The Blog

 

Wausau All CTSO (Jordan)

Wisconsin DECA state officers traveled to Wausau to participate in a Leadership Lab geared towards all members of Wisconsin's Career Technical Student Organizations. Over one hundred participants came to Wausau to be a part of the Leadership Lab, and to experience all that FOCUS Training has to offer. The DECA officers worked side-by-side with members of the FBLA State Officer Team and helped FOCUS Training facilitate the lab. The Leadership Lab focused on the elements of professionalism, as well as ways of thinking outside the box. There was a great amount of time spent on public speaking practices, and teaching members how to be more comfortable speaking infront of an audiance. Thank you to FOCUS Training for another steller preformance, and The Lodge in Wausau for hosting the event.

 

Kalahari Leadership Lab

The Kalahari Leadership Lab held on the 16th -17th of October was open to all CTSO’s through out the state of Wisconsin. Members from DECA, HOSA, FBLC, FCCLA, FFA and Skills USA were all present to take part in the workshops. The CTSO members were divided by color; red, green, and blue and followed a track of workshops run by FOCUS training. These workshops stressed the importance of topics ranging from etiquette to community involvement and much more. DECA and HOSA state officers were also there to help facilitate all of the workshops. At the end of the first day CTSO members were allowed to free time where they went to the water park, played games and went to a dance. The following day members finished going to their workshops. This was all culminated when all of the teams came together, did their individual cheers and were united by one final cheer led by FOUCS training. The event was a success and fun for everyone that was involved.

 

CTSO Leadership Lab in Wausau (Erika)
November 1st, 2007

This past month I attended the CTSO Leadership Lab in Wausau with Jeff and Jordan. The workshop was facilitated by Todd from Focus Training. There were members of DECA, FBLA, FCCLA, and HOSA there. It was a 2 day lab complete with a dance, hands on activities, and also hours spent swimming in the water-park. Some of the activities facilitated by Focus were “Swab the Deck”, Do You Know…, and activities geared to help chapters work on their strategic plans. Myself and the other state officers in attendance also gave a short speech on the benefits of being a state officer. Students had the opportunity to revise their strategic plans, polish their public speaking skills, as well as fine tune their communication and teamwork skills. The leadership lab gained many positive comments from students and advisors alike.

Hands down this was a very beneficial lab for all who attended. The location was perfect (5 minutes away from my house), and the hotel was very accommodating to meet our needs. If your chapter didn’t have the chance to make it to this lab I would definitely recommend trying to get there next year, or to a different one yet this year. Keep working on those DECA skills & remember to eat lots of turkey this month!

 

State Officer Workshop (Justin)

During the last week of June, the seven of us State Officers went to Madison for SOW. SOW is also known as the State Officer Workshop. Just like many chapter officers do at COW, the Chapter Officer Workshop, your State Officers develop strategic plans and goals that they would like to accomplish this year. Throughout the few days we were at SOW in Madison each one of us brainstormed ideas for our respective office. Some things to look for this year that Ryan Schulman, Vice President of Civic Consciousness, is working on is the Hustle for Muscle 5k Run/Walk for MDA or what Kristen Gower is doing with Member of the Month. Keep your eyes open for Natasha Holmes, Vice President of Wisconsin DECA Connections, when you’re thinking of running for State Office or would like to join ProDECA. Your State Vice President of Communications, Jordan Kuehn, has some new, fresh ideas for the WIDECA Website and Jeff Lynn, your State President, is taking the extra initiative to make sure he’s “bringing DECA back” with a refreshing, creative style of his own. Each State Officer has their own goals and plans for the year, but SOW also gave the seven of us time to work on team goals. For example, we came up with you 2007-2008 theme for Wisconsin DECA, which is “Defining Destiny”. Both myself and Erika VanRiper, your State Vice President of Chapter Development, have developed an exciting new E-newsletter which is a great tool to keep you updated throughout the year. She also has some great ideas to help your chapters reach 100% membership this year. Your state officer team developed new plans and ideas to further help Wisconsin DECA and its members grow. Aside from getting ready for the whole year, we had to prepare ourselves for All Career and Technical Student Organization training and COW for the month of July, which soon followed our State Officer Workshop. These weeks of working together in the summer at workshops like SOW and COW are to better prepare us and your chapters for a great year. I hope you are all as excited as I am to get going on this new year and get ready to Define your Destiny Wisconsin DECA!

 

CRLC (Ryan)

During the weekend of December 7th-9th, almost 350 members from 23 Wisconsin DECA chapters joined the other states of the Central Region in Indianapolis, IN at the Central Region Leadership Conference 2007. Hosted by Focus Training, these DECA members gained a better enthusiasm and understanding of DECA through Focus’s interactive, exciting, and challenging activities that promote concepts of cooperation, teamwork, and group dynamics.
Although the conference aimed to equip participants with the tools necessary to build successful careers and exciting lives in today’s business world, Wisconsin DECA members “Got Their Game On” in other ways as well. At opening ceremonies held at Conseco Fieldhouse, home of the Indiana Pacers of the NBA, Wisconsin DECA saw two of its own delegates finish in the Top 3 of a free throw/lightning contest. The renowned DECA Dance, intriguing workshops with the Indiana Pacers Vice President of Marketing Operations, and seminars that emphasized the importance of online professionalism/etiquette on networking sites like Facebook, offered members not only a chance to advance their lives in DECA, but grow as people through various networking opportunities as well as fun, unique activities such as the obstacle course, Rally!.
Whether you were a chapter delegate or a state officer representing your state association, the experience was one that was truly unforgettable. I will never forget the people I met and the lessons I learned. I learned so much about others but was given the rare opportunity to slow down and reflect and learn more about myself. The Central Region Leadership Conference 2007 was a very special experience, because one way or the other, the lessons we learned, the people we met, or the activities we went through left a mark on every person that was there. Whether it was meeting new people at a dance, gaining professional and business contacts from some of the best in their respective fields, or being touched by the idea of “Climbing On”, the experience of CRLC was one that will forever be engrained in me and one that I will bring back and share with me at home.