Maximize Chapter Growth Outside the Marketing and Business Classrooms with this helpful guide created by the 2021-2022 ND DECA State Officer Team!

Gaining professional and business members for your Chapter is a great way to grow a Chapter. It’s something that is easy for the business professional to say YES to and they generally enjoy being involved in their communities! Check out these ways to Maximize Your Momentum.

Let’s Grow!

Gain Alumni and Professional Members

• Reaching out and connecting with local businesses gives chapters the opportunity to grow their alumni and professional membership
• Growing these areas of membership can be part of your chapters’ chapter campaign
• When business members become members they are supporting DECA with their membership dues

• Create connections that can help with competition prep, fundraising, and professional development sessions
•  Link to register as a professional or alumni member https://membership.decaregistration.com/deca/virtuallogin#  

Ways to Get Business Professionals Involved

Speaker Opportunities

• Invite business professionals to come into your chapter to talk about their career and experiences
• They are a great resource for helping members with their projects
• Having business professionals come into the classroom and speak to your chapter is a great way to explore different career paths

Be a Judge

• Invite business professionals in to judge your chapter competitions as a part of the Road to State competitions 
• Judge for Ch vs. Ch competitions or can judge events for just your individual chapter competitions

Network with Young Leaders

• Great way to meet professionals in  the business, marketing, finance, and hospitality industries
• Networking with professionals could lead to many more opportunities such as job shadowing or internships

Host A Field Trip 

• Connect with local businesses and ask if they are willing to give a tour
• Touring local businesses and learning about how they operate can be very interesting and is a great way to learn more about certain industries
• Field trips could also be useful for learning more about businesses and processes related to members projects

Sponsor an Activity

• Connecting with Businesses is a great way to ask for sponsorship for members or your chapter as a way to cover costs such as nationals

What’s the best way to connect? 

• Check out this Email Template to line up a business connection today! 
• Call or visit in person with a business or business member. Practice your conversation with your Chapter Advisor so you can make the most of the professional’s time
• Contact someone you already have a connection with. This might be a relative, a neighbor, someone who is in a community group that you’re in or a store that you shop at often or where your parents work

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