Sadly DECA’s WRLC 2011 is now behind us, but we must not forget we came to this conference for fun, but also to learn skills in fields like marketing, sports, and in my case leadership! On Saturday I was very fortunate to attend the PM DECA U sessions with a Major in Leadership. The first of three sessions was led by Bill Cordes.  So in case you weren’t able to attend the leadership DECA U major, needed a refresher on what we talked about, or weren’t able to attend WRLC 2011 at all. You will find the great tips he gave us here and also the Video of the attendees doing the Leadership Coaster!

Bill Cordes was the speaker at the beginning of WRLC and being able to have him speak directly to us in a semi small group was an amazing experience. In Bill’s workshop he really focused on Leadership and how we as leaders have to think and act in certain situations. In the session Mr. Cordes explained that trying to do something really just means you’re not going to do it. “To try is not to do” He encouraged us as leaders to not try but act. Bill brought up the expression “If at first you succeed, try try again.” But that statement is completely untrue. “If you have to try and try again, you’re doing something wrong!” “If at first you don’t succeed, STOP! ADJUST! And go for it again. Improvement is meant for everyone, nobody is perfect especially not leaders. So instead of trying the same thing over and over again hoping that it works. STOP! What you’re doing and ADJUST! How you’re doing it. Evaluate your situation and realize that when you change your strategy towards something that isn’t working, the outcome will come out different and maybe better than you would have ever expected.

The next strategy is the 10-80-10 rule. Basically this means that when you are in a leadership role and you speak in front of a crowd 10% of the people are not going to agree with you from the start,10% are already going to know you and agree with everything you say, and 80% are undecided on whether they agree with you or not. Leaders are supposed to focus on the 80 because you can’t change the mind of that 10% and if you try you will be wasting your time, while also losing the 80% who are undecided about you. So focus on the 80 not the ones who love you already or the ones who will never agree with what your ideas. This strategy I felt was completely true because there are people in this world who aren’t going to like you and people who already do. Why not try to sway the people who don’t know yet 90% is way better than 10%.

The last thing Bill went over is what I call the Leadership Coaster which is basically skills you need to be a good leader but when the group preformed them it look as if we were on a roller coaster! It goes like this; Lean to the Left, Lean to the right, Stand up sit down! FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT! At first we just thought we were doing a cool cheer type thing about leadership which was true but there was defiantly a deeper meaning behind it. Lean to the Right, Lean to the left, is the section that represents being flexible and open minded as a leader. This part of the cheer shows that the leader can hear all points of a situation without judging or cutting off other ideas. STAND UP means in addition to be open minded you as a leader can stand up for what you believe in. SIT DOWN represented a leaders ability to relax in some situations when your help in necessarily needed. FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT lastly stood for leaders always fighting the good fight! Check out the video of the group doing the leadership coaster below.

Leadership Coaster

I hope everyone had an amazing time at WRLC. And I hope this blog will give you at least three new strategies to implement into your leadership roles present and future, not just DECA but in all aspects of life. These conferences like Claire Coker said are a tool for you to use, whether you do is your choice.

If you want to learn more about Bill Cordes or Have him attend YOUR school!

Go to His Website – billcordes.com

or

Follow Him on Twitter – @billcordes

The Social Media Team would like to give a final thank you to our mentor, Jonathan F. Block, for supporting us throughout this venture and the TRI Leadership Team for putting on a great conference. Also, a shout-out to California DECA for hosting. Thank you everyone for your support! The Social Media Team hopes to see you again soon!

Thank You.

Ross Snyder

@rosssnyder

Thank You Video Link - http://youtu.be/DqmA-uCJ4Fo

After competition today, which hopefully many of you participated in, our judges offered an exclusive inside look into what exactly is going on in their minds during roleplays and presentations.

You want to snag that awesome roleplay and WOW your judge? You want to make your impression STICK in their mind? (word of caution: don’t chew gum. Judges hate that) You want to get that trophy or medal or ribbon? Well, it all starts with CONFIDENCE. You gotta walk in there, look your judge in the eye, introduce yourself and your role, give a firm handshake, and be ENTHUSIASTIC. If you aren’t excited about your roleplay, how do you expect the judge to be?

First impressions are key components of your roleplay and can really make or break your place in the judge’s mind (or paper). “You have about 3 seconds to make an impression.” So that’s it. You have 3 seconds to dig your own little niche in your judges mind and make sure that they remember you. Remember: you only have to see the judge once, but they have to see pretty much the same presentation way too many times.

Another thing: Get ORGANIZED. Walk in there knowing the structure of your presentation. And if you get nervous, just remember- the judges don’t know how your roleplay was suppose to go, so if you mess up or skip over something, don’t sweat it- just continue on.

“Think outside the box” If you really want to WOW your judge like no other, come up with a solution, an idea, a concept, that your judges have never thought of before. These guys are business professionals; chances are, they have already thought of a multitude of solutions to the problems at hand that you only addressed a handful of. So if you think of something totally out of their thought process, that will no doubt make a lasting impression in their mind.

So put it all together: confidence, organization, creativity = an awesome unforgetablle roleplay.

“The greatest marketing job you can ever do is marketing YOU.”

Cheers, and good luck to you all!

-Ling

Some of you have heard him speak, and some of you have seen him do a headstand, but one common topic that involves Jonathan Block is the fabric around his neck.

He chooses to forgoe a neck tie and is always seen in a bow-tie. A lot of you have commented on it, but how many of you have asked where it starts from?

Today, an anwer was revealed. He told me an answer I didn’t expect. It started from convenience. Bow-ties are easier to pack in a suitcase. Toss them in the suitcase, and you’re good. Ties must be rolled to prevent wrinkles.

Convenience is your answer.

Although my original intention was to lock myself in the Social Media Team’s Command Suite and work all night because my chapter had to leave for Seaport Village without me, that plan changed when my teammate Ross Snyder encouraged me to come to Seaport Village with his chapter. He told me not too work too hard and to have some fun, because this IS a DECA conference after all. We work hard and play hard!

I hopped on the bus with Pinnacle High School DECA from Arizona. I had no idea who they were, excluding Ross, so I can’t deny that I felt a bit of out place. However, that exclusion barrier was broken when their advisor, Mrs. Shea, introduced me to her students as the “friend from Nevada.” I was truly touched that she 1) introduced me,  2) introduced me as a friend, and above all 3) all of Pinnacle DECA waved hi and gave me a warm welcome.

A lot of interesting things happened on the bus: the Pinnacle DECA boys sang “My Girl”, Ross and I kept tweeting like maniacs, and we passed the carrier President Obama was on!

The restaurant we ate at was a place called Buster’s Beach House. I ordered chicken fingers and stared at Ross’s fries until I got the nerve to tweet “Staring at @RossSnyder’s fries…” After we were done, the waiter–who has worked at Buster’s Beach House for about 17 years–said: “I have never had a group of more polite, well-behaved teenagers at this restaurant.”

Go DECA.

Enough said.

I eventually found my the rest of my chapter, but once that happened, a series of unfortunate events occurred. It started raining, the trolley we were waiting for took a good 40 minutes to arrive, and the transfer trolley we got on afterward stood still for another 40 minutes.

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, my chapter actually recruited a random man on the trolley to join DECA! Marketing skills FTW? He told us he was 25, washes cars for a living, and wants to turn his life around.

We told him DECA can do that for him.

Although there were some negative aspects of my WRLC Side Adventures, it was on overall memorable experience.