DECA Ontario (An association of DECA Inc.) is a Provincial association of high school, university students and advisers of business studies. The organization's purpose is to prepare future leaders and young entrepreneurs for careers and education in marketing, finance, hospitality, management, and other business areas. Similarly to DECA Inc., DECA Ontario has three primary divisions: the high school division (known simply as "DECA Ontario"), the university/college division (DECA U), and the alumni division (The Alumni Network). DECA Ontario, students are mentored by some of the strongest leaders in the business fields and are guided by numerous supportive corporate and community sponsors to provide 'out-of-classroom' experiences. In Ontario, DECA is also an identified component of the Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) program. Through experiential programming, students are given many reach ahead opportunities that they can apply to their SHSM designation on their OSSD (Ontario Secondary School Diploma).
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Conferences
The Regional Competition is available to all DECA Ontario members. In order to accommodate the needs of all chapters across the Province, different school chapters compete in different 'regions'. Some of these regions include: Peel, Toronto, Hamilton, Waterloo-Kitchener, and York.
DECA members can choose to compete in any one of a number of categories: there are 17 individual event categories (of which 4 are reserved only for first year members), and 7 team events. The Regional Competition includes a written multiple choice exam, and an oral case component. Students in an individual event have 10 minutes for preparation and 10 minutes to present in front of a judge. Teams have 30 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to present. Judges include past DECA alumni, current business students, and industry professionals.
The Provincial Competition (hosted in February) is available to members who qualify from an oral business event at a Regional Competition, or for those who chose to compete in a written business event (students who wish to compete in a written business event automatically qualify for the Provincial Competition). In the Provincial Competition, students compete for a spot to represent Ontario and Canada at the International Career Development Conference (DECA Internationals). Competition at the Provincial level is heavy, as around 300-400 students out of about 6,000 are chosen to compete internationally. In addition to competing, the Provincial conference also offers workshops, academies, and networking for students wishing to advance their business skills.
Competition Categories
DECA offers a large variety of categories available to all delegates for competition purposes. These categories range encompass a plethora of functional business aspects and typically have corporate sponsors for each category as well. There are three different types of categories once can compete in which includes (1) Individual Oral and Principle Events - must compete as an individual (2) Team Oral Events - compete with one partner and finally (3) Special Events - these events have their own distinct rule set. A breakdown of the categories within each type of event is shown below:
Individual Oral and Principle Events
Team Oral Events
Special Events
Provincial Executive Officer Program (High School Division)
DECA Ontario's Provincial Executive Officer Team consists of one President and seven student executives. A new team of officers is appointed every year. The Provincial Executive Officer Team works with DECA Ontario's Board of Directors with membership development and services, website development, social media management, Regional & Provincial conference promotion, member and chapter encouragement, and service of the members and advisors. The selection process for the Provincial Executive Officer Team is rigorous, as numerous students compete for a limited number of positions. Provincial Officers are among the top students across Ontario, and often demonstrate excellence in academics, extra-curricular involvements, and achieve high results in DECA.
DECA U (University/College Division)
For interested university/college students, a specialized program which allows matriculated students to continue to participate in DECA is available. DECA U (short for University), is an association of Collegiate DECA, and operates in numerous prestigious institutions across Ontario.
Some of the associated Universities include: Ryerson University, University of Western Ontario, Brock University, University of Guelph, Wilfrid Laurier University, McMaster University, Queen's University, University of Waterloo, University of Toronto, York University, University of Ottawa, Humber College and University of Ontario Institute of Technology.
The Alumni Network (Alumni Division)
In 2013, The Alumni Network was created to serve as Ontario's Official DECA Alumni Division. The division seeks to harvest a strong professional network for previous DECA Ontario and DECA U members to connect to after graduating. The network is designed to not only allow alumni to connect to each other, but also to provide opportunities for alumni to give back at DECA Ontario and DECA U conferences and competitions.