Beginner's Guide to Harker DECA by Claire Luo

beginner's guide to harker deca

Table of Contents What is DECA? DECA Diamonds Core Pillars

The Harker DECA Experience The Conference Experience Conference & Major Event Calendar

Competitive Events Introduction Clusters Roleplays Writtens Study Resources & Testing

Opportunities & Support Mentorship Team Study Sessions Harker DECA Officer Team

Welcome to Harker DECA!

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what is deca?

Exclusive DECA Concert, ICDC 2022

Harker DECA is an internationally recognized, award-winning competitive business organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in four fields of business: marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. Our DECA Chapter integrates classroom instruction, applies learning, connects to business, and promotes competition in order to prepare the next generation to be academically prepared, community-oriented, professionally responsible, and experienced leaders. Harker DECA is more than just a successful business organization. It's a community where you find your lifelong friends. It's an opportunity for you to develop both academic and crucial soft skills. It's a journey that allows you to travel while learning along the way. It's a place where you can challenge yourself as a person and push your limits. And so much more. A big component of DECA is conferences, and in a couple pages, we'll give you a peek into the exciting, formative, and rewarding experiences you can partake in as a part of the Harker DECA Chapter. We hope you'll join us! Fun Fact: DECA is the largest student-run organization on campus! Check out our 2021-2022 chapter photo below!

DECA Diamonds When you join DECA, you might often hear the phrase "DECA Diamonds!" or "put your diamonds up!" This originates from DECA's logo, a diamond. We'll be doing "DECA Diamonds" in many photos we take, so it's crucial to know how to do one! Here are a few strategies:

method

Key tip: with method #1, you can chain up your DECA Diamonds with a group of friends by using each hand for a diamond with the person standing next to you!

Core Pillars DECA operates using four major pillars, which are community oriented, academically prepared, professionally responsible, and experienced leaders.

academically prepared

community oriented

professionally responsible

experienced leaders

the harker deca experience

Conferences: An Overview Conferences are the pinnacle of your DECA experience. You'll be able to share your hard work and preparation with a professional judge and win some awards! In addition, you will have an amazing experience rooming with your friends and touring the city. A fun experience filled with professional development opportunities, learning, and growth awaits you. Harker DECA attends four official conferences each year, which are WRLC (Western Region Leadership Conference), SVCDC (Silicon Valley Career Development Conference), SCDC (State Career Development Conference), and ICDC (International Career Development Conference). WRLC is the first conference of the year, and as this conference is only for first-year members, it's a great place to find your footing while getting some feedback on your events. At SCDC, if you are able to place in the top 4 or 5 of your events, you will qualify for the International Career Development Conference. This past year, we had over 50 attendees compete at the International Level, with 14 students placing as top 20 finalists.

Key Conference Dates HDFC (Harker DECA Fall Conference) October 29, 2022 | San Jose, CA WRLC (Western Region Leadership Conference) November 17-19, 2022 | Anaheim, CA SVCDC (Silicon Valley Career Development Conference) January 6-8, 2023 | Santa Clara, CA SCDC (State Career Development Conference) March 3-6, 2023 | Anaheim, CA ICDC (International Career Development Conference) April 22-25, 2023 | Orlando, Florida

Sample Conference Schedule (SCDC) Day 1: 9:45 - 11:00 AM : Flight SJC to SNA 4:00 - 6:00 PM : Testing Session #1 6:00 - 8:00 PM : Testing Session #2 4:00 - 8:30 PM : Dinner (on own) 8:30 - 11:00 PM : Opening General Session 11:00 PM : Curfew Day 2: 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM : RP #1: Individual Series Events 1:00 - 4:00 PM : Workshops and Protégé Exams 12:00 - 3:00 PM : RP #2: Individual Series Events 1:00 - 4:00 PM : Principles Events 4:00 - 10:30 PM : Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm 11:00 PM : Curfew

Day 3: 9:00 AM - 3:30 PM : Written Events Presentations + PSE 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM : Workshops 6:00 - 8:00 PM : Formal Recognition Session 8:00 - 10:30 : Activity Room 11:00 PM : Curfew Day 4: 8:30 AM - 12:00 PM : Grand Awards Session 1:00 PM : Hotel Checkout 1:00 PM - 1:30 : Bus to airport 1:30 - 3:30 : Security and Airport Downtime 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM : Flight Back - SNA to SJA

Conference Experience: Photos

competitive events 9

Clusters DECA has five main "career clusters" that all events are categorized into. These clusters are are Hospitality and Tourism, Entrepreneurship, and Business Management and Administration. The career clusters are designed to provide you with different skills crucial to various career paths that you may be interested in. At Harker DECA, we have a team of mentors that is ready to support you in whichever cluster you decide to choose for your events. When the mentorship selection survey is sent out, we encourage you to guide your decisions using the clusters you may be interested in -- while all of our mentors can help you achieve success, they each specialize in a couple of clusters!

Want more information? Head over to DECA Inc.! Both the Career Cluster Guide, List of all Events, and Competitive Event Guide can be found at this website: https://www.deca.org/high-schoolprograms/high-school-competitive-events/

Marketing

Business Management & Administration

Finance

Hospitality & Tourism

Entrepreneurship

Roleplays Roleplays are one of the three major components of DECA's competitive events, which include roleplays, writtens, and tests. So, what is a roleplay? A roleplay consists of a prompt statement, shown on the next page, with a situation to consider and some Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for you to guide your presentation on. You will be given 10 minutes of preparation time where you may create visual aids, take notes, and practice the content for your presentation. This is immediately followed by another 10 minute presentation where you talk about the prompt to the judge. As a first year member, you will be competing in Principles roleplays, which include Principles of Marketing, Principles of Hospitality of Tourism, Principles of Business Management and Administration, and Principles of Finance. These four roleplays correspond to four of DECA's Career Clusters.

This is a sample set of performance indicators. They can be vague or specific, and must be connected to the prompt with examples and definitions.

Because there is a very limited amount of preparation time, it's extremely important to plan out how to prepare efficiently. Harker DECA's successful Tips and tricks to analyzing an event situation will be shared on the next slide. Furthermore, roleplays will help you develop key skills including: thinking on the spot improvisation public speaking communication skills ... and more! These skills will all be integral throughout high school and beyond, whether you're using it to pitch your new business idea or ace a job interview.

Roleplays: Steps to Success 1. Find your role, the judge's role, and the company name a. In this scenario, you are the marketing specialist and the judge is a high school student. The company is called Gabel Marketing. 2. Read about the company a. From the text, we learn that Gabel Marketing develops campaigns for businesses and that the judge has been shadowing you. 3. Read the rest of the situation and find out what you need to address a. The key point of this roleplay is about employment opportunities in marketing as well as professional development. 4. Write down all Key Performance Indicators and Brainstorm a. How can you connect them with the prompt? For KPI #3, you may give an example of a workshop you attended last week about public speaking to improve your customer service skills! Or, you could make an acronym describing different types of ongoing education. 5. Revisit key information a. In your last 30 seconds of preparation time, look over your role, the judge's role, and the company name again so your introduction will go smoothly. Take a deep breath and go ace the roleplay! Key Tip: Not everything you say in the roleplay must be true. You can create your own statistical studies or fictional experiences! Be creative!

Written Events Written events are the second main component of DECA's competitive events. There are a myriad of events that you can choose, ranging from marketing campaigns to new business ideas, all with various clusters to choose from. While most written events require a 10 or 20 page business plan -- don't worry, it's not as intimidating as it seems -- some don't require any writing at all. Many of these events also allow you to work alongside a group of one to three people. Before deciding, be sure to check DECA's competitive event site for the specific guidelines for each event. Below is a list of all written plans you have the option of competing in! Marketing: Buying and Merchandising Operations Research Integrated Marketing Campaign–Event Integrated Marketing Campaign–Product Integrated Marketing Campaign–Service Professional Selling Sports and Entertainment Marketing Operations Research Business Management and Administration: Business Services Operations Research Finance: Finance Operations Research Financial Consulting Stock Market Game Hospitality and Tourism: Hospitality and Tourism Operations Research Hospitality and Tourism Professional Selling Entrepreneurship: Business Growth Plan Franchise Business Plan Independent Business Plan Innovation Plan International Business Plan Start-up Business Plan

Testing Testing is the last major component of DECA's competitive events. All roleplays as well as some written events have an accompanying exam. DECA exams all consist of 100 multiple choice questions with questions from various topics. Each cluster typically has an associated test, for example, the Marketing Cluster Exam. As you will be completing a Principles roleplay as a firstyear member, you will take the Business Administration Core Exam.

Study Resources How can you study for these competitive events? Well, Harker DECA has many resources you can use to bolster your competitive success. Your two major sources of aid will come from your mentor and the Schoology page. The Mentorship Program will be explained in detail later on, but you'll be able to ask your chosen mentor any questions regarding your events. Our Schoology page features various practice materials and sample events for you to look over. Ask any officer or mentor if you need help navigating through anything -- there are tests for each cluster from past years, sample roleplays that you can practice with your mentor, and successful roleplay and written presentations from other members of the chapter. A gamified testing website and case studies for previous written events are also in development!

Need the DECA Schoology Group Join Code? Email us at deca@harker.org or ask any officer!

OPPortunities & SUPPORt

Mentorship Program Harker DECA has its very own mentorship program that pairs competitively successful and experienced mentors with first or second year members. This program has allowed new members to achieve great success under the guidance and help of their mentor. The Mentorship program is extremely individualized and personalized. Each mentor has a 'mentorship group' of around 2 to 5 mentees, allowing them to give adequate attention to each mentee. Furthermore, the mentees are allowed to request their mentor -- at the beginning of the year, Harker DECA sends out a list of Mentorship Profiles that detail each mentor's awards, experience, and hobbies. Students can then submit a form with their top mentor choices, which the Competitions subteam then carefully assigns. Throughout the year, mentors will not only help guide their mentee through DECA, but also through any experiences they may have during high school. Mentors and mentees will often form a lifelong friendship and gain a valuable peer to receive wisdom and advice from. Each May, mentorship program applications are sent out, and applicants are judged based on their commitment to DECA and the chapter, teaching ability, and competitive success. If you have any questions about the program, don't hesitate to reach out to us!

Study Sessions Study sessions are the primary way that DECA members complete and practice for their competitive events. These happen every Friday, from 3:30 to 5:00 pm. During these sessions, mentors will be present to meet with their mentees in order to practice their events -- there will also be officers who can meet with students who want feedback. Furthermore, many study sessions will be preceded by workshops, which are mentor-led and cover a wide array of topics. Typically, workshops will address anything that may be difficult for students on their competitive events: for example, budgeting or graphic design. We encourage all members to attend study sessions, as they are an extremely valuable resource for your competitive success!

Officer Team At its core, Harker DECA is run by a 13 person officer team. Positions include the Chief Executive Officer, Vice President of Operations, Vice President of Competitions and Strategy, Vice President of Public Relations, Director of Membership, Director of Finance, Director of Community Engagement, Director of Writtens, Director of Roleplays, Director of Testing, Director of Communications, Director of Technology, and Director of Outreach. The officer team organizes all aspects of Harker DECA -- a few key programs include mock conferences and the mentorship program, state and international conference registration, and DECA Month. Being a DECA officer is extremely rewarding, as you can develop crucial soft skills while forming an unbreakable bond with other officers. However, it does require a signficant time commitment, so make sure you take that into consideration. Applications to the officer team are sent out each spring, and if you have any questions about the officer experience or our positions, feel free to reach out to any of us! Chapter Advisor: Mr. Juston Glass Chief Executive Officer: Anika Muddu VP of Operations: Chloe Lee Director of Membership: Vedant Balachandran Director of Community Engagement & EVP: Rohan Gorti Director of Finance: Caleb Tang VP of Competitions: Claire Luo Director of Roleplays: Sanaa Bhorkar Director of Written Events: Emily Mitnick Director of Testing: Gia Emelie VP of Public Relations: Shreeya Merchia Director of Technology: Gabe Li Director of Communications: Ariana Gauba

Juston.Glass@harker.org 23anikam@students.harker.org 24chloel@students.harker.org 25vedantb@students.harker.org 23rohang@students.harker.org 25calebg@students.harker.org 24clairel@students.harker.org 25sanaab@students.harker.org 25emilym@students.harker.org 25giae@students.harker.org 24shreeyam@students.harker.org 25gabel@students.harker.org 25arianag@students.harker.org

Welcome to harker deca We hope you'll join us!