How to Prepare for Competitive Events

Harshal Joshi, Central Area Vice President

Preparing for your competitive events is far more than just showing up to them; there is a strategy, discipline, and execution involved in reaching your maximum success in your competitive event. What makes these competitive events unique is that they allow you to challenge yourself while learning practical skills for your future career. Whether it's your first time competing or you have some competition experience, here’s a 3 step plan that will save your rubric score and your dignity on competition day:


1. Understand Your Event

Choose Your Event Wisely

It is of utmost importance that you choose the right event for you. When choosing an event, make sure that the event interests you and is related to a topic that may compliment your strengths. Pay careful attention to the skills and background knowledge that are important to the event. These are the skills that you must prioritize in your study. Also make sure to pay attention to whether your event is a testing event, presentation, or case study. To conclude, paying attention to your event type and skills involved is extremely important when choosing your event as the right choice will set you up for success.

Know the Guidelines

Before you prepare for your event, it is crucial that you carefully read all of the guidelines. These documents are not to be loosely followed but rather have some strict boundaries to follow. Many competitors lose easy points when they overlook minor details. For testing events, be sure to thoroughly review the concepts covered on the test, and for presentation events, carefully look through the rubric. By mastering the rules, you will be able to prevent easy mistakes that could determine your future placing in an event.

Study Past Winners

One of the best ways that you can prepare for your event is by understanding what worked in the past. For testing events, look through past tests, resources, and develop a good testing strategy. For presenters, past recordings and winning submissions can give you a good idea of how to more specifically adhere to the rubric guidelines. The goal is not to copy past work, but instead, the goal is to adapt successful strategies into your own competition style. Thus, studying the trail of success is key to finding your own path in your event.


2. Practice With Efficiency

Make a Practice Plan

We have all been there with tests: cramming information a couple hours before only to blank during the actual test. To ensure this does not happen for your FBLA test, a practice plan is a must to save wasted time during the studying process. Your practice plan can be a great tool to break down all of the studying content into manageable chunks. For example, a weekly practice plan can include content days, testing days, and review days. Getting into a healthy plan with measurable and attainable goals will improve both your studying and testing experience. Even for presentation events, pacing yourself in preparation and presentation practice through a solid plan will improve your overall performance and score.

Seek Feedback, Review Feedback

While practicing your presentation event alone can be helpful, it is much more effective to receive feedback from others. It is important to realize that feedback from another person is from the perspective of someone who has never seen your presentation before, meaning that they will easily spot glaring mistakes you may have overlooked while finding subtle improvements to your presentation. Be prepared to receive feedback that may make you uncomfortable reviewing feedback from past competitions. Remember that every ounce of feedback is important to improving your overall performance in the long run.

Simulate Real Competition Day

Whether you are a testing or presentation event, it is extremely important to simulate the actual competition experience at least twice during your planned study schedule. For presenters, make sure to pay attention to the fine details of the presenting experience: make sure that you dress in proper attire, have a mock judge, set a timer, and present in front of an audience. For test takers, try to find a real practice exam, complete it within the allotted time, and find a quiet room without distractions for your testing environment. Simulating your competition helps you further pay attention to detail while training your brain to perform under pressure so that you are ready on competition day.

Practice Collaboration

For events where you are presenting with one or more partners, be sure to practice collaboration with your teammates. Team chemistry is crucial in competition as judges can tell which teams are more thoroughly prepared based on how cohesive they appear to be. The more your group rehearses their presentation, the more practiced they will be. Groups should aim to show open communication, respect their respective roles, answer questions fluidly, and be ready to adapt to challenges.

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3. Learning Mindset on Competition Day

Confidence is Everything

On competition day, confidence is a major chunk of how judges perceive your presentation. One thing to always remember is that you have to be prepared for things to go wrong. It may be a technology issue or someone forgets their lines, but when something goes wrong, confidence is what will carry your presentation while you adapt to meet your requirements. Even for testing events, having a confident mindset while taking a test can help you guess or reason through answers to questions that you may be confused on. Overall, a confident mindset is your greatest tool on competition day, so don’t leave it home.

Professionalism Matters

Professionalism as a competitor begins the moment you arrive at the location of your competition. It is very possible that you may run into your judge or other people competing in your event on competition day, so being fully prepared is a good representation of you and the rest of your chapter. Important aspects of professionalism include dressing appropriately, arriving early, and treating everyone with respect. Even the small details such as a firm handshake and the beginning followed by a polite thank-you at the end can make a difference. You are a future business leader and thus, demonstrating your aptitude for professionalism will make a considerable impact.

Have Time to Reflect on Your Performance

Finally, your competition is over and you are ready to relax. Before you go celebrate with your friends, it is always a good practice to reflect on your performance after your round is finished. If you are with a team, have a short debrief. Consider what you can improve on—is it time management, showing confidence, reaching the highest spots on the rubric? Your reflection is ultimately a way for you to create an extra learning experience for you and your team to succeed in future competitions.


When looking back on my competitive event journey, there were many places that I did fall short: vocab terms, public speaking confidence, and missing script lines. However, my success in competition was always a result of careful planning and practice. The best competitors spend countless hours perfecting their knowledge, content, and presenting ability, and now you will be able to put in this same effort. Remember, competitive events are more than just placing: they are a chance for you to build knowledge and become the best version of yourself as a future business leader.

- Harshal Joshi, Central Area Vice President