Archive for General Information

GET LEADERSHIP LONG AFTER WRLC!

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

 

Interview With “This Is A Clue”

Here is the final interview from 2011 WRLC Social Media Intern Team. It is with the guys from “This Is A Clue.” On behalf of the entire team, thank you for all the support throughout our internship!

“This Is A Clue” Interview – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfSQ_eWbCOc

A Final Thank You

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

State Officer Interviews @ Leads Training

Victoria Caña and Brittany Lucero interviewing state officers at their “Leads” conference training!

Video Link – http://youtu.be/oaX0Eh257mw

Backstage Peek!

Social Media Interns, Victoria Caña and Brittany Lucero, give you a behind the scenes look of the WRLC 2011 staging during the preparations for the closing session! Get DECA!

YouTube Link – http://youtu.be/4ke_1DVs-Ek

Get FEEDBACK: How to do an AWESOME roleplay

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

DECA University – Entrepreneurship Majors

David Gass ran WRLC 2011′s Entrepreneurship workshop.

Before I dive into the workshop, I must provide a brief biography of the workshop’s teacher, David Gass.

-He used to be a DECA officer on the State and National level. 
-He started his first business at 15 years old selling fruit on the side of the road.  
-He’s owns 8 businesses, whether he owns and operates them or owns a portion through investment.
-One of his businesses involves buying and selling websites.

The program for his session was really interactive but he did have one rule, raise your hand before you speak. 
A major bonus was that there were scholarship opportunities for winners.

Key info from the workshop:

-The tool to conquer fear = confidence. 
-The fuel for confidence = ACTION.

-There is net worth and there is self worth.
-Net worth = Salary
-Self worth = True value and potential. It’s up to you and it can always change.
-Your net worth will stop growing based upon your self worth. David Gass inspired his students to GetDECA and set their self worth high!

-Trust is key, David Gass once hired someone to so accounting who didn’t know much on accounting due to the fact that he trusted him. He had previously been stolen from by other accountants.

-If you find there’s a market missing for something with potential demand, think about creating the market.
-blacksocks.com sold black socks and nothing else for 3 years and had about $3.5 million in sales. Recognize demand, succeed. 

-If you want to think and speak with more power?
“Lose the words “think” “maybe” and “try” ” – David Gass 

-If you want to understand the power of words, visit http://t.co/HET4MjdV

Jonathan Block and the Bow-tie

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.

WRLC Side Adventures

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.

 

Back tour – The in’s and out’s of the T&C Resort

 

While you were wrapping up your last panel event, half of your social media team was given a back tour about the in’s and out’s of the Town and Country Resort. Patti Bareno, the resort’s Senior Conference Services Manager, dove into the details of what goes behind signing up the conference and business from the hotel’s end.

 

The most important thing I learned on the tour was that even though the resort could have accommodated more guests this weekend, Town and Country Resort finds a balance of catching revenue while balancing a win win situation for the resort and it’s clients.

DISCLAIMER: This blog is an edited version of the notes that I took on my iPad while walking and listening to Patti. The order is random, but the information is interesting.

Look out for the secret fact toward the end. A/C issues…

 

Conferences start in the sales department. Conferences are typically booked years in advanced. A reason for this is that both ends of the deal have to negotiate terms. Some of these things are amenities and accommodations.

 

After the sales department does their bit, Patti Bareno( then takes over to ask the details about the people coming.

Some things she needs to know are:

Who should she pay attention to? Who’s in charge? Who’s important? Ex. Speakers, Directors, VIPs, etc.

 

Here is a list of details I learned that were interesting but I didn’t have much to say about:

  • A master account is arranged and pays for breakfast, security, etc.
  • A schedule of events is a day by day program and how it’s set up.
  • The ballroom is set up days in advanced due to audio/visual technologies.
  • WRLC received upgraded audio due to an event that used the equipment on Wednesday and it was cheaper for the hotel to upgrade WRLC rather than paying a crew to tear the equipment down and set up again.
  • The crew sets up chairs in a manner that allows the crew to split the ballroom by simply moving the floating walls.
  • All the linens for the hotel are stored in one HUGE linen closet. No joke, it’s huge.

Key facts about the kitchens at the hotel:

  • The banquet kitchen is used to accommodate the ballroom whether the amount of people ranges from 40 to 4000.
  • There are about four sub kitchens.
  • Recently, the banquet kitchen served a conference that required breakfast, lunch, and dinner for around 4000 people recently.
  • The hotel has a bakery for cakes, desert, pastries and etc.
  • There is a special kitchen for cold food production.
  • In the cold kitchen, chefs set up baskets that re meant to be delivered to VIP’s.
  • We were able to see the kitchen for the hotel’s upscale Trellises cafe. It was grand.
  • All 5 restaurants have their own kitchen.

On the tour, I was able to see the front desk, which I wouldn’t have seen because DECA members did not individually check in. I wish I would’ve checked in here as an individual because the hotel drives their gusts along with all luggage to their room in their motorized carts.

 

The hotel is completely family owned and is now on it’s third generation. This means the first owner was the current owner’s grandfather. As opposed to corporate or franchised hotels, Town and Country Resort can take extra special care of it’s conference guests. For example, they can comp many VIPs with free parking passes and other accomodations.

 

LOOK OUT! There are Info boards located throughout the Resort that have a map, your location, and a program of events posted daily.
COOL FACT: DECA was the main guest among the guests.

On the map, the brown buildings are guest rooms and the yellow buildings are conference spaces.

The resort has around 1000 conference spaces. To put that into perspective, we only took half the rooms.

 

LET’S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS!

Everything with bookings for conferences are fair and negotiable.

An example is the resort allows guests 15% down slippage with rooms.
That means, if a guest books for 100 rooms and only needs 85 on the day, the resort pardons the shortage and only charges 85 rooms. However, if the gust booked 100 and only fills 70 rooms, they still pay for 85.

 

A look in personal hospitality:

Patti keeps track of favors others do for her.

DECA agreed to set up a day late so the resort could book an event that generated high revenue for the resort.

She’s happy to accommodate those who accommodate her.

 

More quick facts about the hotel:

  • Town and Country Resort was the first convention center/hotel In California.
  • Employees eat in their own dining room for $1!
  • From the hearing impaired, the visually impaired, to the physically handicapped; the resort accommodates anyone needing a little bit more
  • The resort has the ability to receive freight from it’s 2 loading docks.
  • GES decorated our exhibit.
  • The next convention is for the Dairy Farmers of America.
  • The marine core ball had a dance floor, those men love to dance.

We got a sneak peak into the men and women of the resort fix major problems. John, the Chief Engineer, let us see his workspace and told us about his work.

“Anything breaks, we can fix it.” -John

SECRET FACT!!!
The ac unit in the ballroom was broken today . The ac tech ordered the replacement part and fixed it between 12:15 and 2:30 while we went to lunch.