FBLA Fall Chapter Toolkit by FBLA

Dear FBLA Members and Advisers, I hope everyone is enjoying the start to the 2018-19 school year. To help you Create, Lead, and Inspire throughout the year, I am honored to welcome you to the 2018-2019 FBLA Fall Chapter Toolkit! The National President’s Executive Council will publish three FBLA Chapter Toolkits throughout the year: in the fall, winter, and spring. Each toolkit will provide chapters and advisers with the most comprehensive information necessary to have a successful year. From calenders of upcoming key events to membership recruitment ideas to fundraising tips, these Chapter Toolkits will become a handy tool to propell each chapter to achieve their maximum potential. This fall edition details key events in the coming months, Chapter Challenges, NFLC’s, Community Service Opportunities, and Middle Level tips. We provide ways to successfully begin your year by reaching out to your chapter officers, introducing yourself, and building a relationship with them. We introduce fun ways to launch your FBLA chapter year, workshops which you can locally hold, and programs such as Community Service Award and Business Achievement Award for the upcoming year. In the pursuit to maximize every member’s potential, I hope that you find the FBLA Chapter Toolkit to be the ultimate resource guide for your chapter. We look forward to helping your chapter Create, Lead and Inspire throughout the year. Best,

Eu Ro Wang FBLA National President

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MEET THE 2018-2019 NATIONAL PRESIDENT’S EXECUTIVE COUNCIL Eu Ro Wang NATIONAL PRESIDENT

Travis Johnson CHIEF OF STAFF

@eurowangfbla

@travisjohnson_9

Massachusetts

South Carolina

Eu Ro is a senior at Newton South High School in Newton, MA. He has been involved in FBLA since freshman year and is forever grateful for how FBLA has changed his life. Besides FBLA, he enjoys spending time with his friends and family, especially while eating ramen.

Ashley Lin

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS

Travis is a junior at Crestwood High School in Sumter, South Carolina and he also serves as the South Carolina FBLA State President. Travis’s favorite part about FBLA is connecting with members and developing bonds and relationships that last a lifetime. His ultimate FBLA goal is to inform as many people about FBLA and its benefits as possible!

Isabelle Zhan

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS

@ashleylinfbla

@isabelle.zhan

Washington

Maryland

Ashley is a sophomore at Union High School in Camas, Washington,and she currently serves as the State Parliamentarian for Washington FBLA. Ashley is a bold thinker and hard worker passionate about business, technology, systemic social change, and the many intersections among them. FBLA has prepared her to turn her dreams into reality, and she plans to help others find a similar realization as well!

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Isabelle is a senior at River Hill High School in Clarksville, Maryland. Since joining FBLA her freshman year, she’s enjoyed attending national conferences, gaining insight into the business world, and connecting with members in Maryland as State Vice-President.

2018-2019 NPEC

Maria Manabat EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS @mariafbla

Steven Segel FBLA STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE OF GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS @stevensegel Massachusetts Steven is a senior at Newton South High School in Newton, Massachusetts. As FBLA Student Representative on Government Affairs, he is committed to ensuring local chapters have more opportunities to establish relationships with government officials. Besides FBLA, he enjoys scenic walks in the woods of New Hampshire and running at dawn and dusk.

Georgia Maria is a sophomore at Ware County High School in Waycross, Georgia. In addition to serving as her local chapterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s president, she is involved in her schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Technology Student Association, Model United Nations Team, Youth Assembly, and Academic Quiz Bowl Team. She enjoys eating ramen and reading the Op-Ed articles from the New York Times in her free time.

Javid Kasraie

DIRECTOR OF HOME STATE AFFAIRS @javid.kasraie Massachusetts

Kiah Champion EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF RESOURCES @itskchampion New Jersey Kiah is a senior at Rancocas Valley High School in Mount Holly, New Jersey. Since joining FBLA during her sophomore year for its welcoming community, FBLA has given her an incredible experience, from traveling to exciting cities to meeting her closest friends. Besides serving as the Executive Director of Resources, she currently serves as the President of Rancocas Valley FBLA and as a member of the New Jersey FBLA Community Service Committee.

Javid is a senior at Newton South High School in Newton, MA. Since joining in his sophomore year, FBLA has had a profound impact on him. Now, as Director of Home State Affairs and Massachusetts FBLA State President, Javid is committed to ensuring that everyone is able to experience FBLA as he did. In his free time, he enjoys traveling and spending time with friends and family.

Lily Callahan MIDDLE LEVEL LIASON Wisconsin Lily is in 8th grade at Longfellow Middle School in La Crosse, Wisconsin. School is incredibly important for her and in her free time, she loves to read and solve math problems. PAGE 3 | FALL CHAPTER TOOLKIT

NFLC—Chicago, Illinois: Early bird Registration deadline

Fall Stock Market Game Registration deadline

Webinar—NFLCs

NFLC—Albuquerque, New Mexico: Early bird registration deadline

LifeSmarts Fall Competition begins October National Officer Update newsletter is sent

NFLC—Charlotte, North Carolina: Early bird registration deadline

Fall Membership deadline for publications and chapter/state membership awards at NFLCs Super Sweeps ends

Virtual Business Finance Fall Challenge competitive event begins Virtual Business Management Fall Challenge competitive event begins

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prematurity awareness month

National Webinar for Prematurity Awareness Month

Non-Stop November begins

2-3

NFLC—Chicago, Illinois

LifeSmarts Fall Competition ends

9-10

NFLC—Albuquerque, New Mexico

American Enterprise Day November National Officer Update newsletter is sent

Tomorrow’s Business Leader—winter issue copy deadline March of Dimes World Prematurity Day Virtual Business Finance Fall Challenge competitive event ends Virtual Business Management Fall Challenge competitive event ends

16-17

NFLC—Charlotte, North Carolina

28-12/1

ACTE VISION Conference— Antonio, Texas

dec

oct

nov

calendar of fall events

Non-Stop November ends

Dues deadline to receive winter publications Fall Stock Market Game ends December National Officer Update newsletter is sent

Super Sweeps is part one of the three-part Chapter Challenge. FBLA chapters must complete a total of ten activities focused on recruitment and retention. Four activities are required and six will be chosen from a list of optional activities. All of the activities are due on October 20th. In order to stay organized and complete all activities by the deadline, it is a good idea to appoint a Student Manager to delegate activities and to monitor progress on everything. The best way to complete any Chapter Challenge is to divide and conquer, so work as a team to complete the different activities. Super Sweeps is a great way to get your year started successfully and to gain national recognition. Chapters who complete Super Sweeps will receive a ribbon to wear at the National Fall Leadership Conference and the National Leadership Conference.

virtual business management challenge

Starting after Super Sweeps is the second part of the Chapter Challenge contest: Nonstop November. You can start your activities from November 1st, and all of the activities are due on December 10th. FBLA chapters must complete a total of five tasks focused on membership involvement; the two required tasks involve participation in either March of Dimes or American Enterprise Day through forming a committee and hosting a fundraiser/awareness event. The remaining three tasks can be selected from a list of eight activities ranging from touring a local business to inviting a guest speaker to promoting World Prematurity Day by wearing purple. As some tasks require thorough and long-term planning, it may be beneficial for your chapter to appoint a Student Manager to spearhead or delegate the responsibilities. Chapters that complete the challenge receive a ribbon at the National Leadership Conference. In the winter edition of the Chapter Planning Guide, we will be releasing information on the third and final part of the Chapter Challenge contest, Action Awareness.

nonstop nonstop november november

super super sweeps sweeps

FALL PROGRAMS

Keep an eye out for the Virtual Business Finance Challenge, a newly recognized FBLA competitive event! This is a simulation-style event and is completely web-based. This challenge encourages members to test their financial literacy skills. Teams will make financial decisions for a simulated person, including paying bills, filing taxes, applying for credit cards, paying for goods, etc. Members can compete in this event individually or on a team consisting of 2-3 members. The top 8 nationally ranked teams are eligible to compete at the National Leadership Conference! The fall round of the Virtual Business Finance Challenge will run from October 23rd through November 16th.

virtual virtual business business finance finance challenge challenge

Similarly, FBLA offers the Virtual Business Management Challenge. This event is similar to the Virtual Business Finance Challenge, except in this event, individuals or teams manage a virtual businessâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s finances. You are in charge of recruiting job candidates, hiring and supervising employees, and much more! The top 8 nationally ranked teams are eligible to compete at the National Leadership Conference. The fall round of the Virtual Business Management Challenge will run from October 23rd through November 16th.

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GETTING YOUR YEAR STARTED Before getting back to school, you should reach out to your new chapter officer team. Reach out on Facebook, Email, or by phone to all members of the team and establish a platform for communication over the summer. Introduce yourself, get to know them, ask questions, show your commitment, and schedule a meeting where you can all get together before the year starts. Everyone should come to the meeting with more than three ideas of chapter workshops, programs, or initiatives which you want to see started on the local level. Examples include an ice cream party, a bitcoin lesson, or a carwash to fundraise for NFLCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. Not only are specific ideas for the year important, you should also discuss the vision for the year and expectations. Establishing the expectations and the general vision for the school year helps the chapter officer team to be on the same page and work towards the same goals. Next, each local chapter should develop a unique Program of Work in order to plan out the next year of local initiatives. Develop ambitious, yet attainable goals. Chapters can communicate with nearby chapters in order to plan strategic initiatives together. Also, chapter presidents should hold the chapter officers accountable for their responsibilities through preferably bi-weekly updates. This will allow for chapter presidents to stay in fluid communication with the members of their team, while helping to advance the goals of the chapter in a timely fashion. At the beginning of the school year, your chapter officer team should meet to map out all major events, deadlines and fundraisers over the next year. If the previous local chapter president could forward to the new president all of their records regarding the local FBLA chapter, this could be an easier way to anticipate any upcoming obligations. At the beginning of the year, consider dividing up your chapterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s membership by your officers. So, if your chapter has 5 officers, divide up the chapter into 5 groups, and let each officer lead one group. Throughout the year, the officer should be leading their group and communicating with their group, truly building a community. The groups can have a friendly competition on chapter activities such as recruiting the most amount of members or accomplishing the most amount of Business Achievement Awards. In this layout, members can feel more comfortable to ask questions to their group leader, and there is a greater sense of community.

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TIPS FOR FALL RECRUITMENT

ne of the most crucial times of the year for your FBLA chapter will be the fall; activities such as creating a Program of Work, assembling an officer team, and of course, recruiting new members set a foundation for the rest of the year. To ensure the success of your chapter’s growth, we’ve provided you with a few management and marketing strategies.

1 2 Since the beginning of the school year can be stressful for students, time management is key when planning out recruitment dates. Chapter leaders should begin reaching out to the student body before the membership year and as early as summer. Some examples of events that will give your FBLA chapter exposure are activity/club fairs, parent observation nights, and especially freshman/new student orientations, as this will be your target audience for new members. Because FBLA is co-curricular, having chapter representatives deliver a short presentation on the benefits of joining can be a great way to recruit new members. You should also consider targeting students enrolled in subjects besides Career and Technical Education (CTE), emphasizing the versatility of FBLA and diverse selection of competitive events.

Marketing your FBLA chapter is an extremely important component of member recruitment. Before creating resources, you must first understand your audience and decide how you wish to showcase your chapter. For example, when communicating with students who are unfamiliar with FBLA, your presentation should include a brief description of the organization’s goals, history, and expectations for its members. This information can be advertised in a variety of methods: flyers, school newsletter, bulletin boards, etc. Additionally, social media plays a large role in marketing your chapter. When designing graphics and building your chapter’s social media presence throughout the year, it may be helpful to appoint a Public Relations officer, an individual who has the skills and capability create effective marketing resources.

Once you’ve released advertisements and established a strong social media presence for your chapter, the next step is to schedule one, or multiple, interest meetings. Interest meetings are an effective strategy to attract new members from your school. In a way, the interest meeting will be students’ first impression of your FBLA chapter, so you should thoughtfully plan out how you would like to represent FBLA. For example, you may want to highlight travel opportunities and scholarships in your presentation. Additionally, planning out the logistics of the meeting is equally as important. Make sure that the location, date, and time are set to avoid any complications. You may also want to consider getting food like pizza for the interest meeting to draw a large crowd. PAGE 7 | FALL CHAPTER TOOLKIT

Once your chapter has held an interest meeting, now it’s time to host your first general membership meeting! This meeting should consist of members who have paid their dues or are in the process of paying their dues. It is important to organize this meeting weeks in advance. Use your social media platforms, official chapter communication channels, school announcements, bulletin boards, and word-of-mouth to inform members about this meeting, including where it’s going to be located and the time. All chapter officers should be present at this meeting and ready to discuss the upcoming year. Also, many states allow state officers to come to local chapter events. Talk with your local advisor about inviting a state officer to your first meeting! At the meeting, have a sign-in sheet to record the names of all attendees. It is also important to get their contact information. Prior to the meeting, your officer team should create an agenda for the meeting and distribute this agenda to members as they arrive to the meeting. This agenda should have a section at the bottom for members to take notes of important information and deadlines. Once the meeting is called to order, you should begin with officer introductions. Give each officer a minute or two to introduce him/herself to the members. The officers should discuss their role, their expectations for the year, and state a fun fact about themself to allow the members to get to know them personally. Next, begin to discuss important topics. Your chapter president may want to discuss the chapter’s program of work. Some topics to discuss at your first meeting include but are not limited to: chapter committees, fundraising ideas, completing Business Achievement Awards, advertising FBLA around your school and community, maintaining an active social media presence, goals for the year, and the National Fall Leadership Conference. It may be beneficial to briefly talk about competitive events as well, but you can go into specifics of competitive events at a later meeting.

One possible incentive to keep members engaged and increase chapter membership is to create a grade-level homeroom membership challenge. For example, let’s assume there are 10 homerooms dedicated for the 12th grade. If Mr. Sam’s homeroom has 20 FBLA members and that’s the most out of all 12th grade homerooms, then you could reward that class with an award or prize. You can do this for each grade-level. You could also do a grade-level membership challenge! If the 9th grade class has 30 members, 10th grade has 50, 11th grade has 75, and 12th grade 20, then your chapter can reward the 11th grade for having the most amount of FBLA members. These challenges will encourage more students to want to join your chapter!

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MEMBERSHIP RETENTION Tips For Keeping Members Engaged

fter the fall recruitment season, it is important to keep your members engaged throughout the year. The perfect time to start getting members actively involved during the fall, as they will be much more likely to remain involved throughout the year! Membership retention is critical towards having both a fun and successful year for your FBLA Chapter.

One of the most effective ways to keep members engaged is by developing a point system to offer an incentive. You can choose to award members a specific amount for attending certain activities. For instance, you can award members 1 point for coming to your meeting and 1 point for every hour of community service they complete. Another way to incentivize involvement in your chapter is to host a recruitment challenge at the beginning of the year, encouraging members to recruit other students for a certain value of points. Recruiting a new member to pay dues, for example, can be worth five points. Throughout the year, members can also accumulate points through community service hours. When developing your point system, the most important aspect is staying organized and keeping members in the loop about the number of points they have. To get members excited about earning points throughout the year, you can offer different levels of membership that come with different prizes or privileges.

platinum member (40+ points) Get recognized at an end of the year celebration!

gold member (30+ points)

Go on a fun chapter field trip, such as the beach or local amusement park!

silver member (20+ points)

Get invited to a social chapter event, such as a pizza party!

broze member (10+ points) Get entered into a raffle for a gift card!

At the end of the year, you can recognize the member with the most points with a special award, including a plaque, certificate, or FBLA apparel. Something that your chapter should keep in mind is to making sure you don’t have purposeless meetings. It’s completely acceptable that you may not have a scheduled workshop or anything planned for a certain meeting. To ensure that all meetings are intentional, educational, and helpful for members, consider having meetings every other week instead of every week. An important aspect of a successful chapter is recognition of the members. For instance, you can send out a Monthly Newsletter and dedicate a section towards your members or feature them on a bulletin board in your school. Whether it’s highlighting an outstanding PAGE 9 | FALL CHAPTER TOOLKIT

member every meeting or creating a title of Member of the Month, chapter leaders should brainstorm ways to show appreciation for their members. Community Service Awards and Business Achievement Awards are two extraordinary programs that teach students the importance of community service, leadership, and developing business skills that can help students stay engaged in FBLA. The FBLA Community Service Awards (CSA) Program recognizes members who are dedicated to service and participate in various community service events. There are three levels to the CSAs:

All work and documentation is submitted through an online interactive form. You will receive a pin for completing the Future, Business, and Leader awards. If you complete the America award, you will receive a pin at the National Leadership Conference! There are four levels to the BAAs:

1. future award

complete 50 hours of community service

csa community

complete 200 hours of community service

csa service

complete 500 hours of community service

csa achievement

To register to participate in the Community Service Awards program, go to your chapter adviser and express your desire to participate in the CSAs. Then, your adviser will go to the national FBLA website to register you. Your adviser will receive an email with your login credentials. Once you have the required hours, your adviser will review your hours and submit them. Community and Service award winners will receive a certificate that your adviser can print out. CSA Achievement award winners will receive a pin at the National Leadership Conference! The Business Achievement Awards (BAA) Program recognizes members who complete activities that include business skills, community service, leadership, and community involvement. To register to participate in the Business Achievement Awards program, go to your chapter adviser and inform them of your desire to participate in the BAAs. PAGE 10 | FALL CHAPTER TOOLKIT

Your adviser will go to the national FBLA website to register you. Your adviser will receive an email with your login credentials. You can log in to see the required activities you have to receive each award and complete them as necessary.

2. business award 3. leader award 4. america award Something that your chapter can do for a meeting is BAA Workshop Day! All chapter officers are encouraged to attend, as well as all members who are interested in participating in the BAAs. Together, everyone can work on events and accomplish an entire BAA level in one day! In addition to hosting a BAA Workshop Day, your chapter officers and members can offer workshops on a variety of topics, such as resume writing or interview tips to keep members engaged during meetings! Organizing a workshop is simple and can be extremely rewarding for members. To organize a workshop, reach out to officer, members, or other community members and see if they would be willing to present on something that they particularly have a lot of expertise on. For instance, you schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s English teacher could present a workshop for FBLA seniors on college essay writing. Once you have a presenter and a topic, chosoe a date and time so that you can promote the event on social media and throughout your school!

Is your chapter interested in competing in a chapter competitive event? If so, good news! There are four chapter competitive events: American Enterprise Project, Community Service Project, Local Chapter Annual Business Report, and Partnership with Business Project. There are several chapter activities to complete in FBLA! To keep your chapter active and engaged, here is a list of ideas your chapter can implement during your initial meetings!

meeting one

Introductory Meeting. Invite a State Officer to come to this meeting to join your chapter officers. Allow each officer to introduce him/herself. Announce goals for the year.

meeting two

Super Sweeps Meeting. Designate a committee that is in charge of completing the Super Sweeps chapter challenge.

meeting three

Develop a partnership with businesses. Invite a local business person to your meeting. Also, if your chapter has not discussed the NFLC yet, now would be a good time to do so.

meeting four

Discuss Business Achievement Awards and Community Service Awards. Inform members of what they are, the benefits, etc.

meeting five

Begin discussing community service projects and fundraising opportunities for your chapter

meeting six

Host a workshop on public speaking. Members can discuss tips to overcome stage fright, deliver more impactful speeches, and become better public speakers!

meeting seven

Host a workshop on resumes. You can go over tips for a successful resume, and your chapter officers/chapter adviser can review resumes.

meeting eight

Host a meeting to help members choose competitive events. Discuss different types of events and present what events are available. Also, discuss effective study tips.

meeting nine

Host a workshop on case studies. Go over the requirements, layout, and basics of a case study. You can go through a sample case study and give an example on what a case study can look like.

meeting ten

Host a workshop on all the different opportunities FBLA offers. This could be a time where members can work on different projects such as the Virtual Business Challenge or their Business Achievement Awards.

Lastly, one of the best ways to keep members engaged is by starting the year with a fun chapter event! This event can be anything from a movie night to a donut party in the morning, as long as it will allow members to socialize and relax. You can work with local stores, such as a pizzeria, to secure some donations for your event. Also, you can work with your officer team to collaboratively organize food donations and work out logistics for your fun chapter event. For instance, if your chapter wanted to do a movie night, you could do it in your school auditorium. One officer could donate popcorn while another could bring soda and another could organize a candy bar. After working out the logistics of your event, the most important part is promoting the event and emphasizing that it will be open to any member! This way, you can organize a simple, inexpensive event for you members to enjoy themselves and get excited about FBLA! PAGE 11 | FALL CHAPTER TOOLKIT

SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS

1 2 3 4 5

Appoint PR officer, secretary, or team for the year to help promote your chapterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s activities.

Experiment with different app features, such as Instagram questions and Twitter polls, to keep your audience engaged! Try using Instagram Business so followers can easily reach you and you can access statistics about when your followers are most active. Create a calendar of important events and content you want to feature on your social media throughout the year. Create and stick to a regular posting schedule.

Take advantage of online sample templates for attractive graphics with user-friendly programs such as Adobe Spark or Canva.

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6 7 8 9

Interact with your audience by following back, liking comments, and responding to messages.

Use social media to feature the accomplishments of your members and officers.

To build your following, start by following a lot of FBLA accounts, your members, other students, and different organizations from your community.

Build your network with other local chapters, organizations and FBLA figures. You can use social media to reach out to other chapters for advice, resources, or opportunities to work together.

Dropbox link: bit.ly/FBLASocialMediaGraphics

NATIONAL FALL LEADERSHIP CONFERENCES

CHICAGO NOVEMBER 2-3

Early Bird: Until October 5th Regular: October 6th-October 28th Onsite: October 29th-Onsite

National Fall Leadership Conferences (NFLCs) can be a conve-

ALBURQUERQUE NOVEMBER 9-11

Early Bird: Until October 12th Regular: October 13th-November 4th Onsite: November 5th-Onsite

This year, there will be a National Fall Leadership Conference in Chicago from November 2nd to 3rd, Albuquerque from November 9th to 10th, and Charlotte from November 16th to 17th. Early Bird Registration is $65, Regular Registration is $75, and Onsite Registration is $85, so be sure to get a head start on planning for your exciting trip to NFLC!

nient and affordable way for members to experience the excitement of a National

Leadership Conference, but closer to home. NFLCs are held at three locations, on three different dates all throughout the country.

CHARLOTTE NOVEMBER 16-17

Early Bird: Until October 19th Regular: October 20th-November 11th Onsite: November 12th-Onsite

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First, choose a date to hold a meeting for all members interested in attending NFLC. Be sure to choose a date that gives members enough time to fundraise and turn in their payments by a reasonable deadline. You can use flyers, as well as a cool social media graphic to advertise NFLC and draw members to the meeting! At the meeting, be sure to discuss all of the benefits of attending an NFLC, such as networking opportunities and exciting workshops.

TIPS FOR TRAVEL

Depending on how far NFLC is from your home city, you will have options to consider when it comes to planning your travel arrangements. You can choose to travel by plane, bus, train, or car. If your chapter is traveling by plane, FBLA-PBL has partnered with United Airlines to offer discounted fares to All Chicago (CHI) Airports (must be completed between 10/27/2018–11/9/2018), Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ) Airport (must be completed between 11/4/2018–11/16/2018), and the Charlotte Douglas International (CLT) Airport (must be completed between 11/11/2018– 11/23/2018). To take advantage of discounted fares, use Offer Code ZER3531768. The conference hotels for NFLC are Hilton Chicago, DoubleTree by Hilton Albuquerque Downtown, and The Westin Charlotte. The most important tip, whether you are traveling from near or far, is to stay organized when organizing your travel arrangements, and to ensure that all members attending stay in the loop!

NFLCs are two days and affordable! To help offset the costs of NFLC, your chapter an fundraise money. Your chapter can host a bake-sale or a carwash, and every member who contributes to the fundraiser will receive money off of their NFLC fees. For example, if 7 members work at the carwash and the fundraiser brings in $600, then everyone involved can receive approximately $85 off of their NFLC fees, which would cover registration. Fundraising for the NFLC is extremely important because the funds raised can lower NFLC prices. The more fundraisers, the better! Check out the fundraisers section later in the guide for more ideas!

LOCAL TOURS PAGE 14 | FALL CHAPTER TOOLKIT

HOLD A MEETING

FUNDRAISING

At each NFLC, you have the opportunity to explore the city and participate in local tours. These tours are affordable and informative. At the Chicago NFLC, you can tour the Federal Reserve Bank. In Charlotte, you can take a campus tour of Johnson & Wales University or tour the Bank of America (Panthers) Stadium! Each NFLC location also has a variety of activities your chapter can do! In Chicago, you can visit the SkyDeck to gain unparalleled views of the city! In Charlotte, check out the NASCAR Hall of Fame! Finally, in Alburquerque, you can take a trip to the International Balloon Museum. Don’t miss out on tours during NFLC!

Competitive Events are a great way for members to get involved in FBLA, learn more about business practices, and receive travel opportunities. With over 70 to choose from, members will need ample planning and guidance from local chapter officers throughout the process.

regional competitive events

deally, preparation should begin in the fall, starting with re leasing information and resources for members. In preparation for their competitions, release your event sign-up form early, giving members more time to study for their event, ask for help in preparing for a case study, or change their event and/or partner(s). In order to ensure your members are ready to succeed in their competitive events, providing them with information on what each event entails helps them prepare for their events. Because there are a large number of events members can choose from, classifying events based on whether they are individual, team, or chapter events, and whether they have a case study or not enables them to choose an event they are interested in and have the best chances of achieving well in. The National FBLA website provides valuable resources for members who are unfamiliar with competitive events; some of which include Competitive Events At A Glance and a Flowchart to Help Members Select Their Event. It also may be helpful to appoint an officer to be in charge of competitive events for the year. Before your districtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s regional competition, you should host small competitions within your chapters. These are great ways to educate new students on the fundamental aspects of business while fostering a healthy competitive environment in your chapter and preparing students for their competitive events. During these competitions, you can utilize old tests from the competitive events tab on the national website (fbla.org). By keeping resources organized and readily available for members, your chapter should be able to achieve success at Regionals. If you appoint an officer to organize events, you should have frequent communication with them in order to ensure that everything is organized throughout the process. Most importantly, try to make competing a fun experience for your members and remind them that their competition is not supposed to be stressful! You can do this by offering points and offer incentive, such as a raffle for those who compete. Also, try to make your study sessions or small competitions fun by doing an icebreaker and providing snacks. Ultimately, stay organized and competing will be a fun experience.

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fundraising fundraising dine to donate

national sponsors ford drive 4 UR local sponsors

selling items

Dine to Donate fundraisers are a simple and easy way to raise money for your chapter. During a Dine to Donate fundraiser, your chapter will choose a date and a time to host a fundraiser. During that selected time, the restaurant will donate a percentage of proceeds from anyone who buys food and mentioned your FBLA chapter. To schedule a fundraiser, many large food chains, such as Chipotle and Panera Bread, have online forms that you can fill out to request a fundraiser date. Aside from scheduling fundraisers at major restaurants, local community favorites can also be successful for Dine to Donate fundraiser,. Simply meet with the owner of your local pizzeria or ice cream store, and see if they’d be willing to help support your chapter by doing a Dine to Donate fundraiser. Have a convincing pitch ready, explaining what FBLA is and how the fundraiser would help bring in business for them while also supporting a worthy cause. After scheduling your fundraiser, be sure to promote it by posting flyers around your school and on social media! Aside from scheduling Dine to Donate fundraisers, the FBLA National Partners offer effective fundraising opportunities! These National Partners can serve as a great resource for hosting successful fundraisers. For instance, you can offer members the opportunity to sell School Spirit Coffee or Country Meats. You can award them points for participating in fundraisers in addition to defraying the costs of their conference fees and other events. Furthermore, there are other various fundraisers for student clubs and organizations that you can find. One of them is Ford Drive 4 UR Programs where Ford will donate 20 dollars to your organization for every test drive completed on a certain date. The maximum donation is $6,000 but if you bring your chapter members and their families to test drive a car each, raising $6,000 is a very attainable and realistic goal. You can check out the Ford Drive 4 UR Programs at forddrive4ur.com. Fall is the perfect time to start working on sponsorships from local businesses. The earlier you start, the better! To seek sponsorships from local businesses, meet with business owners to explain the mission of FBLA-PBL to them and what their sponsorship would support. Providing different levels of sponsorship could incentivize businesses to donate more to your chapter. For instance, a donation of $200 could allow a company to print their logo on your shirt for your ‘FBLA Fall Festival’, while a donation of $50 could offer them an ad in the program for the festival. You can designate sponsors as ‘Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze Level’ and develop different incentives based on each level. Most importantly, start seeking out your sponsors early in the school year and have a well-formulated business pitch ready when you speak to them! At your school, your FBLA chapter can host many fundraisers. First, you can sell candy or snacks at each lunch and price the items from $1 to $3. You can purchase the candy for a reasonable price at many wholesale clubs and make extraordinary profit for your chapter! Next, your chapter can host an “FBLA Fall Festival.” Hosting a festival requires an extreme amount of commitment, but the profit your chapter receives will be substantial. At the festival, you can charge for admission and snacks, such as candy apples and funnel cakes. Also, your chapter can host exhibits and charge to participate in certain exhibits, such as a “Dunk the FBLA Adviser” exhibit. Finally, your chapter can host out-of-school fundraisers such as a bake sale, dinner sale, and car wash. Advertising these fundraisers are especially important because when more people know about the fundraisers, then more people will attend, and in return, your chapter receives more money! Fundraisers are extremely important and will only help your chapter. Host as many fundraisers as possible throughout the year!

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ne of the main components of FBLA is service, and getting involved with service is a great way to get members involved and give back to your community. There are a lot of different avenues of community service which you can do, so choose what works best for your chapter.

THANKSGIVING First, choose a date to hold a meeting for all members interested in attending NFLC. Be sure to choose a date that gives members enough time to fundraise and turn in their payments by a reasonable deadline. You can use flyers, as well as a cool social media graphic to advertise NFLC and draw members to the meeting! At the meeting, be sure to discuss all of the benefits of attending an NFLC, such as networking opportunities and exciting workshops.

HOLIDAYS A smart way to get your chapter involved in community service to take advantage of opportunities during the holiday season. Around Halloween time, you can hold or sponsor a Trick-or-Treat night where local businesses hand out candy to youth in the community. At the end of the event, extra candy and proceeds can be donated to a local food pantry, charity, or organization of your choice. In December, your chapter can also incorporate a community service drive for families in need. An example of this is posting a Giving Tree at the front of the school holding local families’ holiday wish lists. These items range from diapers and socks to canned food and boxed pasta, so they should be easy to shop for if they’re not already in your house. Assign members to each of the families, providing them with each others’ contact information if necessary. Make sure to give members sufficient time to obtain the items on the wishlist, and set a deadline for the end of the drive. Your chapter can hold a Holiday Social or celebratory event, inviting the families in need to visit your chapter and giving your members the chance to meet them. PAGE 17 | FALL CHAPTER TOOLKIT

MARCH OF DIMES For your March of Dimes fundraising, you could incorporate a fall theme by doing a ‘Pick a Pumpkin for Babies Fundraiser’. For this fundraiser, you would sell paper pumpkins for $1 each that donors could write their names of. You could offer members points for selling certain amount of pumpkins. Once selling all your pumpkins, you can send all of the proceeds to the March of Dimes and create a fun display with the paper pumpkins you sold. This fundraiser is a simple way to get involved with the March of Dimes during the fall. This fundraiser is the perfect way to promote Prematurity Awareness Month in November and to educate your community about the March of Dimes!

COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARDS FBLA offers various opportunities for members and chapters to get recognized for their community service. As aforementioned earlier in the packet, Community Service Awards Program awards members for their exceptional service at three levels: Community (50 hours), Service (200 hours), and Achievement (500 hours). These hours are cumulative throughout a student’s FBLA career, so advisers should register members early so they can start logging hours. The Community and Service award winners will receive a certificate, and Achievement award winners will be honored at the National Leadership Conference with a pin. Another way FBLA encourages community service in local chapters is through the Community Service Project, a chapter competitive event. The event includes both a prejudged report and presentation describing one chapter project that serves the community. A detailed description of event-specific guidelines can be found on the national FBLA-PBL website. Lastly, another great way to get involved with service is by partnering with Lead 2 Feed, an FBLA National Partner, to hone important leadership skills while creating a service project!

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middle level

he first step to chartering new middle level chapters is to reach out to local middle school teachers. Most middle level schools don’t have an established business program; therefore, you must reach out to teachers who teach in either the humanities, the sciences or an elective. You should start at the middle school you attended as you most likely have connections at the school that you can start the Middle Level chapter from. Draft a general email that you can send to multiple middle school teachers in different schools. Discuss the benefits of FBLA-PBL and how having a middle level chapter will benefit the students. Then, you should establish a relationship with the teacher. You could possibly setup a call where you can go over some of the benefits of middle level. Then, if they want more information regarding chartering a middle level chapter, pass them to https://www.fbla-pbl.org/chapter-organization-packet/ where they can get into contact with the national staff or with a national officer. Middle Level recruitment is extremely important and should begin as soon as the school year kicks off. First, your middle level officer team should be present at orientation and open house to recruit new members and inform parents about FBLA. If the Middle level chapter is new, the officers from the high school in the neighborhood can give a presentation. When recruiting middle level members, it’s important to talk about the intriguing aspects of FBLA, such as traveling to conferences in different cities, competitive events, awards ceremonies, networking with new people, and social events as each conference. As more middle school students are aware of FBLA, they will spread information about FBLA to their friends and membership will dramatically increase. Developing partnerships with nearby middle and high schools will also help your school’s Middle Level division. With this partnership, you can share recruitment tools and even have a joint middle level installation ceremony. You can also host joint-fundraisers with the other chapters. Additionally, you can have the high school’s chapter officers visit your middle level chapter to inform students of their experiences within FBLA. This may also help increase membership numbers. If your state chapter has a Middle Level state officer, invite them to one of your chapter’s events! The key to middle level recruitment is to get the information about FBLA out to students. Use officers, social media, and bulletin boards to do this! Furthermore, the middle level division offers a host of competitive events for members to compete in at the State Leadership Conference, consisting of events regarding the fundamental aspects of business, from elevator speeches to financial literacy and critical thinking. Events typically consist of either an objective test or a speech-based performance, and include between individual and group variations. Competitive events are excellent ways for middle level members to learn more about business and further their preparation for high school and future careers. This may also help improve a positive, cohesive atmosphere within your middle level chapter, as chapter group events help in uniting students while preparing for their competition. PAGE 19 | FALL CHAPTER TOOLKIT