Fed Challenge Rules and Tips

General Team Rules:

Teams get 15 minutes to deliver their presentations on the current macroeconomic and financial situation, near-term outlook, and monetary policy recommendations.
Five members from each team should be seated at the Board Room table; team alternates should not sit at the table.
Alternate members and faculty advisers must remain in the holding room with their team before the team presents.
Time keeper will provide time cues during the presentation at the two-minute mark and at the end of the presentation and question and answer portion.
Do not identify your college or university when you introduce yourselves to the judges or at any time.
Printed versions of team presentations are discouraged.

Tips:

Prepare for 15 minutes of questions from judges after your presentation.
Carefully review the National Guidelines as they may differ from Regional Guidelines.
Think carefully about what variables you will forecast. What variables does the FOMC forecast? Some variables are crucial to include.
Consider writing out questions that you would pose if you were a judge, and write out answers to those questions. Debate your answers with team members. There are many questions that you can work on now--long before you know what precise situation the macroeconomy will be in on the day of your briefing.
Include some information about economic inclusion. There are myriad possibilities. For example, you could include:
- Unemployment rates by race/ethnicity or gender or educational attainment or geographic area or urban versus rural area
- Wage rates by many of those same groups
- Labor force participation rates
- Information about the labor force activity of persons with disabilities, veterans, previously incarcerated
- Level and changes in educational attainment
- Trends in income or wealth or wage inequality
Consider having each team member "adopt" an FOMC participant. Learn that person’s perspectives, and how they differ from the views of other Committee participants. Read their speeches, testimonies, press conference transcripts, etc.
Watch the Chairman’s press conferences.

Room Rules for Electronic Devices:

With the exception of members of the media and staff, use of cell phones and other electronic devices are not permitted in the Board Room during the competition. If you need to use your electronic device before the competition concludes, please step outside the room.
Communication by electronic device between persons inside or outside a team’s holding room is not permitted and will result in disqualification of that team.
Please do not produce any recordings of the competition.