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

Meet the Author: Ling Zeng

Hey! My name is Ling. I’m currently a member of Rancho Bernardo DECA and part of the Social Media Intern Team at WRLC DECA 2011. I’m so excited to get to interact with everyone and expand my network!