Notice to contest cooks!

moocow

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It was brought to my attention that we needed a thread for this to so I will start with a few and you guys ad more as they come to you.

1.) Send in your entries sooner than later. It is very hard to plan a contest when you are worried you might not have enough teams. I know of several contests that canceled this year because the got worried they would loose money.

2.) Don't blame the organizer for bad weather! Grass turns into mud in a hurry and they have no control of it. Be prepared and deal with it.

3.) Don't ask stupid questions the have already been addressed in an info packet! If no information packets provided feel free to ask.

4.) Worry about your self, don't complain because somebody's spot is better than yours or he is closer to turn ins than you are.

5.) If you have a problem don't be an A-hole, it won't help!

6.) Don't make the organizer have to tell you to keep it down after quiet hours, you know better. Be courteous!

7.) Offer volunteers water, beer and food. They are doing this for free and you need them!

8.) Judges are our Friends, not our enemies! Invite them into your spot on Friday night and ask how the food was after turn ins on Saturday.

9.) If a contest was good, help spread the word for the organizer. Most of them work there butt off.

10.) Interact with the public, most of them don't know how it all works.
 
Way to go Shane! :-D :-D :-D

And a special "Thanx" for you point #8 :idea:.
 
Yeahhhh, no. I don't hand out libations to people I don't know. Volunteers fueled by beer on golf carts or Gators is a really bad idea.

Water/pop before turn ins, beer after! I think that is a fair compromise. It also a good way to get to know people.
 
And, if you don't mind, a bit of a modification to 3:

READ the info packet and/or the contest flyer!

I *know* a lot of the stuff is going to be the same as the last contest you cooked, but every contest has its own particulars - don't be shocked if you find that a contest won't let the cooks leave immediately after awards for one reason or another, you've got to park your truck about a mile from your cooksite, etc. If you still have questions after reading the packet, ASK.

Lynn H.
 
It was brought to my attention that we needed a thread for this to so I will start with a few and you guys ad more as they come to you.

1.) Send in your entries sooner than later. It is very hard to plan a contest when you are worried you might not have enough teams. I know of several contests that canceled this year because the got worried they would loose money.

Thank you Shane. If I could add, when a contest has a deadline to enter the contest, make sure you have signed up BEFORE the deadline, not AFTER the deadline. Finding spaces, judges, and all the extras for a team that decides to enter one day before the start of a cookoff is very hard on the organizer. Thanks again Shane, you are a good friend.
 
13. You are responsible for your guest. Your arse should get DQed, if one of your guest or you for that matter is disturbing other teams due to their inability to hold their liquor and the organizer has to be called. :mmph:
 
Yeahhhh, no. I don't hand out libations to people I don't know. Volunteers fueled by beer on golf carts or Gators is a really bad idea.

Really?

Well what about the guy that has been lugging away all the bags full of trash and would like to have a frosty one before he heads home? Or the electrician that made sure the breakers didn't trip during the downpour in the middle of the night?

Number 7 doesn't say "get strangers operating machinery intoxicated". Offering a volunteer food drink or a beer certainly does not make for "volunteers fueled by beer"
 
If I may.....

11. Be mindful that not everyone wants to hear your music as much as you do!!!

As a spectator that is a huge drag at comps. I do not know what you cooks have to put up with on Friday night so I have no comment. I will say the DJ / team need to keep the volume down a lot ( talk about wanting to cut the cord ) its annoying as heck!
 
It was brought to my attention that we needed a thread for this to so I will start with a few and you guys ad more as they come to you.

1.) Send in your entries sooner than later. It is very hard to plan a contest when you are worried you might not have enough teams. I know of several contests that canceled this year because the got worried they would loose money.

2.) Don't blame the organizer for bad weather! Grass turns into mud in a hurry and they have no control of it. Be prepared and deal with it.

3.) Don't ask stupid questions the have already been addressed in an info packet! If no information packets provided feel free to ask.

4.) Worry about your self, don't complain because somebody's spot is better than yours or he is closer to turn ins than you are.

5.) If you have a problem don't be an A-hole, it won't help!

6.) Don't make the organizer have to tell you to keep it down after quiet hours, you know better. Be courteous!

7.) Offer volunteers water, beer and food. They are doing this for free and you need them!

8.) Judges are our Friends, not our enemies! Invite them into your spot on Friday night and ask how the food was after turn ins on Saturday.

9.) If a contest was good, help spread the word for the organizer. Most of them work there butt off.

10.) Interact with the public, most of them don't know how it all works.


very much agree.....what about offering Patron to anyone that walks in our tent?....is that over the top?
 
I hope I dont ruffle feathers here but, how bout if you have a generator that is louder than a train maybe keep it closer to where you are trying to sleep rather than close to my canopy I MIGHT be trying to close my eyes under
 
Appreciate this thread. Good companion to thread to organizers.

Really like #8. We are working on that.

Timely team registration makes it easier to match judges to number of teams, even though I understand not wanting to part with registration fee til the last moment.
 
Please add, keep your children tethered or otherwise contained so they do continually run through competitors cooksite. Yesterday one of my neighbor's visitors nearly ran into our WSM while being chased by another child.

Benny
 
Shane - All great points! Amazing how we as a society have forgotten common courtesy and respect.
 
As a spectator that is a huge drag at comps. I do not know what you cooks have to put up with on Friday night so I have no comment. I will say the DJ / team need to keep the volume down a lot ( talk about wanting to cut the cord ) its annoying as heck!

There are only a few competitors with the loud music at each event, but so far we seem to be really good at being put next to them. It puts us in the spot of either having to say something, or put up with it. Sometimes even both.

The bands are a whole other story. I understand that comps are usually part of a festival of some kind, but does the live music really need to be that loud? To make matters worse these bands are usually terrible, and have the mic for the drums turned way up to help cover up how bad the rest of them are.
 
Way to go Shane! :-D :-D :-D

And a special "Thanx" for you point #8 :idea:.

Some props to Dave. He actaullay made a point to visit with me at my first contest a couple of years ago. Helped me connect with some other teams to see their set-ups and talked wiht me about comp cooking.
 
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