By Jacob Bertram, Collegiate DECA Public Relations Officer
On Monday, Oct. 5 through Friday, Oct. 9, the SCTCC Collegiate DECA members took part in the annual Innovation Summit via a virtual format. Each day offered a variety of activities and events. The venue was a bit different than last year’s Mall of America and US Bank Stadium experience, but great networking and learning sessions were offered again this year.
Students had the opportunity to network via Zoom with Collegiate DECA members from across the state. Instead of delivering the speech on a stage, keynote speaker, Ursula Mentjes, founder of Sales Coach Now, delivered an inspiring message on setting goals via YouTube. After the networking and keynote speeches it was time for the competition. Afterall, what’s a DECA conference without a little competition!?
Each chapter divided into groups and presented their solutions to a real business challenge. The challenge this year was to create or choose an existing business, product, service, or that solves the many problems of the current global pandemic. Our team then had to create a solution and present our ideas and forecasted budget to a group of business judges. Our business idea was called “Flying Pro” which would provide drone services to indoor venues to disinfect their stadium seating. Another service for our drone business is to have the drone carry concessions directly to the fan’s seats, limiting their contact with other people. Our SCTCC DECA Team put our minds together and thought that would be a great idea for indoor venues. We then sent in our video recording of our presentation and waited for our results from the business judges. The top 5 teams were announced on Friday and then they moved on to present their idea again to a different set of final judges. SCTCC Collegiate DECA officer team placed in the top 5 out of 26 teams from across the state!
Even though we didn’t score the top prize, we all enjoyed participating and learning from the conference experience. Here is what our members took away from the Collegiate DECA 2020 Innovation Summit:
“I really enjoyed the keynote speaker and having the opportunity to network with business professionals.” -Amy Dvorak.
“This was my first DECA conference and I liked putting a face to a name and meeting everyone behind Collegiate DECA.” -Sam Macho.
“The main speaker Ursula Mentjes was pretty cool, and I liked the points she made in her presentation. She kept things interesting throughout her speech.” J-ake Advem.
“Having the opportunity to compete with students from across the state and to learn from what they had to say was worth it for me.” -Colby Peterson.
Overall, everyone had a great time at the virtual Collegiate DECA 2020 Innovation Summit conference. The DECA Officer Team will be attending the Emerging Leaders Academy in November. At that conference, the Collegiate DECA officers from all over Minnesota receive leadership training. The Career Development Conference is in February and the International CDC will be held in April. We are all looking forward to bringing home the gold at future Collegiate DECA conferences.
DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management in high schools and colleges around the globe. Contact Collegiate DECA Advisor Becky Shand @ rshand@sctcc.edu to become involved today!
