By Aditi Gaddam, @deca.aditi | Lightridge High School, VA
DECA competition season is upon us and preparation is the most important way to succeed! While many competitors repeat practice tests and role-plays in hopes of earning high scores, true preparation goes beyond practicing over and over again.
To perform successfully in the DECA competition, practice with a clear purpose, grow and improve from feedback, and create a competitive environment!
1. Practicing with Purpose
To ensure effective preparation, it is important to plan practice with specific purposes in mind. When practicing for competitive events, breaking each part of the presentation or role-play into smaller sections and practicing them one by one can result in a stronger, more confident performance. This can include focusing on specific performance indicators, practicing opening and closing speeches, developing a structured plan for role-plays, identifying weak spots, or simply learning new vocabulary to enhance speech.
Rather than simply repeating the same materials without direction, intentional practice can lead to greater progress. In addition, when put under stress during competition, it can be helpful to have a solid understanding of each component of the event presentation to stay organized and focused. This plan of action helps build foundational skills and also better performance, leading to great success during competition.
2. Growing from Feedback
One of the best ways to improve performance is by learning from feedback. Feedback can come from various sources, such as judges, advisors, family members, or simply a peer with whom you practice presenting. Feedback can provide insight into areas of improvement that could not have been caught first-hand, while also highlighting positives that can continue to be strengthened.
After receiving feedback, it is important to use the comments to learn and better prepare for the future. This can ensure that specific errors do not keep repeating and that there is upward growth. Overall, this experience can help refine communication, content, strategies, and solutions before the real competitive event. Furthermore, feedback from multiple sources can help you notice trends and patterns and see what others are drawn to, making your presentation more appealing.
3. Recreating the Environment
Another key part of effective preparation comes from recreating the competition environment. During competition time, it can be easy to feel stressed out as competitors are under pressure from a timer and faced with unfamiliar circumstances. To avoid stress, it can be advantageous to practice in similar settings, such as with a time limit given for the actual event, in front of an audience, and with new prompts.
When exposed to competition-day-like circumstances, competitors can become more adaptable and comfortable in high-pressure situations. By already having practice with similar settings, the brain can follow the same procedure practiced on actual competition day, allowing a smoother, more thorough delivery of ideas. Practice in similar settings ensures competitors are ready to perform with confidence and tackle nerve-wracking situations.
