From starting your chapter to preparing for your next officer team, the Collegiate DECA Chapter Leadership Guide is a resource to help support your chapter throughout the whole year. The guide covers everything from recruitment and leadership to meetings, fundraising, conferences, and even year-round planning.
Starting With the Basics
Building a strong chapter starts with a strong foundation. The Starting a Chapter section walks you through the process of researching Collegiate DECA, finding interested students, gaining your university's support, developing a constitution, setting chapter goals, and creating a positive chapter environment.
Building Your Membership
Recruitment is only the beginning. The Member Recruitment and Member Retention sections provide ideas for attracting new members and creating a chapter where they want to stay. This section of the guide walks you through how to promote Collegiate DECA through social media, host information sessions and connect with other student organizations, create mentorship and leadership opportunities, and offer professional development and engaging chapter events.
Strengthen Your Officer Team
The Chapter Leadership section outlines common officer positions and responsibilities, including the President and Vice Presidents of Career Development, Finance, Hospitality, Marketing, and Leadership. Use these responsibilities as a starting point for dividing tasks and creating an effective officer team. Your team can also use this section to create a Program of Leadership with SMART goals, identify team strengths and weaknesses, and develop future leaders through officer shadowing and leadership positions.
Host Impactful Meetings
Chapter meetings are an opportunity to create experiences members want to attend. The guide encourages chapters to think beyond traditional meetings and competition preparation. Some examples include hosting career panels, mock competitions, or a professional development workshop.
Preparing for the DECA Experience
The Educational Conferences section provides tips for members for both competition and networking. This section of the guide for memebers when reviewing competitive event guidelines, hosting preparation workshops and mock competitions, and helping members practice professional communication before attending a conference.
Use the Guide Throughout the Year
Use the Month-by-Month Calendar as a starting point for your officer team each month. Use it as a starting point for your chapter's planning and Program of Leadership.
- September: Focus on recruitment and introducing members to Collegiate DECA.
- October: Fundraise, promote events, and begin Leadership Passport planning.
- November: Celebrate DECA Month and participate in Collegiate DECA challenges.
- January: Re-engage members and begin competition preparation.
- February–March: Focus on ICDC registration, Leadership Passport completion and competition practice.
- April: Celebrate your year, transition your officers, and begin planning for the next leadership team.
The guide also includes resources for fundraising, communications, social media and summer planning, giving officers additional tools to prepare for and navigate the year. Whether you need ideas for your next meeting, setting officer goals, strategies for engaging members, or a reminder of what comes next, the guide gives your team a good place to start.
If you're interested in more ideas using the Chapter Leadership Guide, check out my other article.
