International Career Development Conference

Anaheim, California

April 17-20, 2027

Each year, the DECA International Career Development Conference gives students the opportunity to meet and compete with thousands of other DECA members from around the world who have shown to be the best at their State Career Development Conference, and now have earned the chance to compete at the highest level of DECA competition!

After participating in competitive events during the day, students will have time to socialize with other members from around the world, and meet and network with influential business leaders at their vendor booths.

But wait, there’s more! There will be lots of opportunities for you to develop your occupational and leadership skills as well as meet other fun and energetic DECA members, and have FUN at the same time!

At the closing session of the conference, hundreds of trophies and thousands of dollars in scholarships will be presented to outstanding DECA members who helped make this year’s conference a memorable success.

The DECA International Career Development Conference gives you the opportunity to meet DECA members from around the world, interact with important business representatives, and compete to win scholarships and awards at DECA’s highest level of competition!

Registration Information

The registration fee will include:

DECA Inc. provides a bag, name badge/lanyard, conference lapel pin, and conference program.
Items included in the Michigan registration package will be posted in March 2027.
For chapters arriving on Friday, we will schedule an excursion to The Grove and a beach for Saturday; times to be determined. Attendance is required for all chapters arriving Friday; chapters may not plan any other activity during this time.
The registration fee applies to student members, advisors, chaperones, and guests.
If you purchase theme park tickets on your own, you will not receive a refund for any tickets that are included in the Michigan DECA registration package.

Cancellations

Registration refunds will only be given if the request is submitted on the official State Refund Request Form. A registration cancellation fee will apply, based on the refund schedule, which will be posted in March. The sooner the written request is received, the larger the refund. Housing refunds may not be possible if other roommates are still occupying the hotel room. Any refunds will be processed to the school’s account, and not a specific individual. Please be aware that airline tickets are not refundable.

Eligibility

Only Michigan DECA members who qualified at the State Conference, attending a Leadership Academy, or incoming and outgoing state officers are eligible to attend at the International Career Development Conference. Membership Invoices MUST be PAID IN FULL by February 15 to be eligible to attend the conference.

Competitive Event Cancellation Policy

For all Team Decision Making events, If one member cannot attend the next level of competition, no one may be substituted in his or her place, and the remaining team member CANNOT move into another event. The students qualified as a team, so they must either compete as a team, or cancel as a team – and not advance to the next level of competition.

For All Prepared (written) Events, team members may NOT be substituted between the State and International Conference. Teams are allowed to have members drop out of the competition, with the remaining members allowed to compete at the State or International Conferences.

Hotel Information

All hotel reservations must be made through Michigan DECA. Hotel rewards and/or loyalty points may not be used.

All conference attendees must stay a minimum of 4 nights; Saturday-Tuesday. No early departures are allowed.

Michigan has been assigned to the following hotels:

Student Housing

Student housing is based on four (4) delegates to a room. If delegates from your chapter do not complete a room of four, consider finding roommates from another chapter. Michigan DECA will not be matching attendees to fill hotel rooms. Advisors should contact other advisors if you would like to house your students with another school to fill rooms.

DECA allocates Michigan a set number of rooms at our assigned hotels. Because of this, we cannot guarantee that we can accommodate all requests for single, double, and triple rooms. There is a chance that we may have to change a double bedded room type requested for 2-3 students to a room with one king bed.

Advisor/Adult Housing

Advisors will be assigned to double rooms. Please indicate the name and school of the individual you wish to share a room with. Michigan DECA will not be matching attendees to fill hotel rooms. Advisors should contact other advisors if you would like to fill rooms. Michigan DECA will request two beds for advisors sharing a room, but there is no guarantee that we will receive them from National DECA and the hotel. Advisors interested in a single room should indicate this on the registration form. Single rooms will be assigned according to space availability.

Incidental Charges

Room service, phone calls, movies, etc., should not be charged to any room. Phone calls from the guest rooms should be avoided; calls are less expensive from personal cell phones.

Adult Roles at the Conference

As per the Advisor Code of Ethics, the following ratio applies: 1 adult per every 5 students registered.

All advisors are required to assist with a competitive event. Additionally, the attending adults must assist with supervision of the delegates by conducting room checks at and after curfew.

Chaperone Assistance

All Chaperones (including parents) are required to assist with the management of the conference. Chaperones may request any of the above activities or request to serve as a competitive event judge.

If any businessperson(s), parents, or family members will be traveling to the conference with your chapter, they will be required to assist with competition.

Parents and Family Members

Family Members of Advisors are able to stay with your chapter in your assigned hotel and attend the conference. They are then considered part of your delegation, so they must also register for the conference and pay the registration fee. They will need to be included in the registration portal as the rest of the chapter and adhere to the same deadlines, and the Code of Conduct for students and adults. All fees must be paid to the chapter, who in turn pays Michigan DECA.

Due to limited hotel rooms, parents are not able to stay at the conference hotel unless they are registered as chaperones.

International Conference Academies

Because of the demand for delegates to attend DECA’s International Conference Academies, Michigan DECA has developed an application process for selecting delegates to represent Michigan DECA at the Academies. The application deadline is February 1st. Individuals selected to represent Michigan DECA will be announced at the State Conference. Each school may only submit two applications per academy.

Code of Conduct Form

Each delegate, both student and adult, must sign the Code of Conduct Form. This form is to be brought to the International Conference – do not send them to the Michigan DECA office. Each advisor must sign a release stating that they have a completed form for each delegate and will bring the forms to the conference. It is recommended that these forms be notarized for out-of-state travel.

Required Activities

As stated in the delegate code of conduct, all students and advisors are required to attend conference sessions. Chapters that do not attend or leave the opening session early will risk being placed on probation and not being allowed to attend the next year’s International Conference.

All Michigan Delegates (students and advisors) are required to attend the Opening and Closing Sessions. Our delegation will be assigned seats for the Opening and Closing Session. Seating charts will be available when you receive your registration materials.

An advisor meeting might be held during the conference. All chapter advisors will be required to attend the meeting.

Competition Information

Each competitor must bring their own calculator for international competition. Cell phones, smartphones, smartwatches, iPads, iPods, PDAs, programmable calculators, and graphing calculators cannot be used during competition. This includes during prep-time, waiting for judges, and during competition in role-play events.

All international competitive events (does not apply to our state Chapter Awards Program or Merit Awards Program events) with a prepared (written) entry component will required to be submitted online prior to the DECA International Career Development Conference via through the online competition submission portal. The prepared entry will be evaluated prior to ICDC.

Weather

You can expect sunny days with temperatures in the 70’s and nights in the 50’s during our stay in Anaheim.

Transportation Information

Michigan has reserved flights with Cadillac Travel to coordinate our travel needs for the conference.

If you wish to rent a car, please note that the hotel and the convention center have daily parking fees.

Dress Code

DECA Blazers will be required for competition and anyone going on the stage (scholarship recipients, MDA award recipients, competition winners, etc.) at the International Conference. Please plan on purchasing a blazer from ShopDECA if you need one. Usually, blazer pre-orders are due by April 1st; after that date, no pre-orders will be taken, and blazers must be purchased at the conference. If you do need to purchase a blazer at the conference, plan on going to the ShopDECA booth when you arrive at the conference to ensure they have your size in stock.

Proper business attire is required at all sessions. DECA’s Dress Code can be found on page 15 in the Michigan DECA Guide, in the (national) DECA Guide or online at http://deca.org

Tentative Michigan Agenda

All conference attendees must stay a minimum of 4 nights starting on Saturday. No early departures are allowed.

Friday, April 17, 2027

Chapters Arrive

7:00 – 8:30 p.m. – Advisor Registration Materials Pickup at the Majestic Garden Hotel for chapters that arrive on Friday

9:00 p.m. – State Meeting at the Majestic Garden Hotel for chapters that arrive on Friday

11:00 p.m. – Michigan Curfew at Your Assigned Hotel

Saturday, April 18, 2027

7:30 – 9:30 a.m. – Load busses for Los Angeles Excursion to the Farmers Market and Beach. This excursion is mandatory for chapters that arrive on Friday; chapters may not plan any other activities during this time. Chapters will be assigned an excursion time based on their arrival in California.

9:00-10:30 a.m. and 3:00-5:00 p.m – Advisor Registration Materials Pickup at the Majestic Garden Hotel for chapters that arrive on Saturday

9:30 p.m. – Michigan’s assigned Opening Session at the Convention Center

11:00 p.m. – Michigan Curfew at Your Assigned Hotel

Sunday, April 19, 2027

Leadership Academies at the Convention Center

International Competitive Events at the Convention Center

9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. – State Competitive Events (CAP and MAP) at the Holiday Inn Suites

10:30 p.m. – State Recognition Session (CAP and MAP) at the Holiday Inn Suites

11:30 p.m. – Michigan Curfew at Your Assigned Hotel

Monday, April 20, 2027

Career and Sales Exhibits at the Convention Center

Leadership Academies at the Convention Center

International Competitive Events at the Convention Center

Midnight – Michigan Curfew at Your Assigned Hotel

Tuesday, April 21, 2027

8:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. – Second General Session (Preliminary Award Session) at the Convention Center

9:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. – Competitive Event Finals at the Convention Center

6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. – Scholarship Reception for invited recipients at the Convention Center

8:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. – Grand Awards Session at the Convention Center

12:30 p.m. – Michigan Curfew at Your Assigned Hotel

Wednesday, April 22, 2027

Chapters Return Home

Planning ahead? Future dates:

April 22-26, 2028 – Orlando, Florida
April 21-25, 2029 – San Francisco, California
April 27-May 1, 2030- Anaheim, California
April 26-30, 2031 – Orlando, Florida