
PSE Professional Selling Event Personal
Financial Literacy Event
PFL Personal Financial Literacy
Each Chapter/ Marketing Education teacher unit may enter ELEVEN (11) teams, in any combination, in the following events:
Business Operations Research Events
BOR Business Services Operations Research Event
BMOR Buying and Merchandising Operations Research Event
FOR Finance Operations Research Event
HTOR Hospitality and Tourism Operations Research Event
SEOR Sports and Entertainment Marketing Operations Research Event
Entrepreneurship Events
EIP Entrepreneurship Innovation Plan
ESB Entrepreneurship Start-Up Business Plan
EIB Entrepreneurship Independent Business Plan
EFB Entrepreneurship Franchise Business Plan
IBP International Business Plan
EBG Entrepreneurship Business Growth Plan
Each Chapter/ Marketing Education teacher unit may enter EIGHT (8) teams, in any combination, in the following events:
Team Decision Making Events
BLTDM Business Law and Ethics Team Decision Making Event
BTDM Buying and Merchandising Team Decision Making Event
ETDM Entrepreneurship Team Decision Making Event
FTDM Financial Services Team Decision Making Event
HTDM Hospitality Services Team Decision Making Event
MTDM Marketing Management Team Decision Making Event
STDM Sports & Entertainment Marketing Team Decision Making Event
TTDM Travel & Tourism Team Decision Making Event
Each Chapter/ Marketing Education teacher unit may enter SIX (6) total teams, in any combination, in the following events:
Project Management Events
PMBS Business Solutions Project
PMCD Career Development Project
PMCA Community Awareness Project
PMCG Community Giving Project
PMFL Financial Literacy Project
PMSP Sales Project
Related Resources: