Redwood High 2

Chapter 16

DECA trip part 4

It was time. I could do it. The current time was 7:10. I walked to the big hall where all the events are being held. It was massive, with people going to and fro all over the place. The stage where the people gave their speeches during the opening ceremony was gone, allowing more room for more judges to be placed. I walked to AAM (Accessories and Apparel Marketing) and signed in with some lady at the clipboard.

I took a seat next to the other people who were competing in this section. I recognized two people from school but the person who struck me was Zoe. I remember her from math. She was taken out that class a little later because she was smarter than she led on and was placed in some higher-level math. I didn't even know she was in he marketing program.

"Zoe! I didn't know you came!" Well if I'm being honest I'm too preoccupied with the friends I already have to be paying much attention to my surroundings more often.

She smiled when she saw me. "Oh my gosh, I don't even see you guys that often anymore." She glanced to where the judges were seated with some other kids. "I'm so scared. I don't know if I could do my role-plays"

I smiled encouragingly at her. "You'll be fine. Go with your gut."

She nodded and it looked like she was going to say something else before the lady asked us to stand. We all stood up and followed her to the vacant tables.

"You have 10 minutes to review and prepare before your meeting with the judge. Pencil and paper are laid out for you to use. When I say times up, all pencils must be placed down in front of you. You may have a seat. You may begin when I say to start."

I pulled the chair our and sat down. Some girl was seated opposite of me on the other side of the table. It wasn't a big table, just a regular table you would see in classrooms. It had some fancy black cloth draped over it.

"Your 10 minutes start now."

I moved the paper that was placed over the scenario and began to quickly read the first page. I picked up my pencil and quickly read over the performance indicators. They were a list of things we had to address in our presentation. If I follow it correctly it's essentially a script for me to follow to meet the rubric. I flipped the page over to read the scenario.

"You are to assume the role of marketing manager at SUZANNE'S BRIDAL, a regional chain of stores that specialize in bridal gowns, prom dresses and other formalwear. The owner of the chain (judge) has asked you to decide what changes should be made to store mannequins so that they better represent real customers."

I quickly skimmed over the rest of the scenario before grabbing a sheet of white computer paper.

"Each store has more than a dozen mannequins that display the various styles, brands and quality of wedding gowns and prom dresses. Every mannequin was uniform; all 5'7'' tall and able to display a size 4 wedding or prom dress. The purpose of the mannequins was to"

I nodded and began to write quick notes on my paper. The first performance indicator was to explain the use of visual merchandising in retailing. The answer to this one was bluntly given to me in the scenario. I quickly wrote, "Give shoppers an idea of what the dress looks like on a real person, rather than just on a hanger." I added on that it would also help to take the risk to have some more realistic sized mannequins to give shoppers a variety of what it looks like on different woman. Slim, white mannequins dominate the stores so I argued that it would give the store massive social media attention, which is huge nowadays.

When I felt that I answered all five-performance indicators to my satisfaction, I quickly made a mock business card to give the judge a little memoir of me so I can be remembered. Ms. Kathy taught us that. I quickly sent her a silent prayer for preparing us. When I finished my business card the lady said, "Times up! Pencils down and please stand up." I gathered all my papers and placed the white sheet back on the scenario.