Kansas State University

Judges needed for DECA State Conference

Submitted by Megan Ronnebaum

The College of Business Administration will host the high school DECA State Conference on campus March 3-5. Hundreds of high school students participate in competitions throughout the day on Monday, March 4.

Judges from the K-State community are needed to help provide feedback and scoring of events. Judges must be must be at least two years out of high school. 

Please find more information below on the expectations as a judge and contact mdr2011@k-state.edu or lmgauby@-state.edu if you have any questions before filling out the judge interest form. 

DECA is an organization preparing emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, management, finance, hospitality and more. With your help, we can better support and prepare our students to be college and career ready.

Students can participate in a range of events, including role plays, case studies, presentations and testing. Some students will present individually and some will present in teams. DECA students can be of any high school age. Students will deliver a presentation to you, and you will use a prepared rubric/evaluation sheet to rate their knowledge and performance.

All judges must bring and be able to use a personal device — laptop or tablet — to score and submit final evaluations for student events.

Key points:

• Students will be expected to dress professional as part of our guidelines. Judges are encouraged to wear business professional or business casual attire.
• Judging should take place between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Please plan for traffic and parking upon arrival.
• Judges are expected to adhere to time limits, as we have a packed schedule.
• Judges will be expected to provide written feedback for all participants.
• Be sure to score fairly, and along the way. Scores can be edited before final submission, but we expect that participants be evaluated across the board.
• Please do your best to ask students the same questions or questions in the same vain, to remain consistent and fair and provide equal opportunities to competitors.
• Students come into this competition with a broad spectrum of experience levels. Students should leave with a positive experience and be judged based on effort and not lack of experience.
• All participants must be treated equally and respectfully regardless of race, religion, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, etc.
• Light breakfast and lunch will be provided. Garage parking will be paid for.

We will try our best to match you with role plays or presentations based on your previous work experience. Some events may be only given 10 minutes to prepare for their role play, while others may have worked on and submitted a report prior to the competition, and are expected to speak on that during their presentation. More specific guidelines and rubrics will be shared once you have been assigned to a competition.