Place: South Island School, 2/F, Room C22
Time: Tuesday 3:20~4:30
CAS Type: Creativity, Service
Deca is an activity which involves many skills such as marketing, designing, ——. Our first “project” was to design a room for the Kely Support, where young teenage girls would gather together and talk about their problems with each other, while enhancing their self-esteem.
August
This month, we just started getting to know each other and learned about kely support and deca. I decided to join the marketing team, where we would need to talk about market strategies for advertising and helping “sell” the room. We also played games where we would have to sit in front of the room and act as if doing an interview. When doing the interview, the person would not be allowed to use words such as “um” or “like”, and this helped build confidence.
October
To make sure that we were on task, Virginia Morris (from Kely support) and some other people came to school once every two weeks or so, to discuss with us what we were going to be doing. We told her the types of plans we had to “sell” the product. These included:
- Facebook page
- Posters
- Hosting a show to promote Kely Support
- Making a video to promote
We also talked about how we were some of these would work and the types of things we would need to do to get ready for them. We also made a logo for the room, and the logo for it was called “talk to me”. The logo included a the name “talk to me” in red, in a shape of a mouth and a ear at the side. This was to show that if you talked to the people in the room, we would listen.
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Discussing issues with Virginia Morris  |
This month, we were getting ready for two things; the booth for a fair and a Christmas concert. There was going to be a fair, where we had the chance to have our own booth to promote Kely support. Therefore, we planned out what we were going to have in the fair. In the end, we decided to have donation box, leaflet, wrist bands. The leaflet helped sell our products and the wrist bands were products which we were going to sell to ge money for donation.
The Christmas concert which we were going to hold was going to be on December 10th, and held in our school. There were auditions to make sure there were performers, and we had helped stick up posters around the school. We also had the task to sell the ticket.
December
At last, the day for the Christmas concert came, and it turned out as a success. Refreshments were laid out and we were in the front of the hall to sell tickets for any late-comers. We sold about 10 more tickets on the day (; Although the concert was not very big, it was a small and entertaining one. We stayed up in the balcony to enjoy the show. Then, after the show finished, we thanked the Kely support group for coming.
January
After the Chinese New Year holiday, we were back together and discussed about the upcoming meeting that we were going to have with other schools aswell. This was going to be an event where schools would gather together and be given different scenarios. Then, we would have to come up with innovative ideas to solve the problems. In the DECA session we were also introduced to the new online register which we would need to do every time we come into DECA.
February
Feb 8th – Today, Virginia Morris came in and talked to us about the skills of leadership and management. At first she introduced herself, and then gave a brief talk on leadership. Afterwards, we were given small tasks to do such as writing down the skills of our own role models, thus, writing down the skills needed to be a leader. Then, Virginia Morris gave us a sheet with two columns, and we had to identify the difference between a leader and a manager. For example, one column was “Align people with a direction” and “Organize and staff”. Leaders would align people with a direction unlike a manager who would organize the whole group. After the activity, we had the chance to ask questions, and someone asked “Do you think leaders are born as leaders??”. Virginia Morris said that in her opinion, leaders can be made through learning various skills. Therefore, this was good news for all of us
Moreover, through this, I was able to be aware of some elements of leadership that I had. DECA Conference (February 26th)
Today, was a special day, as we were having the deca conference with CDNIS. This involved getting a case study and preparing a plan for 20 minutes. Then, we had to present our “plan” in front of the judges, for 10 minutes (showing off your innovative ideas combined with economic concepts). The day was going split up into 3 planning and presentation, which meant 3 different case studies and presentations.
I came into the conference during the 1st presentation, and therefore, participated from the 2nd one. The conference involved all of us wearing formal clothing and having separate desks with the case study and some blank sheets of paper. While listening to people presenting their ideas in small groups (to make sure the conference does not take up too much time), I did feel quite nervous, as presenting for 10 minutes while preparing for 20 minutes was not something which I have come across before.
After all the people presented their ideas, there was a 10 minute break and the 2nd section started. This case study asked us to propose a plan for a company which wanted to increase their sales costs. We were given 20 minutes to prepare as for the first one, and I was the first one up. I presented my ideas but was quite nervous, making me stutter ): . In addition, my presentation was quite short, and I lost confidence, making me say things which did not make sense. The judge asked me a few question and helped me with leading in the right direction which I found quite supportive. Afterwards, I felt a urge to make a better presentation for the 3rd section (although I was actually not planning to stay until the third one).
Then, after the 2nd section finished, we ate lunch (pizza(:), and went back to the 3rd session. For this one, we only had 15 minutes to prepare and 7 minutes to present as Virginia Morris was going to be coming in for a small speech. In addition, we had the choice between choosing 2 case studies. One case study was going to be similar to what we did (1st, 2nd section), and the other one was a different one. In the end, I chose the different one, as I wanted to try a new case study and improve in a different area.
Finally, the 3rd section started, and for this one, I was more focused as I understood the process. This case study was about the brand name and brand mark. When preparing for the proposal, I stood up and presented my ideas and answered the questions. I felt satisfied in the presentation which I presented and felt that I had learned a lot during the process. In the end, we had a small speech from Virginia Morris on leadership and her company, Bamboo difference. Then, we presented the winners of the conference, and thanked Virginia Morris for all the hard work she put into our group.
REFLECTION
At first, I did not have a lot of motivation in attending this conference and felt more of a fear and unwillingness to attend to the conference, as I could not imagine saying a 10 minute speech with 20 minutes preparation. However, after achieving a satisfactory presentation, I felt more confident in presenting, and enjoyed this process through the experience. Although I may not be the best presenter, I feel that I have stepped up a level in facing my weaknesses, rather than hiding away from them. (:
L1: I was aware of my communicative skills, but I was able to build up upon it during the DECA conference, as well as improve in cooperating with each other in the marketing team.
L2: It was my first time to work as a team in a marketing group which was a new challenge for me, as marketing was something new. It also helped me understand how real life marketing teams may be like when working as a group. In addition, presenting in the DECA conference was a new challenge, as I never presented in front of judges with such limited preparation time. This experience would help me build up the skills for doing my english IOC :D
L3: We planned the DECA Christmas concert which helped fund for the KELY support room. This was quite successful. In addition, we also had to plan the ESF booth for KELY.
L4: Again, as we were working in a marketing team, this meant we had to work collaboratively with each other. Moreover, we also had to work collaboratively with other groups such as the design team.
L5: I attended to most of the DECA sessions including the conference. In addition, I tried to gain help during these sessions and also tried listening for advice from Virginia morris.
L6: KELY support is a non-profit charity which works to support low-self esteemed teenagers. Therefore, by helping the KELY support team, we have helped raised awareness of the issue of teenagers which is a global issue of importance.
L7: This team has made an ethical implication of action by helping the charity team for raised awareness, as well as building a room for people to come along.
L8: As said before, I have developed new skills in planning during a limited time, and presenting, in the DECA conference.
Overall, I feel that I have been able to gain a lot of skills through this experience in DECA. These involved a lot of leadership skills and cooperation skills that was very useful. Furthermore, through the DECA conference, I managed to go through a unique experience that boosted my presentation skill. This experience has helped me develop myself as a learner and has allowed me to gain many skills.
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