Resources
Note: there have been no significant event changes for 2023-2024.
Events that start competition at the District Conference:
Principles Events
Open only to first year members who are not Seniors
- Principles of Business Management (PBM)
- Principles of Finance (PFN)
- Principles of Hospitality and Tourism (PHT)
- Principles of Marketing (PMK)
Professional Selling & Consulting Events
- Financial Consulting (FCE)
- Hospitality & Tourism Professional Selling (HTPS)
- Professional Selling (PSE)
Individual Series Events
- Accounting Applications (ACT)
- Apparel & Accessories Marketing (AAM)
- Automotive Services Marketing (ASM)
- Business Finance (BFS)
- Business Services Marketing (BSM)
- Entrepreneurship Series (ENT)
- Food Marketing (FMS)
- Hotel and Lodging Management (HLM)
- Human Resources Management (HRM)
- Marketing Communications (MCS)
- Quick Serve Restaurant Management (QSRM)
- Personal Financial Literacy (PFL)
- Restaurant and Food Service Management (RFSM)
- Retail Merchandising (RMS)
- Sports and Entertainment (SEM)
Team Decision Making Events
- Business Law & Ethics (BLTDM)
- Buying and Merchandising (BTDM)
- Entrepreneurship (ETDM)
- Financial Services (FTDM)
- Hospitality Services (HTDM)
- Marketing Management (MTDM)
- Sports & Entertainment Marketing (STDM)
- Travel & Tourism Marketing (TTDM)
Events that start competition at the State Conference:
Business Operations Research Written Events
- Business Services Operations (BOR)
- Buying & Merchandising Operations (BMOR)
- Finance Operations (FOR)
- Hospitality & Tourism Operations (HTOR)
- Sports & Entertainment Marketing Operations (SEOR)
Project Management Events
- Business Solutions Project (PMBS)
- Career Development Project (PMCD)
- Community Awareness Project (PMCA)
- Community Giving Project (PMCG)
- Financial Literacy Project (PMFL)
- Sales Project (PMSP)
Entrepreneurship Written Events
- Business Growth Plan (EGB)
- Franchise Business Plan (EFB)
- Independent Business Plan (EIB)
- Innovation Plan (EIP)
- International Business Plan (IBP)
- Start-Up Business Plan (ESB)
State Events
- Chapter Awards Program (MICAP)
- Ethics Team Event (MIETH) (Seniors only)
- Gold Merit Award Program (MIGMAP)
- Leadership & Teamwork (MILTW) (non-Seniors only)
Integrated Marketing Campaign Events
Note: Most written events do not take the Comprehensive Exam, these do take the Marketing Cluster Exam.
- Integrated Marketing Campaign – Event (IMCE)
- Integrated Marketing Campaign – Product (IMCP)
- Integrated Marketing Campaign – Service (IMCS)
Events that are Direct to the International Conference:
Refer to the event’s guidelines for complete information on the qualifying process.
- School Based Enterprise – Food Operations (SBEF)
- School Based Enterprise – Retail Operations (SBER)
- Stock Market Game (SMG)
- Virtual Business Challenge Accounting (VBCAC)
- Virtual Business Challenge Entrepreneurship (VBCEN)
- Virtual Business Challenge Fashion (VBCFA)
- Virtual Business Challenge Hotel Management (VBCHM)
- Virtual Business Challenge Personal Finance
- Virtual Business Challenge Restaurant (VBCRS)
- Virtual Business Challenge Retail (VBCRT)
- Virtual Business Challenge Sports (VBCSP)
Eligibility
All students must be submitted DECA members before registering for any competition or conference. Membership invoices must be paid by February 15, 2023 to be eligible to compete and attend at the International Conference.
Students may compete in only one competitive event, with the exception of:
- Chapter Awards Program (CAP) – students may also compete in a roleplay event that takes place on Friday at the State Conference.
- Merit Awards Program (MAP) – students may also compete in a roleplay event that takes place on Friday at the State Conference.
- School Based Enterprise (SBE) – students may also compete in an event that takes place on Thursday or Friday afternoon at the State Conference.
- Online Events (see bottom of this page for more information)
Events that have Specific Eligibility Requirements:
- The four Principles Events are open to first-year DECA members only who are Freshman, Sophomores, and Juniors. (The student must not have been on the chapter’s membership roster last year, even if they did not compete).
- Leadership and Teamwork Event (MILTW) is a three person team event, only open to DECA members who are Freshman, Sophomores, and Juniors. This event competes only at the State Conference.
- Ethics Team Event (MIETH) is a two person team event, only open to DECA members who are Seniors. This event competes only at the State Conference.
- Business Growth Plan (EBG) is a written event that starts at the State Conference. The guidelines stipulate that all participants must be documented owners/operators of the business used in the project. A parents’ business does not qualify. Sufficient documentation of ownership must be included in the written project (notarized affidavit of ownership, business licenses, certificates of insurance, tax filings, and local business permits. Insufficient documentation of ownership include items that are less official such as webpages, business cards, and promotional materials.)
Registration and Number Allowed Per Chapter Per Event
All students must be registered for the conference through the Chapter Registration Portal prior to the posted deadline.
Michigan DECA has a policy that limits the number of students each chapter can register in each event, to allow. Please refer to the link to the right for more information.
Will be posted soon
Comprehensive Exam
- Online testing will be utilized for all Michigan DECA District Conferences and State Conference Comprehensive Exams.
- Exam scores will be added to the judged event score at the conference.
- Testing will be administered online during the online testing window by the chapter.
- Only the judged portion of competition will be administered at the Conference.
- All testing must take place at school, in the presence of a Proctor. Testing from home will NOT be allowed. Any virtual students will need to make arrangements to test at the school.
- Cell phones, smartphones, smartwatches, iPads, iPods, AirPods/wireless or wired earbuds, PDAs, programmable calculators, and graphing calculators may not be used or worn during testing.
- No textbooks or notes will be allowed during testing.
- A basic calculator is available for use in the testing platform.
- Michigan students will have 100 minutes to complete 100 questions for the District and State Conference exams. Please note: the testing time for International Conference competition is 90 minutes.
Chapter Advisors will choose their days and times to administer the online Comprehensive Exam during the testing windows of:
November 28 to December 7, 2023 for District Conference testing
Either February 27 to 29, 2024 -OR- March 5-7, 2024 for State Conference testing
Event Changes and Substitutions
Event Changes after Online Testing
For All Team Decision Making (TDM) Events
TDM events require a minimum number of team members (two students); a student is not allowed to compete individually.
Before or At the District Conference:
If one member of a team does not attend, the attending student will be automatically moved into the corresponding individual event:
- Business Law & Ethics (BLTDM) to Human Resources Management Series (HRM)
- Buying and Merchandising (BTDM) to Retail Merchandising Series (RMS)
- Entrepreneurship (ETDM) to Entrepreneurship Series (ENT)
- Financial Services (FTDM) to Business Finance Series (BFS)
- Hospitality Services (HTDM) to Hotel & Lodging Management Series (HLM)
- Marketing Management (MTDM) to Marketing Communications Series (MCS)
- Sports & Entertainment Marketing (STDM) to Sports & Entertainment Series (SEM)
- Travel & Tourism Marketing (TTDM) to Hotel & Lodging Management Series (HLM)
After the District Conference
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 Written Events
One of the team members may be substituted between levels of competition, however, the team size may not increase from the original number registered. For example, if a Finance Operations Research Event was entered with John and Mary as the original participants and qualified at the State Conference to advance to the International Conference, no additional participants may be added. If either Mary or John couldn’t attend the ICDC, then the other could compete alone, or one of them may be substituted, but one of the original members must participate. The team size cannot increase from two to three participants.
Online Competitive Events
DECA offers eight Virtual Business Challenges (Accounting, Entrepreneurship, Fashion, Hotel, Personal Finance, Restaurant, Retailing, Sports) though Knowledge Matters. There is also the Stock Market Game, and several other online Challenges.
Michigan DECA does not offer competition for these online events at the District or State Conferences.
Students who are 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 District or State Conferences unless they are competing in another event.
Students CAN compete in the online events and also compete in any event at the District and State Conferences.
If students qualify for competition at the International Conference in the online event, and also an event at the Michigan State Conference, then a choice will need to be made, as they cannot do both at the International Conference.