Help Desk
Category: Objective Test/Presentation
Type: Individual
Grade Level: 9-12
Deadline/Testing: At School Testing: February 20 - March 15
Event Guidelines
Objective Test:
- Members will take the online objective test at the local school at the designated time prior to the State Leadership Conference.
- A proctor will administer the event using a prescribed set of instructions by a person other than the FBLA chapter adviser. The proctor can be another staff member, such as the technology coordinator, guidance counselor, or teacher.
- The state office will email chapter advisers the instructions as well as the logon and password information prior to the testing dates.
- Members may use their own cordless calculators; however, no graphing calculators, PDAs, phones, or other memory storage devices are allowed.
- The eight (8) finalists with the highest test scores will be scheduled for the performance component of the event.
- The order of performance will be drawn at random by an impartial person at the state office and announced prior to the conference.
Performance:
- Competitors will meet for instructions 15 minutes prior to their competition times. Ten (10) minutes before the scheduled performance time, each participant will receive the scenario.
- Two (2) 4” x 6” note cards will be provided for each competitor and may be used during the preparation and performance. Information may be written on both sides of the note cards. Note cards will be collected following the presentation.
- No reference materials, visual aids, or electronic devices may be brought to or used during the preparation or performance.
- Competitors should introduce themselves, describe the situation, make their recommendations, and summarize their cases.
- All questions raised in the case must be addressed during the presentation.
- The competitor has five (5) minutes to interact with a panel of judges and demonstrate how he/she would solve the problem.
- A timekeeper will stand at four (4) minutes and again at five (5) minutes.
- This event is not open to conference attendees.
Competency:
- Help desk concepts
- help desk operations
- people component: help desk roles and responsibilities
- process component: help desk process and procedures
- information component: help desk performance measure
- help desk setting
- customer support as a profession
- management processes
Eligibility:
All FBLA members in Grades 9 through 12 are eligible to compete.
Judging
The top eight (8) participants with the highest score will advance to the performance portion of the event. A panel of judges will evaluate the performances of these finalists and determine the winners. Places are determined by weighting 20% test scores and 80% performance scores. The objective test score will be used to determine the final rank in case of a tie. All judges’ decisions are final.
The objective test score will determine honorable mention winners for participants not advancing to the performance portion of the event. Ties on the objective test will be broken based on time.
Who Goes to Nationals?
The first-, second-, and third-place winners will represent Nebraska in the Help Desk event at the National Leadership Conference, provided they have not placed in the top 10 for this event at a previous National Leadership Conference.