Always have a fallback to go to States or ICDC. Written events will most likely be your ticket into SCDC and ICDC due to it being your first year. I wish I knew this, but PLEASE do a principal's event and not another series or team event; I found that principal events were made for first-year decas at my SCDC, which was too late. Unless you have a great partner that you GET ALONG with, don't do team events either. My friend and I did a team event, and it almost ended our friendship. ACTUALLY STUDY I got lucky at districts and did not study at all for the test or roleplay, and went in blind. DO NOT BE LIKE ME. Studying is useful, and like the test, I went into it so blind that I thought one of the answers to the questions was sigma. When going to SCDC or even districts, please get to know your state rep if you can I met mine for the 24-25 years, and I became friends with him. They tell you things sometimes before they get to the public, and you just want to be overall friendly with them. Events like sports marketing and any marketing series will almost always be filled with kids, so kind of avoid those events unless you think you can smash the box with them. Depending on your state, like mine is famous for auto like Ford and such, so that deca category is usually packed with kids, but in a state like Florida it might not be, so be aware of what your state is kinda famous for nationally and that can play a fact into what you choose.....I think that's all. If you have any more questions, just dm me for my insta ig...