State Career Development Conference

Opening Session – Thursday, March 9, 2023 at 9:00 PM EST

General Session – Friday, March 10, 2023 at 9:00 PM EST

Grand Award Session – Saturday March 11, 2023 at 9:30 AM EST

The 2023 State Career Development Conference (SCDC) will be held in downtown Detroit on March 9-11, 2023, and is expected to host over 4,200 Michigan DECA members and advisors. This conference promises to be the most exhilarating Michigan DECA conference of the year because of the competitive edge, location, entertainment, and activities offered. Members are focused on improving their leadership and professional skills, in hopes of making their way to the finalist stage.  In addition, members will elect the new Michigan DECA Executive Council who will lead us into another exciting DECA year.

After participating in competitive events during the day, you may find yourself along the Detroit River, or posing in front of the infamous Joe Louis monument. You will have the constant opportunity to meet DECA members from around the state, interact with important business representatives, and last but not least, compete for a chance to represent Michigan DECA at the International Career Development Conference in April!

 

Conference Activities

 

State Conference COVID Precautions:

  • All conference participants must complete a fully signed COVID-19 Acknowledgement and Liability Waiver.  The DECA Advisor will turn in their chapter’s forms when they pickup their registration materials at the conference.
  • Masks are optional.. If face coverings are worn during competition, they cannot display any words or logos that would indicate where the competitor is from. 
  • No spectators or guests will be allowed during the opening, awards sessions, and other conference activities.   The Opening and Awards Sessions will be presented live and live-streamed for those that do not attend.
  • Some judges may not feel comfortable with greeting competitors with a handshake.  If so, a verbal greeting will be acceptable.
  • Additional precautions may be announced as we get closer to the conference.

 

Registration

The conference registration fee will cover two meal vouchers for the Huntington Place food court (can be used anytime during the weekend), registration materials, entertainment on Friday evening (to be announced) and conference administrative expenses.

Only students that are competing at the State Conference may attend the conference.

 

 

Refunds
Refunds will be given only if Michigan DECA receives the Refund Request Form to receive your chapter’s refund.

  • If notified before February 8: Full Refund
  • If notified before February 17: 50% Refund
  • If notified before March 2: 25% Refund
  • If notified after March 2: No Refund

 

Dress During the Conference
Business attire is required for all scheduled sessions and activities.  Delegates’ clothing must be neat and in good repair to compete, attend the sessions, or be allowed on stage.  

During free time, shirts must have no bare shoulders, arms, or midriff.  Skirts and shorts must be at least fingertip length.  No cargo pants, jeans (denim material), T-shirts, sweatshirts, leggings, flip-flop sandals, or athletic shoes of any form will be allowed during the competition or at sessions!  Delegates wearing any of these items will be sent to change, before being allowed to compete or attend any conference sessions.  Please review the Michigan DECA Dress Code.

Masks are optional.. If face coverings are worn during competition, they cannot display any words or logos that would indicate where the competitor is from. 

 

Schedule
Conference registration will start at 11:00am on Thursday. The first student activity will start at 2:00 p.m. Please be aware and prepared if your event orientation is early, you may not be able to check into your hotel room to change until after 3:00pm.

  • Opening Session – There will be one Opening Session on Thursday evening.
  • Friday General Session – A special session will be held at Huntington Place from 9:00 to 10:30 p.m. It will include the following: Alumni Division recognition, Collegiate Division information, the top 10 scores in the Economics and Marketing Math tests, Announcement of the International Conference Academies participants and a dynamic keynote speaker.
  • Saturday Award Session – A list will be included in the chapter’s registration packet of the order that the events will be awarded, and approximate times.

 

State Conference T-Shirts
Michigan Alumni DECA is selling State Conference T-shirts again this year.  The shirts will be designed around the conference theme, and will be 100% cotton T-shirts.  T-shirts are to be pre-ordered with the conference registration via the Conference Registration Portal. If we have any extra shirts available to sell, they will be sold at the Alumni booth on Friday.  Please consider to pre-order your shirts when you register for the conference, as the limited number we have to sell are usually sold out early! This fund raiser is designed help Alumni Division so they can sponsor a competitive event to provide more travel scholarships for qualifiers to attend the International Career Development Conference. 

 

 

Voting Delegates

  • The role of a voting delegate is an important one. Voting delegates are required to attend the candidate speeches and are encouraged to meet each candidate prior to the election session. 
  • All Voting Delegates must be attending the conference as a competitor, and must be registered in advance in the conference registration portal.
  • Voting will take place on Thursday, immediately following the opening session. Please ensure that your chapter’s voting delegates vote during the time allotted.

 

Number of Voting Delegates per Chapter Membership

According to the Constitution, each chapter is allowed one voting delegate per 40 members or a major fraction thereof. See the table below for the number of voting delegates based on chapter size. The appropriate number of voting delegate ribbons will be included in your chapter’s registration materials. The advisor will distribute the ribbons to the voting delegates for their chapter. Voting Delegates must wear their ribbon to vote.  Replacement ribbons will not be provided once a chapter has picked up their registration materials at the conference.

  • 1 voting delegate for chapters that have 1 to 61 members
  • 2 voting delegates for chapters that have 62 to 101 members
  • 3 voting delegates for chapters that have 102 to 141 members
  • 4 voting delegates for chapters that have 142 to 181 members
  • 5 voting delegates for chapters that have 182 to 221 members
  • 6 voting delegates for chapters that have 222 to 261 members
  • 7 voting delegates for chapters that have 262 to 301 members
  • 8 voting delegates for chapters that have 302 to 341 members
 

Competition Information

 

Competitor Eligibility

  • Only students that are competing at the State Conference may attend the conference. 
  • Competitors in the Individual Series events, Team Decision Making events, Principles events, Financial Consulting event, Hospitality & Tourism Professional Selling event, and Professional Selling Event will qualify at the District Conference level to compete at the State Conference.
  • Stock Market Game and the Virtual Business Challenge Event participants will not compete at the State Conference. Those named as qualifiers in these events will proceed directly to the International Career Development Conference, through the process established by DECA Inc. These students will not attend the State Conference unless they are competing in another event.
  • Delegates may not enter more than one event. The only exceptions are the Gold Merit Award Program, Chapter Awards Program, and School Based Enterprise if competition days and times do not conflict.
  • The Individual Series Events, Principles Events, Team Decision Making Events, Selling Events, School Based Enterprise, Leadership and Teamwork, and the Ethics Team Event will compete Friday. 
  • All Written Events will compete on Thursday from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
  • Individual Series Events, Principles Events, Team Decision Making Events will have two (2) judged activities.

 

Substitution Policy
Members of the Michigan DECA Advisor’s Council have volunteered to double check each State Conference registration to be sure that chapters are following the Cancellation and Substitution policy, and that the correct qualifiers from the District Conferences are advancing on to the State Conference. You should fully explain to students that they will not be able to compete if one member of the team is unable for any reason to attend the next level of competition.

 

 

Competition Items
Each participant is expected to have a pen or pencil and a calculator for competition.  Other items (workbooks, notebooks, handouts, etc.) are not allowed. Cell phones, smartphones, smartwatches, iPads, iPods, AirPods/wireless or wired earbuds, PDAs, programmable calculators, and graphing calculators may not be used or worn during competition, which includes during online testing, prep-time, waiting for judges, and during competition in role-play events. 

 

 

Written Events
All Written Events will compete on Thursday from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.  Written Event participants will have their orientation at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday.  There will be one interview with one or two judges.   All written event participants are required to take either the math or economics evaluation. 

All written events (except the Chapter Awards Program) will need to be uploaded to the Chapter Registration Portal by February 15, 2023.  Complete instructions on how to upload projects have been posted on the Written Event webpage and the Forms page.   

Students will not be able to use the hotel or convention center internet for their event presentations, because that would involve asking someone else to help them with their equipment. (Refer to the event’s presentation guidelines.) You may use an internet aircard or personal hotspot with your own computer if you have one. But we caution that it could be difficult to receive and maintain a connection due to so many people using cell phones while at the conference. If you lose connection, you will not be given additional time. Our suggestion is to save anything that you might want to reference directly onto the computer.

 

 

Applied Certification Exams
Delegates are required to take one of the following exams on Friday.  (Students have the option to take all if desired.)  A certificate will be awarded to those who achieve minimum proficiency on each exam.  The top ten participants on each test will receive special recognition.

  • Applied Economics Certification Exam
  • Applied Marketing Mathematics Certification Exam
  • Ethics Certification Exam

 

Certificates of Excellence
Michigan DECA will issue Certificates of Excellence to all competitors that receive an average score above 70% during competition. The certificates will be mailed to chapter advisers several weeks after the conference.Face

 

Hotel Information

All conference attendees must stay at one of our official hotels.  Hotel reservations must be made through the chapter advisor.  No rewards points or  vouchers may be used.

Hotels
  • Detroit Marriott, 100 Renaissance Center Drive, Detroit, MI 48243 313-568-8000
  • Courtyard Detroit Downtown, 333 East Jefferson Avenue, Detroit, MI 48226 313-222-7700
  • Fort Pontchartrain, 2 Washington Blvd., Detroit, MI 48226 313-965-0200
  • Westin Book Cadillac Detroit, 1114 Washington Blvd., Detroit, MI 48226 313-442-1600
  • Hotel Indigo, 1020 Washington Blvd., Detroit, MI 48226 313-887-7000
  • DoubleTree Suites by Hilton, 525 W. Lafayette Blvd., Detroit, MI 48226 313-963-5600
  • Cambria Hotel, 600 W Lafayette Blvd, Detroit, MI 48226, 313-733-0300

Parents and family members are welcome to stay with Michigan DECA in our hotels, but they are considered part of the Michigan delegation, so they must also register for the conference and pay the registration fee. They will need to be included on the same registration form as the chapter, and adhere to the same deadlines and Code of Conduct for students and adults, even if they are paying their portion on their own. All fees should be paid to the chapter, who in turn pays Michigan DECA and the assigned hotel. Our group booking procedures for hotels do not allow for the use of reward points or vouchers towards the payment.(form

 

Supervision and Security

All delegates (adult and student) must wear their name badges and wrist bands at all times.  No one will be admitted to conference activities without a name badge and wrist band.  If a delegate loses their wrist band or name badge, a replacement may be obtained in the conference headquarters for $5.00 each.  Delegates will be required to show identification for a replacement name badge or must have their Advisor with them.

 

Advisors

To have a successful conference, adults will need to assist with the conference. Advisors will be pre-assigned by members of the Advisor’s Council to work a competitive event. All individuals are required to assist during their assigned time. Because this assistance is important, advisors who do not assist during their entire assigned time, will have letters stressing the importance of their assistance and their absence sent to their school principal. 

 

Advisor Reception & Recognition
The Michigan Marketing Educators (MME) and Michigan DECA will host a reception and recognition session for all advisors.

 

Chaperones
All chaperones attending the conference will also be responsible to assist with conference management and supervision. All chaperones are required to pay the conference registration fee.

 

Supervision
At least one (1) adult must attend and pay the registration fee for every ten (10) student delegates attending. Advisors/chaperones must attend and be seated with their students during all sessions to assure proper dress and conduct (behavior) during the sessions.

 

Curfew
All students must be in their own room at curfew. No chapter activities (meetings, practice sessions, etc.) may be conducted after curfew, even if it takes place in their Advisor’s room. No food may be delivered to any room after curfew.

 

Code of Conduct & COVID Liability and Waiver Forms
Each delegate, student and adult, must sign the Code of Conduct Form. This form must be hand-carried to the conference and kept by the Chapter Advisor. Do not send them to the Michigan DECA office.

Each delegate, student and adult, must sign the COVID Liability and Waiver Form.  A completed and fully signed form is required for all attendees, and must be turned in to conference headquarters upon arrival at the conference. 

No alcoholic beverages or drugs may be possessed by any delegate at the conference. This is a school function. Delegates may not enter the lounges at the hotels. Students suspected of being under the influence of alcohol will be required to take a breath alcohol test as specified by state law. A uniformed police officer will be on site during the evening hours of the conference.

 

Private Autos at the Conference
The use of private automobiles will not be permitted after arrival at the conference. Car doors shall be locked upon arrival, and the keys turned over to the chapter advisor.

 

 

Save the Date!  Next Year’s Conference

March 14-16, 2024 – State Career Development Conference – Detroit, MI