This Tuesday Tipster is for Secondary chapters only. The weekly updates will probably continue to be long until after all the SLC deadlines have passed. You may want to print this message since there is a lot to read.

UPCOMING DEADLINES
The following items must be postmarked on or before tomorrow (Wednesday, February 1, 2012):
1. SLC Registration

2. Special Needs Request Form

3. SLC Hotel Reservation Listing

4. Pre-submitted Contestant Materials (See previous Tuesday Tipsters for more details)

CTE MONTH
February is Career/Technical Education Month. What is your chapter doing to promote business education throughout your school and in your community? I strongly encourage you to plan some sort of activity or multiple activities to promote business education. Make sure your school administrators, students' parents, school counselors, and legislators are aware of the positive impact business education and career/technical education has on student development. Although we aren't part of "traditional" academics, we play an important role in establishing a foundation for success in ALL careers. Visit http://www.ffbe.org/ps1.html for promotional strategies for your program. Click on each business educator's name to read his/her idea.

BPA WEEK: FEBRUARY 12-18
BPA week is next week…February 12-18 and it is the best time for your chapter to promote your chapter and conduct fundraising projects. If you go to http://www.bpa.org, you can see the opportunities and which days hold certain events.

FILE UPLOADING AFTER SUBMITTING SLC REGISTRATION
You do not have to wait to click the "Submit Conference Registration" link if you think you will not be able to upload student files after you have done so. You will still have file uploading privileges even after clicking the link and submitting the registration. Don’t delay clicking that link and submitting your conference registration just because you’re waiting to upload files.

PRE-SUBMITTED EVENTS
The following is a list of events that must be pre-submitted. The contestant materials must be submitted on or before 11:59 PM tomorrow! Review to previous weekly updates and the SLC Documents page for details.

The pre-submitted events are as follows:
Administrative Support Research Project-Individual
Advanced Interview Skills
Desktop Publishing
Economic Research Project-Individual
Economic Research Project-Team
Entrepreneurship
Global Marketing Team
Graphic Design Promotion***
Interview Skills
Web Application Team
Web Site Design Team

***Sent via U.S. mail postmarked on or before tomorrow!

NEW SLC REGISTRATION PROCESSING PROCEDURES
Since the payment section of the BPA Scheduler Web site is now set up in such a way that you can enter and save your registration dollar amounts, you no longer need to mail anything to the state office UNTIL you are ready to submit a check for payment. Once your check is ready, please mail the SLC Registration Payment Summary/Student Listing printout and your check or money order to the State Office.

If you are paying via credit card, you do NOT need to mail any sort of hard copy documentation of your SLC Registration Payment Summary/Student Listing printout.

We no longer need you to mail hard copies of your hotel reservation listing. We will print those documents from the BPA Scheduler Web site.

STOP: Please read this section again so you can make sure you understand if you do or do not need to mail anything to the state office in terms of SLC registration.

SLC SHUTTLE BUS
Visit http://www.michiganbpa.org/slc-documents for the SLC shuttle bus schedule to help determine if your students have any schedule conflicts.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Save your time and the time of the very busy state office via visiting the frequently asked questions page of our Web site at http://www.michiganbpa.org/slc-faq.

STUDENTS MUST ATTEND ENTIRE WEEKEND
Remember, the Michigan BPA policy is that in order for a student to compete at the SLC, he/she must be a registered and paid hotel guest for the entire conference weekend (minimum Friday and Saturday nights). This conference is about more than just competition. The entire conference includes leadership workshops, networking, service projects, the general sessions (opening, dinner, and awards), and much more. This applies to ALL students. There should not be any back-and-forth travel because this makes you, your school, and BPA liable if anything unfortunate may happen. As stated on page 6 of the SLC registration booklet, anyone who is registered for the conference and discovers they cannot stay at the hotel for the entire weekend will be eligible for a partial refund only. We appreciate everyone's cooperation in this matter.

MAKING REGISTRATION CORRECTIONS, ADDITIONS, ALTERNATES, AND SUBSTITUTIONS
Visit http://www.michiganbpa.org/slc-documents and download the "Delegate Addendum Form" in order to submit corrections, additions, alternates, and substitutions to your state conference registration form.

SLC REGISTRATION CONFIRMATIONS/RECEIPTS
All conference registrations are being processed at the present time. Confirmation/receipts will be sent via e-mail once your registration is processed. These confirmation messages will be sent to only ONE of advisor's e-mail addresses listed on your registration form (if you listed more than one e-mail address). Please be patient in terms of receiving your confirmation/receipt. There are more than 130 chapters that attend the SLC and each registration is processed one at a time.

DRESS CODE
Don't forget to remind your students about the Michigan BPA dress code. Please follow these guidelines as published in the pre-conference registration booklet. Remember, attire at Saturday's dinner and dance is professional or formal attire.

SPECIAL NEEDS FORMS
Remember, if you have any delegates that have special needs of any kind, you should have submitted a special needs request form with your SLC registration. If you have not done so, please do so immediately. Business Professionals of America will **NOT** be held responsible for providing special needs accommodations if this form is not completed and submitted right away. We cannot make any accommodations for anyone if we are not aware of special arrangements that may be required. Please do not put us in jeopardy of not fulfilling our civil rights obligations.

The special needs request form is submitted online at can be found in your conference registration booklet or online at http://www.michiganbpa.org/slc-special-needs-request.

NLC VIRTUAL COMPETITORS ELIGIBLE FOR SLC
Students who are officially registered to participate in national virtual competitions sponsored by National BPA are eligible to attend the state leadership conference. Please make sure you have a clear plan of activities such student(s) will participate in during the conference (i.e., open events, legacy launchers, college fair, etc.)

CONTESTANT SCHEDULE CONFLICTS
As mentioned at the FLC and as published in the SLC Registration Booklet, we will **NOT** be rescheduling students due to contest conflicts. As printed on page 18 of the SLC registration booklet, students who quality for multiple events that have conflicting times will be allowed to take only one of their events. The next regional qualifier will be permitted to take their spot in the contest they decide to drop. This does **NOT** apply to the following: Saturday’s judged appointment events or the Parliamentary Procedures Concepts-Open Event (for team members only).

PLEASE review all your students contest times now so we can notify the alternate of the event they plan to drop. Please notify your regional advisor AND state office if you have a student dropping a contest because of a particular event might even be someone at your school. Michigan BPA is **NOT** responsible for notifying you of any schedule conflict prior to the conference. If you relied on the state office to catch every single conflict, students who fit this scenario could end up being notified as late as the first day of the conference.

CHAPERONES
Our policy as published on the advisor code of ethics form is that a minimum of two advisors/chaperones is required for ALL chapters. In addition, one advisor and/or chapter is required for every ten students or major portion thereof. (Example: After the 15th student, an additional advisor/chaperone is required, so on and so forth.) During the conference, one chaperone must be designated to remain on your assigned hotel guest room floor at all times. We will contact any school throughout the registration process if they don’t meet this requirement. It is important that we have sufficient supervision at the conference.

Although we appreciate the extra adult supervision, do NOT register an excessive number of chaperones in comparison to the number of students you are bringing (example: two students and 4 adults). Please be conservative, yet follow the policy stated above when making chaperone arrangements.