How To Participate

1) Register a Team

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NEW, A team will NOT become active until the chapter adviser activates the team by visiting the adviser only area.

In order to participate in the VBC, FBLA members must first register for a team. Teams may consist of 1-3 members. There is no limit on the amount of teams that may register from one chapter. A FBLA member may be registered on no more than one team from the Management track and one team from the Personal Finance track and may participate in both tracks simultaneously.

Teams may register starting at 9AM EST on Monday, October 13, and may continue registering throughout the last day of the Challenge (Friday, March 6). Once FBLA members register for their teams, the team's chapter adviser must log in to the adviser area in order to approve the team. Once the team has been approved, the team and the adviser will receive an email which contains the team code. The same team code may be used for both the first and the second qualifying round; you should not register for a new team for each round.

The team code is used to identify teams when scores are uploaded. The team code does not identify the team when competition software or files are downloaded. You will need a valid email address to register a team. The email address you enter will be used to email you the team code as well as for any correspondence that may take place during the competition including critical updates.

After participants register for teams and their adviser approves the team, the next step is to determine software needs for the competition. If a school does not own licensing to the Virtual Business - Management 2.0 software, a free competition version will be made available. However, the software will not be made available until the first day of team registration (Monday, October 13 at 9AM EST).

2) Download Software

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In order to participate in the Management Track of the FBLA VBC, students utilize the Virtual Business - Management 2.0 simulation software. Schools that already own the school edition version of the software must have Version 2.0.1 of Virtual Business - Management installed in order to use the software to participate in the event. If you are not currently running Version 2.0.1, please visit our Support page to download and install the new version. After you complete the download, please proceed to Step 3.

Schools that do not own the full version of the software must download a limited function version of the FBLA VBC competition software. You may download this software on as many computers as you wish (at school and at home).

Please see the system requirements for this software product by clicking on our Products link. Because of the wide variation in computer systems, Knowledge Matters assumes no responsibility for the installation of the software on participants’ computers.

3) Compete in a Challenge

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The FBLA VBC contains two qualifying rounds called Challenge 1 (Oct. 27 - Nov. 21) and Challenge 2 (Feb. 9 - Mar. 6). During Challenge 1, students will be able to manage Hire Employees, Supervise Employees and Compensate Employees. During Challenge 2, students will be able to manage Sales Management, Fleet Management and Workflow Management. For each Challenge there is a different competition file. The competition file may be run on the school edition version of the software (if you own licensing to the program) or on the competition version (which you can download in Step 2) of the software.

NOTE: The file for Challenge 1 will not be available on the Knowledge Matters website until 10AM EST on Monday, October 27. It will remain available on the site until 5PM EST on Friday, November 21. The file for Challenge 2 will not be available on the Knowledge Matters website until 10AM EST on Monday, February 9. It will remain available on the site until 5PM EST on Friday, March 6.

Each Challenge requires you to manage a different aspect of a distribution center. You will only be able to control the functions being covered during the given Challenge; everything else will be controlled adequately for you automatically.

NOTE: All of the actions found under the Actions menu will be intentionally grayed out except for the actions that you are focusing on in that particular Challenge.

Each Challenge has an assignment to view before beginning the competition. Please read the assignment carefully before starting. You may reopen and run the current Challenge file as many time as you wish within the Challenge period.

4) Upload your Score

The current Challenge file will run for one virtual year and will then stop automatically. You will then be prompted to upload your score from within the program. A message window will walk you through the process and you will need your team code in order to upload your score. Teams will be ranked based on their warehouse's cumulative profit at the conclusion of one virtual year. The cumulative profit may be found on the Vital Signs report or by looking at the sign on top of your warehouse in the Aerial view.

You must be connected to the Internet in order to upload your score. If you are working on a computer that does not have an Internet connection, you may save your file and open it at a later time. If you have to open your file at a later time, click the "Go" button within the program so that the upload window will reappear. If you have trouble uploading your score, we do provide an alternate email method which will also be described in the upload window.

You may upload scores as often as you would like during the Challenge because the website will always rank you based on your best score. After uploading your score, you may visit our ranking page to see how you rank nationally and by state.

Scores will be accepted starting at 10AM EST on the first day of a qualifying round and will be accepted until 5PM EST on the last day of a qualifying round. No score submissions will be accepted after 5PM EST on the last day of a qualifying round.

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