How does the KCBS verify CBJ's
 

At a contest, how does the organizer or Rep determine if a person is a CBJ in good standing or just somebody that took the course and stopped paying dues? If the KCBS is going to post info on CBJ's at a contest they need some process to ensure people are current. Who is actually responsible for doing the verification and does the KCBS supply undated info to each contest?

I did find out from Ed Roith that there are over 6000 CBJ's in good standing and as 8800 members were elgiible to vote at least 2/3 of members are CBJ's. Of course I'm a CBJ and I haven't judged since 2000.

I'd also be interested to know how many people have been trained as CBJ's. Anybody out there took a class recently want to post their CBJ #? I figure this is a big part of member retention and if we're looking at getting new members we need to understand how good a job we do retaining existing members.

Bill losh #21001
Dianne Losh #21011

I did notice on kcbs website now has Judges listed there We both took our cert last feb 07 we judged like 3 comps last year and judging 4 this year.

I'm taking the class on maerch 1st. My wife will be going as well. There's supposedly 72 people signed up for the class.

About a year ago, the BOD voted to issue CBJ cards. These would be presented at contest to the check in person. In addition organizers can send their list of CBJ's to the KCBS office and they will verify.

We have been told by Carolyn the cards should be in the possession of all CBJ by April 08. So hopefully this program will be fully instituted before the major contest season begins.

Yours in Q
Merl

Remember the 08 Rules and Critiques on now on the KCBS.US site under resources.

But this card would be good for 2008 and if you're membership expired in June then you'd need a new card. Not trying to be difficult here. An annual card would be better than nothing but a long way from assuring CBJ's are members.

And I'm assuming from your note that the Rep would handle check in. Now the person without a card could still judge but without proof they can't be counted as a CBJ is you are doing stats on CBJ's at contests.

Ok, so I have a question on the cards? A CBJ is attending a contest on June 1st, he presents his card and it expired in May sometime. Do the teams now want the organizer to not let him/her judge and pull a person off the street? Or do we let the expired CBJ go ahead and judge! In judging also there will always be some non certified judges as you may have to use a few sponsors as they do pay the bills. To me the cards are a waste of time if you dont know till the conetst if the judge is a member in good standing, right?

I agree with Arlie. But if the KCBS is publishing stats on CBJ's and you must be a member in good standing to be a CBJ then it needs to be verified. After all over 15,000 people out there are no longer members but are CBJ's just not in good standing. They have the name tag and shirt and all.

Now on the marketing side - how do we keep CBJ's renewing their membership? To me that's a huge market.

Why would an event organizer care whether someone has paid the dues to the KCBS for that year or not?

Shouldn't the concern be if the person judging is an educated and qualified judge?

Seriously, if I'm helping to run an event the last thing I'm going to be worried about is cracking the whip about dues payment.

If they have a faded, worn-out id card or their name on an outdated list, that's good enough for me.

Eric

Eric - I agree but supposedly you will have to be a current KCBS member in order to judge now? ..not sure if thats been written in stone yet or not.Im jsut going by different threads Ive read on the subject....not saying I agree with it either

In order to be a CBJ you must be a member in good standing. But you sure don't need to be a CBJ to judge and nobody plans to change that. But I'm reading that they will post stats on how many CBJ's are at a contest and that means being a member at that time. It's a challenge that the KCBS still needs to address.

Personally I don't care if people are CBJ's or not. I'd like to see better judging instruction before a contest however.

you sure?
ive read a few threads saying they were trying to pass this

This may be a little out of line for here, but here I go....

If they are going to make it mandatory for a competitor to have up to date membership, or pay extra to cook, they why shouldn't the judging staff be a member as well?

If the judges renewal is sent out like the general membership, they receive it in plenty of time to renew before it expires. If we don't get an extension of time, why should they?

If it is going to KCBS, and it is almost mandatory for a cooking team to be a member in good standing, then judges should as well. What is good for the goose is good for the gander... just my opinion.

I'm not sure if 15,000 is an accurate number. I became a CBJ in April 06 and I'm 9009, and I know judges who took the class in April 07 who are in the 20,000s. To add 11,000 cbjs in a year the bullsheet would be nothing but new members and cbj classes. I know a judge who's # is in the 15000s-16000s so they didn't jump the teens entirely, but something weird happened to the numbers. Maybe I'm wrong and there are 15,000 former cbjs out there.

I just took the class yesterday in Jefferson City, MO

Mike Lake was our instructor and he said that a database is in the works at KCBS headquarters for tracking CBJs This was apparently instituted because a lot of judges are no-shows at contests where they've offered to judge.

At some point before the competition, the organizers, reps and headquarters are all going to make sure the judges signed up are people who actually show up.

ALSO - in the red covered book I received as part of the class, there's a page at the back to document all of the contests I judge at. It says right at the top that a judge who is unknown to the contest officials may need to produce identification. This sounds like to me that, if I have a CBJ card with a number on it, that I may still need to produce some supporting documentation that I am who I say I am before I can be allowed to judge.

In the book it also states very clearly and in bold type at the top of the Instructions for Judges page that "You must maintain your KCBS membership to keep your CBJ status".

I believe that, in most cases, CBJ's are scheduled and verified ahead of the competition. The only time this might present a problem is if an organizer needs judges at the last minute because of no-shows and presses someone into service.

From what I learned yesterday, the KCBS has this potential problem covered.

But that's just my two cents . . .

P.S. Competitors are NOT required to be KCBS members in order to compete. That exact question was asked yesterday at the class.

Ford, I think that you are counting the judges by their CBJ#, right? In the past you got a KCBS# when you joined up and then if & when you took the class, you got a separate CBJ#, so that you had two different numbers from the KCBS. At least that's what I've been told.

When I joined (and took the class at the same time) last year, I was given the same number for both. I'm thinking that they changed the numbering system for judges sometime before April 2007, thus leading to the current "high number" of CBJs.

If I'm wrong on this, I hope one of the BoD will chime in.