Ideas, Insights, and Inspirations - How to Select a Competitive Event

By Mariyam Khazi

Round Rock High School

 

From DECA’s 51 events, it can be difficult to select an event, especially for new members or previous members that want to try something new. Follow this map to figure out what event is best suited for you!

To see all of DECA’s 51 competitive events, visit deca.org/compete.

This breakdown has helped many decide which event they may be interested in! However, selecting a DECA event has much more to it.

  1. Finding the proper career cluster:

    • It’s important to decide which career cluster you are best suited to compete in. This depends on your interests, skill sets, and level of comfort in regards to speaking on each topic.

  2. Creating an efficient schedule:

    • Prepared events such as OR or PM events require much more planning and time set aside for DECA prior to each level competition. It’s crucial to factor in how much time you are able to put aside for DECA in your regular schedules. It can be difficult to juggle school, other extracurricular activities, and DECA, so deciding what your priorities are is definitely the first step.

  3. Understanding your character:

    • Once you realize how you learn, how you work most efficiently, etc, these all factor in to provide an amazing boost to your selected DECA event. Detail-oriented people generally gravitate towards the prepared events, as it’s well-suited for those who do prefer to have an extended preparation time. However, for those who work best when placed under stress, roleplay events may be best as they may flourish under the time constraint for preparation.