Who Are the Students

Competitive events are directly related to courses students take in high school or college. The events are used by teachers to motivate students in much the same way athletic, music or science competitions motivate students through recognition, awards and scholarships.

The skills the students demonstrate through the competitive events are identified by businesspeople.

More than 185,000 student members of DECA and Delta Epsilon Chi start out competing in their local school each year in one or more of 70 different competitive events. Approximately 140,000 move up from their school to a district or state conference.

About 8,000 high school students earn the right to attend and compete at the High School (DECA) International Career Development Conference by winning their competition at the state level. About 1,200 college students win the right to compete at the College (Delta Epsilon Chi) International Career Development Conference by winning college level competition at the state level.

Each of the competitive events include multiple activities designed to effectively measure students' proficiency in a broad range of skills, knowledge and attitudes identified by occupational practitioners as essential to success in a given career area.

There are four general formats for competitive events:

Role-Plays/Business Simulations
Competitive events in this format involve a single student interacting with a judge. Both will assume roles in a typical business situation such as a customer complaint, employee performance review or planning meeting. The student is given a short time to review the situation and prepare to role-play with a business/industry person (judge).

Case Studies
Competitive events in this format involve either one student or a team of students responding to a business problem that is detailed in a case. The students will have 30 or 60 minutes to prepare a solution. Teams then present their solution to the business/industry person (judge).

Business Plans
Business plans involve the preparation of a written report or plan by the student prior to the conference. The plan may reflect research on an existing business or the development of a new business or business concept. At the conference, the students will present their plan to the business/industry person (judge).

Projects
This format involves one or more students conducting an activity in their community and developing and presenting a report on their activities. These events may focus on community service, public relations or chapter fundraising projects.

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