By Kira Allen | April 26 2021 |
DECA is an international business club that teaches professionalism and business skills through a variety of competitive events. This year, their regional and provincial competitions moved online to adapt to the pandemic. I interviewed Kanzy Elmaghraby, an executive member of DECA at Kingston Secondary School, for her perspective on one of KSS’s most competitive clubs.
Why DECA?
Although DECA is a business club, it’s comprised of broad categories and diverse subcategories, so even someone who isn’t looking to go into business can find a fun event to develop their skills. Someone interested in dealing with people and their emotions can compete in the hospitality and tourism category, while someone who is great with numbers can explore finance. Kanzy is interested in medicine, but “that just goes to show you that these extracurriculars shouldn’t necessarily be fueled solely by a desire to apply for universities.”
Another advantage of DECA is the transferable communication skills it develops. Kanzy highlighted how the rapid problem-solving skills necessary for DECA can be applied to real-life presentations, interviews, and careers. “It’s really difficult at first, but then you see progress and you’re able to apply it to almost every single thing.”
In a normal year, besides the rewarding competition, DECA is full of memories and fun experiences of being at a huge event in a new city with your friends.
Preparing for the competition
DECA competitions generally have two parts--a 100-multiple-choice-question test, and a case study. Kanzy suggests retaking old exams to prepare for the test and to research well and practise communicating for the case. “Because a case is not limited to your content, you have to prepare not only for the content aspect, which requires research into the topic, but also how you speak and how you communicate your message.”
DECA offers over fifty events in the areas of marketing, finance, business management, hospitality and tourism, entrepreneurship, and personal finance literacy. Kanzy enjoyed competing in hospitality services team decision-making, which involves marketing an original business plan for a hotel given details about the hotel’s demographic and target market. Competitors have thirty minutes to prepare a fifteen-minute presentation with their partners.
The presentation’s material depends on the case. “If it’s asking for a business plan for a target demographic, you would look at the best way to reach that demographic. So if that demographic is teenagers, you would tell the hotel to market on social media, or to offer family bundles for families or newspapers for seniors. Sometimes you get a question directly related to the hotel employees, and what programs to put them through so they are well oriented with the company.” No one knows exactly what they’re going to be asked ahead of time.
Pandemic mode
This year, DECA adapted to the pandemic by hosting online competitions. While it’s great that the club was able to run, the online format added additional obstacles.
Since participants submitted a recording of their presentation as opposed to being face-to-face with a judge, it was harder for participants to immerse themselves in the scenario. There was also no feedback from judges. The entire experience was very different and “didn’t feel like regionals or provincials.”
Kanzy also pointed out that since the virtual competition isn’t monitored, there’s nothing to stop participants from cheating by using external resources. “Even if you’re a very honest person, you’re [not] guaranteed that others around you [will] be.”
Looking Ahead
Despite the challenges this year, Kanzy is looking forward to continuing with DECA next year. She’s interested in pursuing a written event, which is a comprehensive marketing report written in a month with a partner. Her goal is to compete at the international ICDC competition.
For more information about DECA, go to https://deca.ca/ and stay tuned for next year’s events!
Special thanks to Kanzy for her insight into DECA!
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