BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Business Communication provides members with the opportunity to gain knowledge about communication in the business world. This competitive event consists of an objective test. This event aims to inspire members to learn about communication skills in the business world.
Event Overview
Division: High School
Event Type: Individual
Event Category: Objective Test, 100-multiple choice questions (breakdown of question by competencies below)
Objective Test Time: 50 minutes
NACE Connections: Career & Self-Development
Equipment Competitor Must Provide: Sharpened pencil, Conference-provided nametag, Attire that meets the Florida FBLA Dress Code
Objective Test Competencies
· Verbal and nonverbal communication
· Communication concepts
· Written and report application.
· Grammar
· Reading comprehension
· Editing and proofreading
· Word definition and usage
· Punctuation and capitalization
· Spelling
· Digital communication
District
Check with your District leadership for District-specific competition information.
State
Eligibility
· FBLA membership dues are paid by 11:59 pm Eastern Time on December 1 (or earlier date specified by District Director) of the current program year.
· Members may compete in an event at the State Leadership Conference (SLC) more than once if they have not previously placed in the top 10 of that event at the National Leadership Conference (NLC). If a member places in the top 10 of an event at the NLC, they are no longer eligible to compete in that event.
· Members must be registered for the SLC and pay the state conference registration fee in order to participate in competitive events.
· Members must stay in an official FBLA hotel to be eligible to compete.
· Each district may be represented by participant(s) based on the Florida FBLA scaled quota system found on the Florida FBLA website.
· Each member can only compete in one individual/team event and one chapter event (American Enterprise Project, Community Service Project, Local Chapter Annual Business Report, Partnership with Business Project).
· If competitors are late for an objective test, they may be either disqualified or permitted to begin late with no extension of the time as scheduled.
· Participants must adhere to the Florida FBLA dress code established by the Florida Board of Directors or they will not be permitted to participate in the competitive event.
Recognition
· The number of competitors will determine the number of winners. The maximum number of winners for each competitive event is 5.
Event Administration
· This event is an objective test administered at the SLC.
· No reference or study materials may be brought to the testing site.
Tie Breaker
· Ties are broken by comparing the correct number of answers to the last 10 questions on the test. If a tie remains, answers to the last 20 questions on the test will be reviewed to determine the winner. If a tie remains, the competitor who completed the test in a shorter amount of time will place higher.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
· FBLA meets the criteria specified in the Americans with Disabilities Act for all competitors with accommodations submitted through the conference registration system by the registration deadline.
Penalty Points
· Competitors may be disqualified if they violate the Competitive Event Guidelines or the Honor Code.
Electronic Devices
· All electronic devices such as cell phones, headphones, and watches of any type are not to be brought to the testing site.
National
Be sure to see the National guidelines at: https://www.fbla.org/divisions/fbla/fbla-competitive-events/
Study Guide: Competencies and Tasks
A. Communication Concepts
1. Describe the forms of communication.
2. Identify the five C’s of communication.
3. Discuss the role of letters, memos, and reports in business.
4. Manage telephone communications and use appropriate techniques to gather and record information.
5. Discuss communication techniques as they apply to internal and external customers.
6. Describe and analyze the impact of cultural diversity on the communication process.
7. Employ appropriate communication strategies for dealing with dissatisfied customers (e.g., face-to-face discussions, electronic correspondence, and writing).
8. Discuss the positive and negative aspects of the office “grapevine” and office politics.
9. Discuss discrimination and sexual harassment and its implications in the workplace.
10. Use bias-free language (e.g., gender, race, religion, physical challenges, and sexual orientation).
11. Plan a meeting to achieve an identified purpose (e.g., schedule the facilities, arrange for a speaker, and notify the participants).
12. Demonstrate effective negotiation and consensus-building techniques to provide or obtain appropriate feedback and resolve conflicts.
13. Evaluate appropriate and inappropriate methods of interacting with others in the workplace, including team-based workgroups.
14. Define and differentiate workplace relationships including supervisor, employee, client, and team member.
15. Define and interpret upward, downward, and horizontal communication and organizational structures.
16. Investigate and define the characteristics and advantages/disadvantages of team-based work groups including members, roles, and expectations.
B. Written and Report Applications
1. Produce organized, coherent, and developed paragraphs with a clear topic sentence, effective transitions, and a relevant conclusion.
2. Describe and demonstrate the stages of the writing process to include planning, writing, editing, proofreading, and revising.
3. Write and design and document (e.g., memo, letter, report) using the correct style, format and content (e.g., letter, memorandum, report, e-mail) that is appropriate for the type of correspondence (e.g., persuasive, positive, negative).
4. Plan, compose, and produce instructions/directions, and descriptions.
5. Conduct research using the five basic steps: planning the search, locating sources of information, organizing the information, evaluating the sources, and using the information to prepare a short report on a business topic.
6. Identify and utilize traditional and electronic research sources such as encyclopedias, reference manuals, periodicals, internet, etc.
7. Interpret, analyze, and evaluate information for relevance, purpose, timeliness, and authenticity.
8. Document all sources (e.g., print and electronic) using current standards.
9. Distinguish between paraphrasing, documentation, and plagiarism.
10. Comprehend copyright laws and their applications to text, visual art, design, music and photography.
11. Use scanning hardware and layout, design, and graphics software to enhance documents.
12. Compose and evaluate common types of business reports including informational reports, news releases, proposals, and policy statements.
13. Prepare presentation documents to include publicity, agenda, handouts, follow-up report, etc.
C. Reading Comprehension
1. Read and follow directions.
2. Demonstrate reading comprehension by restating or summarizing.
3. Differentiate between fact and opinion.
4. Summarize the important points of a document.
5. Identify and explain enhancements such as graphs, charts, tables, and illustrations/photographs for visual impact.
6. Interpret information from articles, manuals, etc.
7. Select the appropriate reading method (e.g., skimming, scanning, speed-reading, and in-depth reading) for a particular situation.
8. Identify factors that affect readability of text (e.g., sentence length, word selection, and type size).
9. Investigate the need for various reading skills in the workplace such as reading for information, summarization, drawing conclusions, making judgments, and following directions.
10. Evaluate the quality and relatability of source information.
11. Analyze information presented in a variety of formats such as tables, lists, and figures.
12. Use note taking skills that incorporate critical listening and reading techniques.
D. Grammar
1. Describe and identify the eight parts of speech in context sentences.
2. Identify the difference between adverbs and adjectives.
3. Identify the categories of pronouns and uses of reflexive pronouns.
4. Identify features of prepositions and uses of prepositional phrases.
5. Identify types of conjunctions.
6. Use a verb that correctly agrees with the subject of a sentence.
7. Describe the types of verbs and demonstrate the six tenses.
8. Use irregular verbs and their different forms properly and distinguish transitive and intransitive verbs.
9. Identify subjects, predicates, verbs, adverbs, pronouns, direct and indirect objects, and prepositional and infinitive phrases in sentences.
10. Select pronouns properly and use them correctly in a sentence.
11. Correctly use a possessive noun in a sentence.
12. Create the plural form of a noun.
13. Identify and correct misplaced and dangling modifiers.
14. Describe and write the four kinds of sentences – declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory.
15. Recognize types of sentence fragments, run-on sentences, and double negatives.
16. Recognize and correct problems in grammar and usage including, but not limited to, completeness, agreement, reference, and form.
17. Write clear, descriptive sentences in a variety of sentence patterns (e.g., simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex).
18. Write logical, coherent phrases, sentences, and paragraphs. Incorporate correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
E. Editing and Proofreading
1. Proofread a paragraph and identify spelling, grammatical, and punctuation errors.
2. Proofread written communications with errors, using proofreader’s marks.
3. Proofread and edit business documents to ensure they are clear, correct, concise, complete, consistent, and courteous.
4. Review and edit for the effectiveness of word choices and sentence structure.
F. Verbal and Nonverbal Communications
1. Demonstrate effective active listening and identify major barriers to listening.
2. Listen objectively and record major points of a spear’s message.
3. Explain the differences between verbal and nonverbal communication.
4. List examples of how nonverbal messages have different meanings in various cultures.
5. Identify and interpret the major types of verbal and nonverbal communication.
6. Describe and demonstrate basic speaking skills and their implications in the communication process.
7. Discuss various methods of presentation delivery including verbal, written, multimedia, teleconferencing, and interactive.
8. Design effective presentations to include multimedia components of presentation software packages.
9. Identify and evaluate different types of presentations to include information, persuasive, and debate.
10. Use proper techniques to make an oral presentation.
11. Ask questions to clarify information.
12. Describe and analyze problems and barriers with differences in languages and customs on business operations.
13. Provide a clear description of a simple system or process or give clear, concise directions.
14. Express opinions and discuss issues positively and tactfully.
G. Word Definition and Usage
1. Recognize how word selection and usage affects communication.
2. Recognize slang, jargon, cliches, and common errors in word usage.
3. Use proper sentence structure.
4. Illustrate the proper way to divide words.
5. Identify homophones, synonyms, and homonyms.
6. Illustrate the ability to use a dictionary and thesaurus as an aid to spelling, pronunciation, and meaning.
7. Use contextual clues to recognize word meaning.
H. Punctuation and Capitalization
1. Determine appropriate use of periods, question marks, and exclamation points.
2. Explain the use of commas, colons, and semicolons.
3. Recognize and correct problems in punctuation including, but not limited to, commas, semicolons, and apostrophes.
4. Use apostrophes to indicate contractions and possessive constructions.
5. Use quotation marks to set off the words of a speaker or writer and to set off titles of short works and use punctuation with quotation marks.
6. Define the grammatical rules that govern the use of special punctuation marks such as the dash, hyphen, and parentheses.
7. Use appropriately ellipses, italics, and underlining.
8. Identify how to capitalize sentences, proper nouns, abbreviations, adjectives, and titles correctly.
9. Write and use numbers according to standard practice in a sentence.
I. Spelling
1. Illustrate the ability to spell correctly the words regularly used in writing.
2. Illustrate the ability to use a dictionary and thesaurus as an aid to spelling, pronunciation, and meaning.
3. Identify prefixes and suffixes.
4. Apply spelling rules to homonyms and commonly confusing words such as effect and affect.
5. Demonstrate application of spelling rules such as I before e, silent e, words ending in y, etc.
J. Digital Communications (e-mail, messaging, netiquette, etc.)
1. Identify various forms of electronic communication, including new and emerging communication technologies.
2. Demonstrate and select the appropriate use of electronic messaging technologies (e.g., voice mail, conference calls, chat rooms, and e-mail).
3. Manage e-mail to include composing and sending a message; retrieving, reading, and printing a message; and sending an attachment by e-mail.
4. Operate an e-mail account while using folders and address books.
5. Examine proper use of e-mail and other appropriate internet/intranet communication capabilities, including business-related terminology and language.
6. Explain the concept of copyright laws and their applications to text, visual art, design, music, and photography.
7. Recognize the legal implications of violating federal and state laws in multimedia/digital publishing.
8. Apply the etiquette rules for electronic messaging (e.g., e-mail, cell phone, and voice mail).
9. Discuss ways to keep data secure from theft and destruction.
10. Identify and describe new and emerging communication technologies.