I have your child for two periods a day, and most of our work is done in the classroom. Homework is very light, as are traditional pen-and-paper tests. But, this class will challenge your child in a different way. They are going to conduct research, analyze data, and then create a marketing plan that helps an area business solve a problem. And after they do this, they will present and defend their plan to business professionals. Students will be pushed to develop time management, creative thinking, problem solving, business writing, and lots of human relation skills. The busiest and most stressful time for your child will be the three week period before our state competition in mid March. Late February and early March will be the time where students are editing and finalizing their written projects, and developing a professional presentation. They’ll be under firm deadlines to present their plan back to their businesses and me. There will be some evening and weekend hours during this stretch.

It’s really important our students look professional when they appear before the business people who serve as judges for our DECA competitions. The snazzy, navy blue DECA blazer has to be worn during all official competitions, so students should select dress clothing that matches it. Here are my recommendations: Gents: Tan dress slacks with pleats (cuffs or no cuffs fine), solid white or blue dress shirt, tie, and dress shoes. Guys will want to pack two dress shirts for our state and national competitions. Ladies: A conservative skirt (grey or tan, & must be knee length),a solid white or blue blouse, and heels. During opening and closing DECA sessions and meetings, ladies will need to be in professional dress and can get away with a nice pair of pants, and those flat type shoes. You can see more pics of students in DECA dress here and on the bottom of this page.

Last year’s ICDC was conducted virtually. This year’s ICDC is scheduled to be in Orlando, FL from April 22 – April 26.  Students earn their way to the conference by being a top winner in their state DECA competition. The trip is a mix of leadership, competition, and fun for students. Our chapter will earn points based on the number of Top-10 finishes we claim, and for the past decade Gahanna DECA has finished among the top DECA Chapters in the world. You can get more ICDC info from DECA’s webpage here.

The true cost (transportation, conference registration, hotel) to attend the DECA ICDC is usually about $1,000 per student. We work really hard to bring this number down significantly. Store profits are used to help off-set student costs. Depending on our sales year, I can usually get the the trip cost I quote parents in March to around $550. From this point we brainstorm and do additional fundraising. Over the past few years we have sold advertising packages to local businesses to help further lower travel costs. The average price paid per student is typically about $300.  Money will be due on or before April 10, 2023.

You will receive a very general ICDC permission form immediately following the Ohio DECA State competition. This will be during the last week of March. A very detailed ICDC itinerary will be sent to you via email once all travel details are finalized- usually the first or second week of April.

Students in spring sports sometimes have tough choices to make. I leave it up to students and parents to decide if attending the ICDC is the best choice for them. I will say the experience of attending the DECA ICDC is usually the highlight of a student’s high school career. In a few cases I have had students fly solo coming to or departing the conference due to sports or school activities. The stars really have to align for this to happen due to student safety/liability issues and our travel and competition schedules.

If you own your own business I would love for you to share your “how I did it” story with our students. If you have contacts of area entrepreneurs who you think would be good speakers to seniors I would love your help connecting with them. Likewise, if you have contacts with marketing professionals or other upper- management professionals of area businesses I would greatly appreciate help connecting our students with them. The success of our student projects is greatly impacted by having strong contacts at our “client” businesses.