By Ethan Hoang, @deca.ethanhoang | Denver South High School, CO
DECA’s community has been essential in helping establish connections within competition and networking. Below are some tips that are sure to help you chase your dream of winning DECA glass this year!
Devin Suto, 2nd Place ICDC
Devin, during his role-plays, looked more to the creative side of the role-play process! Working to create visuals that were appealing and memorable to the judge, such as making a puzzle piece that explained key concepts and how they had worked together. With his wonderful speaking abilities and his incredible ability to create visual representations, he earned glass at ICDC!
Liam Griffin, NC CDC Glass
During Liam’s finance role-play, he created elaborate, detailed statistics and statements that sparked the judges' interest. Keeping your judge entertained and engaged is necessary, as judges go through the same role-play so often that they may expect and see the same answers every time.
“Making sure your judge is interested, engaged, and remembering your role-play is important.”
Liam explains that this could be through all kinds of things, depending on your prompt. For example, if you were a mattress salesman at an event, you could have the judge stand up and actually move around, trying different types of mattresses.
Toby Qin, ICDC Finalist
Toby has explained that during role-plays, you should always maintain a confident attitude, even when you stutter or encounter difficulties. Having an engaging tone elevated the conversation with the judge and, overall, made them more engaged. Working on communication skills and a professional business attitude is a key foundation of mastering your role-play.
