DECA Elevate

What does the Official DECA Elevate Booklet include?

Related Resources:

Running Your Chapter Officer Team

Related Resources:

Building Your Chapter Officer Team

Related Resources:

About DECA's Leadership Academies

Related Resources:

5 Key Skills to Being a Leader

One of the most defining character traits in DECA members is the trait of leadership. Without leadership, one can not successfully manage a business, become the CEO of a company, let alone be able to approach customers on a daily basis. It all takes learning how to lead and guide people efficiently. Now for the big question: How does one develop the characteristics of a leader? We’re about to give you 5 characteristics of a quality leader!

1. Public Speaking

In order to be an effective leader, your level of communication must be high. Engaging with members in your chapter is a perfect way to start. Once you know the members of your chapter personally, public speaking will suddenly become a lot easier! As they say, “You learn best by doing, not learning to do.” So practice through speaking! Talk to anyone and everyone, and be social! Another way to increase your level of public speaking is through accessibility. Don’t come off as unapproachable, people should want to talk to you, too. Always remember to remain personable and before you know it, your speaking skills will eventually elevate!

2. Learning to Serve

A wise man said “In order to be a leader, you must first learn to serve.” Most people in business don’t want to work for someone else. Why? Because the ultimate goal is to become a CEO. That’s the dream, right? Often, the idea of working for someone else gives off a negative connotation to certain people. However, the truth is, before you become a leader, you must be a follower. The best way to uplift yourself is to uplift others, so empower others and  help other people achieve their goals and the favor will be returned back to you!

3. Persistence

“Persistence beats resistance”. We all have our own personal struggles going on. We also know that value isn’t just handed to you. It takes skill, knowledge, and attitude. Regardless of the challenges that come your way, and regardless of the struggles you go through, push through. Realize that ALL great things take time, and nothing will ever be just handed to you. The true definition of a leader is going beyond the point where everybody else would stop, learn to embody this trait.

4. Focus

You can’t be a leader without prioritizing some things over others. Leaders are always, always, always focused, true leaders are.  Breaks are a necessity thing, and one should NEVER over work themselves. However, remember time is valuable and should always be used wisely. When you’re focused, you may not always go through with the popular decision, but you’ll always “Do what’s best for business”. You’ve got to remember not to focus on your competition, but rather focus on improving yourself.

5. Confidence

Confidence is key to being an excelling leader. How do you expect others to believe you when you don’t even believe in yourself? Confidence allows you to guide others, have others listen to your voice, and gain respect. Not all of us are as confident as others, but remember- there is only one you, and you are unique. No one else is like you, so you might as well show people what you’re made of! Be yourself, and be confident walking in your own shoes. This will get you far!

All of these traits go hand in hand. Master these skills are you will be on your way to leading your chapter to greatness!

Related Resources:

Networking at DECA Events

If you are like most new DECA members, then you may be extremely nervous for competition. You are likely trying to remember your performance indicators, marketing concepts, and vocabulary. After all, this is your first time competing against the best high school students in the nation. However, don’t get too caught up in the competition. No doubt: your goal should be to place or even win, but there are other things that are intriguing at DECA competitions and events. It’s important to go out of your comfort zone and explore what the event has to offer.

For one, talk to your fellow competitors and peers. I know it can be daunting speaking to new people (even I, myself, struggle with it at times). However, you never know. Some of these new people could end up being the new faces of DECA. A common phrase is “It’s not what you know. It’s who you know.” Branching out and meeting new people is always a good way of establishing long-term connections, connections that could end up helping you in the future. And who knows, you may even make a new friend.

Most of the time, even at smaller, local competitions, there are guest speakers who are highly qualified and have real-world experience. It doesn’t hurt to go up to him or her and ask a couple of questions. Once again, it is about who you know. Establishing connections at an early age, especially to highly qualified individuals, is something that not many teenagers can speak of. You could consider creating a LinkedIn account and “connecting” with the guest speakers. Establishing contacts with successful professionals can lead to better career prospects.

Overall, meeting new people, whether they are competitors or professionals, is incredibly important. No form of social media or technology can replace face-to-face interactions. These can lead to endless opportunities, especially later in life. Just stand up, walk up to the person, and introduce yourself. These skills, though difficult to master, will set you up for success in the future.

BY: ISHAAN KAPOOR

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:

How to Manage a DECA Social Media Account

When it comes to marketing and branding, the importance of social media simply cannot be ignored. The possibilities of how to reach your target audience are endless, and in today’s era, media is the key to being effective and efficient in your marketing strategy. Now that we recognized the importance of social media, running a DECA social media page can be broken down in three simple steps!
 

1) IDENTIFY YOUR GOALS AND AUDIENCE

Identifying your goals on social media is extremely important when you are trying to develop a personal, chapter, district, or even association social media page. Establishing a goal allows for a reference to track your monthly progress, and it helps to give you a purpose when developing each month’s material.

Setting your target audience is also a crucial aspect in this process.  This allows you to personalize material each month to the trending interests of specific individuals; therefore increasing engagement numbers. The key to a successful social media page is keeping up with the latest tips and trends, so your page sparks an interest in whoever you are hoping to reach. By being relevant, you better your chances of a like, share or retweet.  Recognizing what material works also increases your page efficiency, therefore eliminating wasted time publishing unsuccessful material.

TIP: People like to stay updated and in the loop, but that can sometimes be very hard to do, while still being engaging, so to make it easier fill your social media page with things that are made to update and inform in a creative format such as infographics, images or even video!

2) MONITOR AND MEASURE WHAT MATTERS

Social media is competitive and saturated, so it is essential for you to test and track your results in order to identify the most effective strategies against your competition– which is why social media analytics are so important. By using analytical tools such as Hootsuite, Google analytics, DrumUp to name a few, it allows you to track engagement numbers and isolate what material works for your page so you can continue with it. 

Some key things to track on your social media page: Likes, shares, retweets, engagement levels, how often you post, and lastly follower responses (tags/comments) The purpose of your social media page is to promote your brand and share it with as many people as possible in hopes they find it engaging, so by tracking the success of each article or post, you are getting direct feedback from your target audience so you can make adjustments accordingly.

As a page, it should always be a priority to increase follower engagement. One way to increase the involvement and followers is to personalize the page a little bit. Establishing more of a family environment allows your followers to feel a little more comfortable and like they belong when you go that extra mile to personalize the account.

Reminder: Don’t forget each form of social media attracts a different audience! So be diligent and do your research on where the majority of your target market is located (The NewsCred infographic located below is a great resource for demographics on each application.) Because of this, do not  be disappointed if success on one account receives more or less traffic/engagement than any of the others. However, do not let this information stop you from expanding your network onto another account.  It is always beneficial to be present on all forms of social media.

3) HAVE FUN!

Your followers should always be a priority, but if you are not happy with the material you are posting, the truth is your audience probably is not satisfied either. Do not overwhelm your followers with repetitive and lengthy information. BE CREATIVE and remain consistent on all accounts! This is your opportunity to express what your business, organization, or your personal brand is all about! Relatable gifs, images, infographics, and pictures can be a great addition to your posts!

By implementing these three tips on your DECA social media page, one can almost guarantee your engagement and page awareness will increase!  Social media is an ongoing and strenuous task that requires a lot of research, documentation, and preparation but do not let that scare you out of pursuing a better media presence. The more effort you put forth, the larger the reward.

BY: MADELYNE ONSTOTT

Related Resources: