<p> ILLINOIS FBLA STATE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE April 3-4, 2009 Decatur Conference Center and Hotel Decatur, Illinois</p><p>TO: Illinois FBLA Chapters FROM: Sandra Bronson, Illinois FBLA State Adviser DATE: February 2009 SUBJECT: FBLA State Leadership Conference Competitive Event Entry Forms and Information</p><p>NEW! COMPUTER SKILLS EVENT TESTING: At the September 2008 Illinois FBLA Board of Directors meeting, the following decision was made concerning the competitive events that have a computer production portion: Instead of going to Richland Community College during the Illinois FBLA State Leadership Conference to complete the production portion of the computer events, each Illinois FBLA area (with Northern and Chicago Areas being together) will provide the testing prior to the conference. The computer skills event testing will be taking place on a Friday evening and during the first two Saturdays in March. If your chapter registers a student for any of the following events, that student will be required to take the production component of the event at one of the area testing sites: Accounting II, Computer Applications, Database Design & Applications, Desktop Publishing, Spreadsheet Applications, Word Processing I, and Word Processing II. If any of your chapter's competitors in these events will be attending a testing site other than the one in your area, you will need to let Sandra Bronson know as soon as possible. The testing dates and locations are as follows:</p><p>Area Location Date Central Tuscola High School, Tuscola Friday, March 13 Eastern Edwards County High School, Albion Saturday, March 7 Northern/Chicago West Chicago High School, West Chicago Saturday, March 14 Southern Southern Illinois University, Carbondale Saturday, March 14 Southwestern Southwestern Illinois College, Belleville Saturday, March 7 Western Camp Point Central High School, Camp Point Saturday March 7</p><p>The online registration for the Illinois FBLA State Leadership Conference must be submitted on or before March 1. All competitive event forms and registration forms that must be mailed must be postmarked on or before March 3. (March 1 is a Sunday and Monday is Pulaski Day and some schools do not have school.) The postmark must be the official U.S. Post Office date and not a postage meter date. A student must have state and national dues paid by January 31 and registered for the Illinois FBLA State Conference by March 1 to participate in a competitive event at the Illinois FBLA State Leadership Conference. If your chapter does not have its Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) Certification Form postmarked to the FBLA-PBL State Chairman by March 3, 2009, the members of the chapter will not be eligible to attend the Illinois FBLA State Leadership Conference. The ISBE form can be found on the Illinois FBLA website and the registration website. Only those chapters that had dues postmarked on or before October 20, 2008, are eligible for the Gold Seal Award of Merit. Data will be taken from the membership reports received from the National Office and verified by the State Chairman. </p><p>Each Illinois FBLA chapter should have received a copy of the updated Chapter Management Handbook from the national office. If you do not have a copy, please call the National FBLA office (Phone: 1-800-FBL-AWIN). Darlene Shannon or Sandra Bronson will not have extra copies of the handbook. The regulations and procedures for each competitive event can be found in the Competitive section of the handbook. The national guidelines will be followed unless otherwise stated in this mailing.</p><p>Because there is the possibility that students may not get into their hotel rooms before competitive events begin, the students should arrive in Decatur on Friday, April 3, dressed in business attire for their competitive events. Please make sure that advisers, students, and guests are dressed according to the dress code which was revised in January 2009. Your chapter would not want competitors disqualified. A copy of the revised dress code can be found on the Illinois FBLA registration website, the Illinois FBLA website and the National FBLA website--nylons are no longer required for females. 2</p><p>In 1992 at the October Illinois FBLA Board of Directors’ Meeting, it was decided that an Illinois FBLA competitive events participant may repeat an individual or team event which he or she has entered at a previous State Conference providing that the individual has not competed in the same event at the National Conference or finished first in the event at a prior State Conference. In the case of a team event, one member of the team may have won first place in Illinois or have been involved in the event at one previous National Conference for the following: Banking & Financial Systems, Business Ethics, Business Financial Plan, Business Plan, Business Presentation, Desktop Publishing, Digital Video Production, E- business, Emerging Business Issues, Entrepreneurship, Global Business, Management Decision Making, Management Information Systems, Network Design, and Web Site Development. In Parliamentary Procedure, two members of the team may have been in the top five in Illinois or competed in this event at a previous National Conference. Team members may not compete in these events more than two years at the national level.</p><p>At the Illinois FBLA State Leadership Conference, each Illinois FBLA Chapter may enter only ONE participant in the individual events except for Future Business Leader which may have two. A member may enter the Who’s Who in FBLA event and also compete in an individual or team event. A member may participate in any number of chapter events. The chapter events that have oral presentations at the Illinois State Leadership Conference are American Enterprise Project, Community Service Project, and Partnership with Business Project. A person may be entered in an individual or team event and also participate in the Talent Show. If a student is competing in more than one event, please make sure that the contestant will not have a conflict.</p><p>Calculators will be provided for all competitive events. All contestants must provide their own sharpened pencils. Please have pencils sharpened before arriving at the Conference because pencil sharpeners will not be available.</p><p>At the 1985 September Illinois FBLA Board of Directors’ meeting, the following guidelines were approved concerning substituting another student for one who is scheduled to compete in a competitive event: 1. No person who registered late may compete in a competitive event. 2. A member who paid the registration fee by March 1 may substitute in a competitive event for another member who paid the registration fee by March 1 providing the latter was registered for the event. The substitute must have paid dues by January 31. 3. If a substitution becomes necessary, the substitute will notify the test administrator at the time roll call for the event is taken. The student who is substituting will be asked to complete a form which will include the following information: event name, name of student taking test, name of student originally submitted for the event, school name, chapter number, city of school, adviser’s name, and adviser’s room number at the Decatur Conference Center and Hotel (in case there are any questions about the substitution). Please make sure that the student knows the above information when he or she goes to the event. 4. The Illinois FBLA State Adviser will determine the validity of all competitive events’ changes.</p><p>Remember: All competitive event participants must have state and national dues paid by January 31. In September, 1990, the Illinois FBLA Board of Directors decided that any contestant who does not follow the guidelines for submitting material or who arrives at an event after the stated event starting time or after the contestant’s participation time will be disqualified. That means that the student will not be participating in the event.</p><p>3</p><p>ADVISER IN CHARGE/ASSISTANT(S): Advisers are needed to proctor the competitive events at the State Conference. After receiving the State Conference registration information on March 1, Sandra Bronson will mail assignments to all advisers. Please let Sandra know if you would be available to assist with more than one event. You can contact her at [email protected].</p><p>NOTES ON AWARDS: The finalists in the following events will be announced at the Friday evening banquet and will also be posted after the banquet: Job Interview, Future Business Leader, Global Business, Management Decision Making, and Parliamentary Procedure. There will be several event awards being given at the Saturday morning session. Please make sure your students are at the session and are in proper attire. When awards are presented to individuals at the State Conference, the certificates for those who qualify to compete at the National Leadership Conference in Anaheim, California, on June 25–June 28 will have a National Intent Form attached. This form must be completed and then postmarked to Darlene Shannon, Illinois FBLA-PBL State Chairman, by April 11, or the student forfeits his or her right to compete at the National Leadership Conference.</p><p>NATIONAL LEADERSHIP ELIGIBILITY: At the September Board Meeting, it was decided that for a member to eligible to represent Illinois at the National Leadership Conference, a member must meet the following requirements:</p><p>Type of Event Minimum Requirement Written Test Only 40% Written Test and Performance 50% Reports Only 50% Reports and Performance 50%</p><p>NATIONAL TESTING OF SKILL EVENTS: For the 2009 National Leadership Conference, the computer production portion of the following events will be administered at two different locations in Illinois on Saturday, May 2: Accounting II, Computer Applications, Database Design & Applications, Desktop Publishing, Spreadsheet Applications, and Word Processing I and II. The decision on locations will be made after the Illinois competitors in these events are determined. The state-site testing concept has been adopted which means that the computer performance portion of the tests will be given in each home state. In addition to this computer performance portion of the test, the participants will also complete a one-hour written objective test at the National Leadership Conference in Anaheim, California.</p><p>WRITTEN REPORTS FOR NATIONAL CONFERENCE: First and second place winners in the written reports at the State Conference are submitted to the national office for competition at the National Conference. All report winners submitted to the national office in American Enterprise Project, Community Service Project, Business Plan, Business Financial Plan, and Partnership with Business Project must do a preliminary seven-minute presentation on the written report at the National Leadership Conference. From the results of the written report and the preliminary presentation, the top ten teams or an equal number from each group will advance to the final round. </p><p>FORMAT GUIDE: A Format Guide has been developed to be used for computer production events. The Format Guide will be provided to all participants at the testing site. No Format Guides may be brought into the computer testing area. The Format Guide can be found at the end of the Competitive section of the Chapter Management Handbook on pages Format Guide 1-17.</p><p>4</p><p>INFORMATION ON NEW EVENT </p><p>SPORTS MANAGEMENT: This event requires the member to have a core understanding of business and a comprehensive awareness of sports necessary to succeed in sports management. This is an individual event. The individual will take a one-hour objective test. Please see page 62 in the Competitive section of the Chapter Management Handbook. </p><p>ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON COMPETITIVE EVENTS</p><p>Due to the lack of time, rooms, and facilities, it is necessary to make some changes in the regulations and procedure of some events at the Illinois FBLA State Leadership Conference. Listed below are the competitive events in which changes have been made, along with some reminders for other competitive events. For the National Leadership Conference in Anaheim, California, on June 25-June 28, be prepared for all the regulations and procedures in the 2008-2009 Competitive Events section of the Chapter Management Handbook. Also, please read “Changes to this Edition” found on page Competitive-7 of the Chapter Management Handbook and other guidelines on Competitive pages 8-10.</p><p>After the written reports that were mailed on or before March 3 have been judged, the chapters that have the top five scores will be notified. After the media submitted for Digital Video Production, E-business, Desktop Application Programming, Internet Application Programming, and Web Site Development have been judged, the top five chapters will be notified. The top five chapters will participate in the final round performance portion of the event at the Illinois FBLA State Leadership Conference. A preliminary oral round will not be held. </p><p>JUNIORS AND SENIORS ARE NOT ELIGIBLE--FBLA members enrolled in Grade 11 or Grade 12 of the current school year are NOT eligible to compete in the following events: Business Math, Introduction to Technology Concepts, FBLA Principles & Procedures, Introduction to Business, Introduction to Business Communication, Introduction to Parliamentary Procedure, Public Speaking I, and Word Processing I.</p><p>BUSINESSPERSON OF THE YEAR--Please read the criteria for the Illinois Businessperson of the Year. If your chapter has an eligible businessperson, please complete the information and return the material to Sandra Bronson by March 3. No person who is a full-time employee of any educational institution or department of education shall be nominated for this award.</p><p>BANKING & FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, GLOBAL BUSINESS, MANAGEMENT DECISION MAKING, MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS--The two or three-member team will collaboratively take the written test in these events. Only the five teams with the highest scores on the written test will compete in the performance portion of these events. No reference materials or visual aids may be brought to or used during the preparation or performance. The top two teams will represent Illinois at the National Leadership Conference; only one of the competitors from a team may have participated in a previous National Leadership Conference in these events. Team members may not compete in these events more than two years at the national level. If a member of the winning team is unable to attend the National Leadership Conference, the winning team’s chapter will select an alternate from its membership who attended the 2009 Illinois FBLA State Leadership Conference. The NETWORK DESIGN written test is also done collaboratively; however, whether the performance portion of the event will be done at the state conference will depend on the number of teams participating.</p><p>5</p><p>FUTURE BUSINESS LEADER--Each chapter may enter two participants in this event. The letters of application and the resumes should NOT be mailed to Sandra Bronson. The six participants with the highest scores on the written test will be interviewed the Saturday morning of the Conference for the selection of Future Business Leader. All participants must turn in their THREE standard file folders with a letter of application and a resume at the time of their test. If the material is not turned in at the time of their test, the contestant forfeits his or her interview on Saturday morning. The tab on each folder should have the following typed on it: student’s name, event title, school, and state. The participant's name should be on all pages submitted. The letter stating the reasons the participant is deserving of the honor of this award should be addressed to: Mrs. Darlene Shannon, State Chairman, Illinois Future Business Leaders of America, 2900 West Alveria Street, Carbondale, IL 62901.</p><p>IMPROMPTU SPEAKING--Contestants for Impromptu Speaking will be randomly assigned performance times that will be posted outside the location of the event after the contestants have been sequestered for the event on Saturday morning. All contestants are to meet in the holding room for the event by 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 4. Two 4” x 6” index cards will be given to each contestant and may be used during the preparation and performance. An Impromptu Speaking contestant may not enter the location of the Impromptu Speaking performances before or after he or she speaks to listen to any other Impromptu Speaking contestants. The Impromptu Speaking time is FOUR minutes. Contestants will perform only once; a preliminary round is not held.</p><p>JOB INTERVIEW--FOUR FOLDERS ARE REQUIRED FOR THIS EVENT IN ILLINOIS. At 11:30 p.m. on Friday, April 3, each contestant must submit his or her FOUR standard file folders with an application letter and a resume in each folder. The tab on each folder should have the following typed on it: student’s name, Job Interview, school, and state. If the contestant’s folders are not submitted by 12:15 p.m., the contestant will be disqualified and will not be competing. Application forms will also be completed at that time. Initial interviews will be held Friday, April 11. The groups, locations, and times of the interviews, which will be randomly assigned, will be posted at the location where folders are submitted. Depending on the number of initial interview groups, the top two or three finalists from each initial interview group will be announced during the banquet Friday night. These finalists will then participate in the final interviews on Saturday morning, April 4. Times for final interviews will be posted after the banquet on Friday. </p><p>The one-page letter of application should be addressed to: Dr. Terry E. Johnson, Director Human Resources, Merit Corporation, 1640 Franklin Place, Washington, DC 20041.</p><p>PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE--The five teams with the highest average scores on the written test will participate in the performance portion of the event on Saturday morning. The five individuals who score the highest on the written test will represent Illinois at the National Leadership Conference. Only two of these participants may have participated in Parliamentary Procedure at a previous National Leadership Conference. A person who is not on a Parliamentary Procedure team but who takes the test will be considered only for the State Parliamentarian’s position.</p><p>PUBLIC SPEAKING I and II--Contestants for Public Speaking I and II will be randomly assigned performance times that will be posted outside conference headquarters no later than 11:30 a.m. on Friday, April 3. A contestant may not enter the location of his or her speaking event to listen to any other Public Speaking competitors either before or after giving his/her own speech. The Public Speaking I time is 4 minutes, and the Public Speaking II time is 5 minutes. Contestants will perform only once; a preliminary round is not held.</p><p>WEB SITE DEVELOPMENT—-The website must be available for viewing on the Internet at the time of judging. No changes can be made to the web site after March 1.</p><p>ADDITIONAL ILLINOIS COMPETITIVE EVENTS AND RECOGNITION AWARDS</p><p>The events listed below are Illinois competitive events and recognition awards that are not listed in the Competitive Events section of the National Chapter Management Handbook.</p><p>BATTLE OF THE AREAS—The form is located on the registration website. It is the responsibility of the Illinois FBLA State Vice Presidents to submit the completed form by March 1. Past or present Illinois FBLA State officers are not 6 eligible to compete in the event. The Battle of the Areas is scheduled for 10:15 a.m. on Saturday, so FBLA members who would be in an event or possibly be in the finals of an event on Saturday morning should not be in the Battle of the Areas. </p><p>MOST ENTHUSIASTIC AREA AWARD--The area that displays the most enthusiasm during the Illinois State Leadership Conference will receive an award. Because the banquet is a formal occasion, “ballgame” cheers will be out of order at the banquet. </p><p>TALENT SHOW--The entry form for this event is located on the registration website. Each chapter may submit multiple entries. The same person(s) or chapter may not repeat an act performed at a previous state conference. A maximum time of five minutes, which includes assembling and disassembling, is allowed for each chapter. Five points will be deducted for each full half-minute over the time limit. A list of performance times will be posted outside headquarters no later than 1:00 on the day of the Talent Show. Participants in the Talent Show may be in other events. Make sure that there is not a conflict in time. Because this event is not a national event, the winner does not participate at the National Leadership Conference. </p>