How to ace a DECA role-play (2026-27 format)

A DECA role-play gives you a business problem, a few minutes to think and a judge who plays someone at the company. You don't know the scenario in advance, but you do know almost everything else: how long you get, what the judge will score and how the conversation will go. This guide turns that into a plan you can practice.

What does a 2026-27 DECA role-play look like?

Every role-play starts with a participant sheet. It names the event, the career cluster and the instructional area, lists what you'll be judged on and describes the situation. You play a role at a business, such as a marketing director or a store manager, and the judge plays a person you report to or work with.

The timing depends on the event type:

Two rules shape your prep. You may use the notes you make during prep in the room, but you can't bring printed references or visual aids. Anything you hand the judge has to be made during prep on the paper you're given. A four-function calculator is allowed during the exam and prep; phones and tablets are not.

The role-play also matters a lot for your score. In Individual Series events, the exam and each of the two preliminary role-plays count for one-third of your total. In principles events and Team Decision Making, the role-play or case presentation counts twice as much as the exam. You can't make up for a weak role-play with a great test.

What is the DECA judge scoring?

The 2026-27 evaluation forms are new. DECA now uses four levels on every form: Novice, Developing, Proficient and Exemplary. In the sample Individual Series role-play DECA posted with its 2026-27 materials, the 100 points split like this:

• Performance indicators: 5 rows of 10 points each (50 points). Each row is one indicator, written out word for word.
• Solution: 3 rows of 8 points (24 points), for whether your solution is unique, practical and effective.
• Career Competencies: 3 rows of 6 points (18 points) for critical thinking, communication and decision making.
• Overall impression: 8 points for career readiness, meaning professionalism, poise and confidence.

The Solution section is the big change this season. Earlier forms scored "21st Century Skills" instead. Now a judge can't give you full marks just for explaining concepts: your recommendation itself has to be original, workable and aimed at the goal in the scenario. Our guide on how DECA role-plays are scored goes through every row.

How should you use your 10 minutes of prep?

Ten minutes goes fast. A fixed routine keeps you from spending eight of them re-reading the situation.

Minutes 0 to 2: read the performance indicators first. They're your scoring rows. Write each one at the top of a page section with space under it. If an indicator says "Explain the nature of promotion," your job is to explain it and use it, not just mention it.

Minutes 2 to 4: read the situation with a pen. Underline the goal (what does the judge want decided?), every number (budgets, store counts, percentages, dates) and every constraint (a deadline, a limited budget, an unhappy customer group). Those details are what make a solution practical.

Minutes 4 to 8: build a one-page outline. Use the same order every time:

1. One sentence that restates the problem in your own words.
2. Your recommendation in one or two sentences.
3. Each performance indicator, with a definition in plain words and how it applies to this business.
4. How you'd carry it out: who does it, when, roughly what it costs.
5. How the business will know it worked: one or two measures.
6. One risk and how you'd handle it.

Minutes 8 to 10: rehearse your opening. Say your first three sentences under your breath. If you have time, sketch a simple chart or timeline on the provided paper to hand to the judge.

In Team Decision Making you get 30 minutes, which sounds generous until you split it. Agree on the recommendation in the first 10 minutes, divide the indicators between you, then build one shared outline so you don't contradict each other. During prep you may only talk with your partner.

What should you say in the room?

In DECA's sample role-play, the judge starts by greeting you and asking to hear your ideas. That's your cue. A strong structure:

Open in role. Greet the judge using their role, thank them for the meeting and restate the problem in one sentence. This shows you understood the situation before you say anything else.

Preview, then deliver. Tell the judge what you'll cover ("I'll recommend a plan, explain how it works and show how we'll measure it"), then walk through your outline.

As you reach each performance indicator, name the concept, explain it briefly and apply it to this company. Applying is where the points are. A judge reading the Proficient and Exemplary descriptions is looking for concepts connected to solving the problem, not definitions recited from memory.

Use the scenario's numbers. If the store has 40 locations and a $25,000 budget, say what your plan does with those 40 locations and that budget. Realistic assumptions are fine as long as you say they're assumptions.

Close with the recommendation. Summarize your plan in two sentences and invite questions.

Watch your time. Your time with the judge includes the follow-up questions, so plan to finish presenting with two or three minutes left. If you run long, the questions get squeezed.

How do you handle the follow-up questions?

DECA's guidelines say the judge's questions are meant to make you think beyond the performance indicators. In the sample, the judge asks two follow-up questions after you present, then thanks you and makes no other comments. Don't read that silence as a bad sign: the judge isn't supposed to give feedback.

Follow-up questions often ask how you would carry out your plan, why something matters, how you'd know it worked or whether the business should do something at all. A three-part answer works for almost all of them:

1. Answer directly in the first sentence. If the question is "should we," take a side.
2. Give your reason, tied to the scenario.
3. Add an example or a next step, such as who would do it or what you'd measure.

In Team Decision Making, both partners must take part in the presentation, and each should answer at least one of the judge's questions. Decide in prep who takes the first question.

Which mistakes cost points in a DECA role-play?

• Name-dropping indicators. Saying "this relates to channel management" without explaining it earns little.
• A generic solution. "Use social media" could fit any business. Tie your idea to this company's customers, numbers and goal.
• No plan for carrying it out. A recommendation with no who, when or cost is hard to score as practical.
• Running out the clock. If the judge has no time for questions, you lose the chance to show more.
• Ignoring the judge's role. Talk to them as the person in the scenario, not as a contest official.

How should you practice before competition?

You get better at role-plays by doing many of them under real time limits, not by reading about them. A simple weekly routine:

• Two timed role-plays a week in your event, with the same prep routine each time.
• One review session where you compare your answer to the indicators and the Solution rows and write down the one thing to fix next.
• Indicator study for your event's instructional areas, so that during prep you're applying concepts instead of trying to remember them. Our guide to DECA performance indicators explains where they come from.

CompPrep AI's DECA role-play practice runs that routine for you: a new scenario with official performance indicators, the real prep and judge clocks, a judge that asks two follow-up questions at the end, and a score laid out like the 2026-27 form. You can find your event on the DECA events page.

Always check the guidelines for your own event before you compete. Your district or association may add its own rules, and DECA can update its guidelines during the season.