Chapter Toolkit
DECA Elevate
What does the Official DECA Elevate Booklet include?
Related Resources:
Conflict Resolution Strategies
Related Resources:
Communicating With Your Chapter Officer Team
Related Resources:
Running Your Chapter Officer Team
Related Resources:
Building Your Chapter Officer Team
Related Resources:
The Responsibilities of Being and Officer
Related Resources:
Community Service Ideas for Your Chapter
Related Resources:
Setting Chapter Goals
PREVIEW
What does the chapter goals worksheet look like?
Related Resources:
Creating a SMART Goal to Achieve Your Goalsl
Setting goals may seem easy, however, achieving them may not always be the easiest. This is why setting a SMART goal is the best way to help you achieve these goals! You are probably wondering, “What does a SMART goal even mean?” SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. Let us break down each category of a SMART goal to help better understand what they mean.
Setting a specific goal is the first step in planning out your SMART goal. What is the specific thing that you would like to achieve? Make your goal as specific as possible and express it positively. A specific goal should include who, what, when, where, why, and how. Who is involved? What will I be trying to accomplish? When will I be accomplishing this? Where will I be doing this at? Why am I doing this? How am I going to do this?
Once you pick your specific goal, you’ll need to measure it. Measuring your success is crucial as it will give you a clear look as to how far you have come along with your goal. Measuring your goal is also important because you will need data to evaluate your progress to see if you are working towards your goal.
Next, you need to make sure that your goal is achievable. Consider whether or not you have the resources to continue working towards your goal. If not, you need to think about if you can gather all materials needed for your goal in time. If your goal is achievable, then it is most likely a realistic goal. Take the time to evaluate whether or not your goal is realistic and achievable within a certain time period.
Finally, make your goal timely by setting out specific dates. Always have a starting point and an ending point with checkpoint dates in between! This also includes listing out the steps it takes to achieve your goal within the allotted time.
Always use your resources! Ask your teacher or advisor for help if you are having trouble putting your SMART goal to paper. I recommend using a table or online spreadsheet to organize your thoughts and keep your SMART goal in a place that is easily accessible.
Make sure the goal you choose is something you are passionate about! You will always have a much easier and enjoyable time if you are working towards something you are passionate about. Make sure that you try to accomplish at least one of your goals every few days and reward yourself along the way for your hard work! Creating a SMART goal has personally helped me in any of my ventures in and out of DECA and I recommend creating a SMART goal to anyone who wants to achieve a goal they are passionate about!
BY: SHELBY KENNEDY
How to be the Best Chapter Officer You Can Be
Serving as an officer for your DECA chapter is an honor and a big responsibility. As an officer, you will be expected to be a representative, leader, and role model in your chapter, but are you #ReadyForIt? In order to be the best chapter officer you can be, here are a few key points to keep in mind.
1. Communicate with your officer team:
Communication is imperative for a functioning officer team. Scheduling regular officer meetings to discuss campaign progress and to plan for chapter meetings is important in ensuring success for your chapter.
2. Communicate with your chapter members:
An effective way of staying in touch with your chapter members is to be active on your chapter’s social media. Posting about meetings and chapter activities on social media platforms, such as Instagram and Twitter, is a great way to communicate with your members and have them engage with your chapter online. Creating a Remind101 to send out reminders about meeting dates and deadlines is another great way to communicate directly with your members.
3. Communicate with your district officers:
Communicating with your district officers allows you to know what is happening in Texas DECA and international DECA. If your district officers are holding monthly president’s council meetings, having a chapter representative present at the meetings is important in making sure your chapter is up to date with what is happening on the district, state, and international level.
4. Encourage your members:
Encourage your members to be active in your chapter by participating in community service and competition. If they have any questions, make sure they know that they can come to you for answers. Strive to provide your members with competition resources, found on the Texas DECA website, to increase your chapter’s competitive success.
5. Be passionate:
Odds are that if you are a DECA officer, it is because you love DECA! Share this passion you have for this amazing organization with your friends and peers so that they might join DECA and develop the same passion! This will boost the overall morale of your chapter because people will be excited to compete and participate in DECA events.
6. Serve as a role model:
As an officer, you are representing your chapter, district, Texas DECA, and DECA in general! Always put forth your best effort in everything you do. Be honest, committed, confident, and responsible.
These were just a few points to consider as a chapter officer, but remember to always go above and beyond to serve your chapter to the best of your abilities! Good luck this year, and may your successes be limitless!
BY: RUTH SIMPSON
Related Resources:
Five Fantastic Fundraising Ideas for Your Chapter
It’s the middle of summer and you are used to sleeping in. You go to bed late. You find yourself flipping through the channels looking for something good to watch. Most of the time you have a lot of free time on your hands, so why not use it wisely? MAKE IT COUNT this summer and use your time to better your local chapter!
DECA members know that just because school is out for summer, that does not mean you should forget about your chapter. Once school starts, everyone, including your advisor, will be swamped with homework, tests, and various other activities. So use this time to get together with your DECA members, officers, and advisors to begin planning ahead of time so you can start the DECA year right! If you don’t know where to begin, don’t worry! Here are 5 effective and easy fundraising ideas to help you get started!
1. “DECA Night” at Local Restaurants
Many restaurants are willing to donate a part of their profits of a selected day to a desired organization if you book them in advanced! Simply go to the restaurant, ask to talk to a manager and book them for “DECA Night”. Make sure to spread the word to ensure that there are many people present!
2. Car Washes
This is an extremely easy and fun way to raise funds! All that’s needed is a sunny day, water, soap, and customers! Gather your chapter, select a high traffic street, and make plenty of signs. Next, wait for customers to show up to your car wash!
3. Yard Sales
Everyone knows that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure! Get rid of the things around your house that you are no longer using (but are in good condition) and have a yard sale! This can include antiques, books, and electronics. Your entire chapter will have a great number of quality things that different people will be interested in buying.
4. BBQ Plates
Make BBQ plates (or find a local restaurant to make them for you) and sell them for a profit. Many people enjoy BBQ plates and not having to cook or eat fast food every once in a while. It’s easy and brings in a lot of profit!
5. DECA Fashion Show
This is a unique way to fundraise and gets many people involved! Many different stores such as Sears, Kohl’s, and Cavender’s, are willing to lend their clothes out for a day so that you can use at your chapter’s fashion show. Have tryouts to find your models, although, many can be your very own DECA members! Lastly, sell tickets, have a great MC, and play fun, upbeat music!
Make sure to promote these fundraisers the right way! Use social media, flyers, and local newspapers to spread the word! Also, don’t forget to let Texas DECA know about your fundraisers. We want to know what our members are up to! Good luck fundraising!
BY VETERANS MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOL
Related Resources:
Three Ways to Get your DECA Chapter in the Holiday Spirit
What better way is there to spend the holiday season than with your DECA chapter? December opens up a multitude of opportunities for your chapter to either grow together as a group, outreach to the community, or host fundraisers to earn money for upcoming competitions! Here are a few ideas from the Magnolia West DECA chapter for your DECA chapter to do as well!
DECA Team Bonding
Competitions are coming up, so use the time between now and competition to build up your DECA chapter! One of the traditions we have at Magnolia West is having a big movie night at someone’s house, where we eat food, watch tons of movies, and just get to know each other better! This is an even better event to do during December because it is chilly outside, and you can enjoy blankets, hot chocolate, and movies with your other chapter members!
Community Outreach
The holiday season opens up a multitude of different opportunities to help out the community around you, and doing this with your DECA chapter is also a great way to build friendships! Start a food drive, a toy drive, a clothing drive, adopt a family to buy Christmas gifts for, package food for families, package and hand out snowman soup to holiday workers, the possibilities are endless!
Fundraisers
Competitions are coming up quickly and you need to make sure your chapter has enough funds to send everyone to competition! In the past, we’ve hosted movie nights.
The holiday seasons are awesome, make sure you utilize all the opportunities you have to grow as a chapter!
BY: MERRITT COLEMAN
Related Resources:
Social Media Is Good For More Than Just Rants
Most Americans - students, parents, DECA members, potential DECA members, and people in general - use their social media profiles for personal pictures and rants of some sort. In general, people don’t realize the true effect and power social media has on today’s generation. Literally “everyone” has some form of social media, so why not use that as an outlet to reach out to your chapter?
If your chapter doesn’t already have one, create a chapter Twitter and/or Facebook account to share current news. Tweet about your socials and meetings to gain membership and keep your returning members engaged. You could post something similar to this chapter’s tweet:
“Naaman Forest’s DECA chapter is going to Group Dynamix for a leadership and group bonding experience! If you join, you can join us!”
Share information to social media about DECA and what it truly means. It’s guaranteed that at least one person will become interested in the chapter and what DECA has to offer. Finally, share important meeting information more than that one time. Just because you tweeted last week about next week’s meeting doesn’t mean you can’t share the information again. Social media is an incredibly valuable outlet to promote membership and support from the school. Don’t underestimate the power of your favorite app.
BY: FELICE JOHNSON
Related Resources:
Tips and Tricks for Officer Meetings
With the new school year starting, so is DECA. This means your chapter officers will begin to plan so much for your chapter to have a Limitless year! So here are a few tips and tricks as chapter officers to get the most out of your officer meetings and your year.
1. Have an officer group chat
If you don’t already, get an officer group chat started. That way you can plan your meetings easily and efficiently while also keeping an open line of communication. A group chat is also a great way to bond with your fellow officers outside of a stressful environment. A good app to use for group chats that need to include both iPhone and Android users is GroupMe.
2. Make an agenda
Create an agenda for your meetings. This will keep your officer team organized and ensure your meetings are purposeful and have a goal to them. Whoever is responsible for creating these meeting agendas should send them out to the officer team a couple days in advance so all officers are aware of what will be discussed.
3. Plan a small social event after your officer meetings
If you are planning your meetings to be after school or during the weekend, then plan a small outing together afterwards. This can be as simple as going out to dinner. This way, all your officers have something to look forward to after the meeting and can feel rewarded and relaxed after their hard work at the meeting.
BY: SHARIKA MENON
Related Resources:
Creating an Effective Meeting Agenda
One of the most important aspects of hosting an effective meeting is being organized and prepared. The best way to do this is to create a meeting agenda. Whether you are hosting your meeting online or in-person, things will run much smoother if you have a plan of action to follow. Below are three tips on how to create and utilize the perfect meeting agenda.
First, you should brainstorm what you want to talk about and write down all of your ideas. Next, you will want to organize your ideas in the most coherent way to ensure that the meeting flows well and each topic leads into the next. When creating the agenda, try to limit each line to 2-3 words that convey the topic of the section for easy readability.
Another important reason to create an agenda is to get an estimate of how long the meeting will run. In order to be best prepared for the meeting, try to estimate the time it will take to complete each section and denote that next to each topic. A good way to do this is by thinking about what you might say as you plan the presentation.
Additionally, having an agenda can be beneficial for you as well as your audience members. If you send out the agenda beforehand, this gives participants the ability to prepare for any parts where they need to contribute. This will also provide audience members with an estimate of how long the meeting will run and the topics that will be discussed in case they have any questions.
Agendas are essential when hosting any type of meeting because they benefit not only the speaker, but the audience as well. For an example of a meeting agenda, click below.
BY: LUCIOUS MCDANIEL IV
Related Resources:
Chapter Social Ideas
School has started for most of us, which also means that a new DECA season is beginning, as well! One of the most effective ways to increase membership is by hosting socials. Events like these encourage new members to get involved and meet others in your chapter. Teamwork events can also help your chapter grow together as a whole. Below are five social ideas to help your DECA chapter kick off this season:
1) Kickball Social - Everyone’s favorite elementary school game has made a comeback! Find a local park or field and gather your DECA chapter for a day of fun. Ask members to bring refreshments such as cookies and lemonade. Form teams and face off within your own chapter or even ask a nearby school’s DECA chapter to join in.
2) Reverse Scavenger Hunt - This twist to a common game is sure to be a hit! Prior to the event, create a list of 20-25 common things that everyone has or can easily access. These can be items like coins, scissors, sticky notes, etc. Split your DECA chapter into random groups based on something like color or birthday month. Give the teams 30 minutes to locate each item on the list. To help increase the incentive to win, provide a prize for the winning team. `
3) Ice Cream Social - Everyone loves ice-cream! Those who don’t are lying. There is a reason this method is used often: it works. Purchase ice cream sandwiches or cones from your local grocery store. This can be done after a DECA meeting or on a separate day. You can also try hosting the social at a local park so your chapter can take advantage of the additional recreational facilities available there.
4) Color Wars - Who doesn’t love to get messy? You can easily purchase pigmented powder at a low cost from trustworthy online distributors. Pick a date and invite your DECA chapter out for a day of colorful fun.
5) Build Your Own Taco - Fact: Tacos taste good. You can easily buy basic taco ingredients from your local grocery store. The possibilities are endless! While chapter members are making their tacos, you can have a movie or music playing in the background. I’m getting hungry just thinking about the amazing tacos your chapter will make.
BY: SARAH JOSHI
Related Resources:
Fun Fall Fundraising
Does your chapter need some extra funding to do more activities together while in Dallas for State CDC? If so, here are a few fall fundraising ideas to help you get a head start!
Set up a booth at a local fall festival! If your town hosts a fall festival, see if your chapter can rent some booths to make some easy money. At the booths, you can sell fall-themed treats, have fun games, or even hold a photo booth, and at each of the activities you can charge a dollar or two.
There is nothing more enticing than some sweet treats! Some bite-sized, fall themed treats that you could sell at your booth may include, candy apples, bags of popcorn wrapped in green tissue paper made to look like ears of corn, or even harvest hash chex mix. All of these options are yummy snacks that have shown to be successful sellers!
Thinking about going the game route for your booth? One idea is a fun family friendly game named “The Trick-or-Treat Wheel”. This game requires two bowls, one bowl labeled “Trick” (which will have easy challenges written on slips of paper), the other labeled “Treat” (which will be filled with candy). If the player lands on treat they receive a piece candy. But, If they land on trick, they will have to pick their challenge; if they complete the task correctly and entirely, they’ll get a piece of candy too!
Lastly, a photo booth is a super fun way to attract a crowd, and it is so simple to set up! To set up the booth, all you need to do is design a backdrop; hang fall garlands, add a leaf or two, and have some props that you can either buy, make, or get donated, and watch the participants do the rest! With a photo booth you’ll be the talk of the festival
If your town doesn’t have a fall festival, then you can always make and sell items, Homecoming is around the corner and your chapter could make mums and garters; your chapter could also make and sell fall themed deco mesh wreaths (these are fast, easy, and fun to make with your chapter) Lastly you can always host a pumpkin carving contest where participants purchase the pumpkin from you and at the event they compete with others to carve the best pumpkin- and the winner would get a prize! The opportunities are endless when it comes to fundraising. Now it's your turn to go out and put the fun in fundraising!
BY: ALEXIS WESTERN
Related Resources:
Marketing Your Next Chapter Meeting
School is back in session, and so is DECA. Our main focus is to obtain new members. Being that meetings are where new members can get information, we need to inform students where to learn about DECA. Here are some ways to market your chapter meetings:
• Announcements and Flyers: this is an old school way of doing things, but it works. If your school does announcements, send in a script to the school office. When writing the script it should be quick and to the point, like "Don't forget to come to room #001 and discover all of the opportunities DECA can offer you!" When using this tactic be sure to have an announcement every day the week before the meeting. Flyers are a great option as well because students can read them while waiting in lines or walking in the hallway.
• Social Media is a fun and interactive way to publicize your next chapter meeting. Using social media such as Instagram, Twitter, or Snapchat can set you apart from other chapters because you get to create the design however you would like. If you want to make an eye catching design you could use Canva to make all sorts of designs for Instagram or Twitter, as well as Snapchat geofilters. When posting on Twitter or Instagram you should tell about the meeting three or four days ahead of the date and the day before. Snapchat, on the other hand, needs to be done the night before and the morning of the meeting.
Have fun marketing your next meeting!
BY: ALEXIS WESTERN
Related Resources:
5 Easy Ways to Fundraise for your Chapter
Do you want to go somewhere fun while in Dallas for State CDC or do you want to do extra activities while in Orlando for ICDC? If so, you might need some extra money for your chapter and one way to do all of the extra activities is to fundraise. Here are five easy and effective ways to fundraise for your chapter.
1. Movie Night - Organize a viewing of a movie that everyone can enjoy either at your school in the gym, where your school’s theater department performs, or you can team up with a local cinema and get a discounted rate for your students. If your chapter hosts this event at the school your chapter can also run the concession stand to sell candy, drinks, and popcorn.
2. Teacher Challenge - Would you enjoy throwing a pie at your favorite teacher’s face? What about taping them to a wall? With this event ask some teachers, or even the principal, if they would be willing to help your chapter raise money and charge students one dollar for a pie or a strip of tape.
3. Dress Up Days - Do you enjoy wearing your PJs or hat? Well if so ask to host days where students can pay a dollar to wear PJs or their hats at school. Also, this event is very fun in December because your chapter can change it into an ugly Christmas sweater or hat contest.
4. Candy Grams - Want to send your friend some candy and a message? You can charge students a small fee to send out a personalized note and a piece of candy to one of their friends. Students can send as many candy grams as they want. Even teachers can join in on the fundraiser by sending grams to their students or fellow teachers. Also, this activity can be customized to fit holidays like Christmas and Valentine’s Day.
5. DECA Donuts - Who doesn’t like a good sugar packed donut to start their day off? Go to your local donut shop and tell them what you are doing and ask if there is any way that you could purchase in the donuts in bulk at a lower rate. Then have your chapter set up a table in the front of the school and sell donuts to students as they walk in, charging them about a dollar per donut.
BY: ALEXIS WESTERN
Related Resources: