As the 2021-2022 school year comes to an end, we look forward to a summer of relaxation, long nights and making memories. Even though the summertime is fun, many of us find ourselves bored with nothing to do halfway through the break. Luckily, there are many ways you can help your chapter prepare for the next school year while making it not feel like work! These are the top four tips to help your chapter Get the Edge during the summer:
1. Host Monthly Meetings
Whether in-person or online, monthly meetings are a great way to connect with your chapter's members and make new friends. What’s nice about summer meetings is that YOU get to decide how they run. Do you want them to be fun and a time to catch up? Do you want to research together to decide on the best competitive events for the coming year? Summer bonding helps you learn how people prefer to work so you can ensure everyone is included in the new school year!
2. Create on Canva
Designing member recruitment or SBE advertisements can let your creative energy flow and help ease the work during the school year. Create a monthly social media calendar to help your chapter decide when and how often to post. Do you only want to post about important upcoming events or do you want to add a little flare by posting memes and polls? I highly recommend Canva for design as it provides plenty of templates and their free application has lots of materials to choose from. By planning advertisements for the first month of school, you’ll be setting a steady pace for engagement and success for the new school year.
3. Get Competitive
Are you up for a competition? The best way to get people involved in any event is to make it a competition—and DECA is known for friendly competition! Host a contest to design the next chapter or school t-shirt or create a new best-selling food item for your SBE. Whoever creates the best t-shirt gets one for free or whoever invents the best menu item gets a free item of their choice from your SBE. While these examples are specific to chapters with a School-based Enterprise, there are plenty of other competitions to keep members engaged.
4. Make a Video
If you plan to get the edge on recruiting new and returning members, putting in the effort is vital. Creating a "DECA 101" crash course video, a lip sync with your current members or other videos related to DECA can really help students feel confident in joining your chapter. Have fun and remember, YOU are in control, and you get to decide what image you want to set for your chapter this coming year.
We hope these tips help your chapter and that your summer break is filled with amazing memories. Make sure to Get the Edge on all this time has to offer before it's gone!
