DECA is:
DECA is the largest student business organization and competition in the world. Its purpose, as written on DECA Inc.'s website, is "to prepare emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe." It has over 200,000 members, 3,500 high school chapters, and 275 collegiate chapters at an international level, with over 11,000 students from Ontario participating in it. Many people would describe it differently, but one thing's for sure: it's definitely worth it.
DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe.
Alright, so how does the competition work?
The competition is composed of three levels: Regionals, Provincials, and Internationals. Iroquois Ridge High School is part of the Hamilton + Private region, which means we compete at the Hamilton Convention Center in early November for the regionals component. The Private just means private schools are participating. Last year, we had over 80 students in our chapter for regionals, with over 60% making it to the provincial level. Out of those, 5 students made it to the international level, otherwise known as the International Career Development Conference (ICDC), where they competed against students from the US, Europe, Asia, and other places around the world who followed a similar process. This was held in Orlando, Florida, with this school year's ICDC planned for Nashville, Tennessee, and next year's is going to be in Anaheim, California.
At each level, there are two components that contribute : the written exam and the role-play case study. The written exam is a 100 question multiple choice test and every student takes one based on their cluster - we'll go over that in a minute. The case study, however, is different for every event, of which there are a lot to choose from. To find out more about each event, please take a look at the Competitive Events page on this website where there is a short description and a link for resources for each event where you can look at past exams and case studies. The executives will also provide more information and tips during cluster meetings. Whether or not you advance to the next level of competitions depends on the total score of your written exam and case study, but this is often a form of insurance - even if you do poorly on your case study, for example, a good written exam mark (which people tend to do more poorly in) might be able to boost you up.
What is a cluster?
A 'cluster' is how events are categorized within the competition. There are four main clusters in DECA, which are Business Management & Administration, Finance, Hospitality & Tourism, and Marketing. Every event relates closely to which cluster they are in, so they can often help as guidelines for when you make your selection.
Students participating in different events get completely different case studies, but all students within the same cluster take the same written exam. For instance, although a student in Apparel and Accessories Marketing may have a completely irrelevant case study when looked at by a student in Automotive Services Marketing, they will have the same written exam since they are both within the Marketing cluster.
Each cluster also has its own Principle event, which are events specifically for first-time DECA participants, although it is not mandatory for them to select a Principle event to compete in. However, Principle event students do not take their respective cluster written exams; rather, there is a separate Business Administration Core exam that is taken by all Principle students.
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How exactly do case studies work?
Every case study is basically a role-play interview; you are given a specific situation with a role you have to undertake and a task to complete or questions to answer. Even within the same event, case studies can be drastically different and so it is vital that time is spent preparing and practicing for them.You are given the case study, some time to prepare your content, and then comes the interview. The specific times depend on what type of event you're participating in. You will sit across from the judge (who will also be role-playing as defined by the case study) from where your presentation will be conducted. The judges are not allowed to communicate with you during the presentation, but they will ask you some questions afterwards which you must answer.
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Case studies are marked following a rubric made up of Performance Indicators (or PI's for short). Each case study has a general performance indicators and specific performance indicators that are given to you along with the case study. General performance indicators are similar to your Communication marks for school assignments - attire, facial expressions, body language, etc. Specific performance indicators are where the majority of your marks come from. These revolve around the contents of your interview and it is extremely important to develop your presentation around them and prepare some answers before the actual competition for specific PI's.
Hopefully this page was able to answer some questions you might have had about DECA. But this isn't all - you can gain a lot more information from executives and past competitors during the cluster meetings and you can learn more about different events in the Competitive Events page. Also, feel free to contact any of the teacher advisors (Mr. Fisher, Mr. Grondin, Ms. Wiles, Ms. Smintich) or any of the execs for more details!