Dear Organizer - Awards

[AZScott]

Post pictures on the web of all who walked

Amen. How many contests have you been to where they took pictures of all those that walked or won? A lot. Have you ever seen those photos? Nope. And when you ask, no one knows where they are. It's silly. I don't need my photo taken unless you are planning on making it available to me.

 

[ParkAvenue_2]

Announce where the teams you are calling are from
During registration, just note the hometown for each team, then read that off when you make the announcements. Sometimes teams travel long distances to attend an event, and it is a way of expressing appreciation to them, and it is normally of interest to everyone else. Sometimes a hometown team takes the GC, and it's nice to celebrate that fact as well.

Make the Teams Comfortable
Provide complimentary snacks and beverages to all in attendance at the awards ceremony, and have it in an air-conditioned room when it's 100F+ outside.

This second one is tongue-in-cheek, but we do one contest each year that actually DOES this, and you'd better believe it makes a difference about our decision to come back the following year when we put our schedule together in the winter. :thumb:

 

[Gowan]

The three second personal story before naming the awardee is annoying.

I appreciate it when the calls are more personal than just reading the team name off a sheet. However, the time for the background tidbits is *after* the call, to fill the 15 seconds while the team makes their way to the stage.

It's how I do it, and I think it keeps things moving, avoids the awkward pauses and gives teams that little extra bit of recognition all at once.

 

[Smokesman]

I think any competition with 25 or more teams should always call top 10 in every category and overall...perhaps a KCBS rule!?! Ribbons are nice for 10 - 6 but I believe being recognized for a high placing means more to the team.

 

[Slamdunkpro]

I have heard of instances where a computer problem occurred and took considerable time to get everything correct. No one wants to have errors when presenting the awards, then get called afterwards and told oops, that was not your GC, give it back.

On this note:

Don't lie to the teams
If awards are scheduled for 4 and there is a problem, Tell us! Be honest and realistic with the reschedule. Don't come around at 3:45 and tell us awards will be 20 minutes late when you know damn well that it's going to be at least an hour because they are still just imputing chicken scores because the system crashed, or the person with the checks has a flat tire, or whatever. If it won't be until 5, tell us 5 so we can finish loading out.

 

[Gowan]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I don't like it when the schedule says awards will be at 5pm and they actually start at 4:15. We pace our breakdown based on the published time for awards, and the disruption of having to run to the stage leaving everything half-packed is nearly as bad as having every ready to go and sitting out in the sun for 45 minutes waiting.

Best to set awards giving yourself a reasonable time to prep the scores and then stick to it, IMO.

 

[Podge]

The worst part is when the story give away the identity of the team. MCs need to keep in mind they are anouncing the awards - not the teams.

May favorite mispronunciation was Do-You-Jello! And Kit does kick some ass!

At The jack, 2008, for 10th place sauce, they had anounced it as "Last year's grand champion winner...........................".. So my brother and I stood up, excited and got the ribbon. The anouncer had the wrong team in his mind that won the jack the year before. It sucked. I felt bad for my brother who made the sauce for us, and felt bad for the team that actually deserved that walk. That was 4 years ago, and still got a sore spot from it.

 

[Fat Freddy]

Since I am reading this to be for ALL contest organizers, not just KCBS I will add something that just happened to me.

If you are doing awards earlier than scheduled time *make sure all teams know, not just the teams winning awards*

 

[paydabill]

My biggest one - make sure the person giving out the awards reads the sheet beforehand. Maybe talk to the rep to see the order.

Was at an event about 3 years ago when the announcer thought he was doing chicken - instead was reading the overall list because it was first in the package.

Talk about a muck up!

 

[Slamdunkpro]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I don't like it when the schedule says awards will be at 5pm and they actually start at 4:15. We pace our breakdown based on the published time for awards, and the disruption of having to run to the stage leaving everything half-packed is nearly as bad as having every ready to go and sitting out in the sun for 45 minutes waiting.

Best to set awards giving yourself a reasonable time to prep the scores and then stick to it, IMO.

I'm with ya. They tried to bow to pressure at Gettysburg this year and ended up moving awards up into the middle of the headliner's set. Now they had all the teams there but no stage, no PA and the singer going full blast.

 

[Disconnect]

Gettysburg was a mess all around. I found the awards to be in keeping with everything else. (I think they hit every point from the original post.. band, timing, no pa, etc.) They tried, but almost every organizer tries..

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Sauced!]

My biggest one - make sure the person giving out the awards reads the sheet beforehand. Maybe talk to the rep to see the order.

Was at an event about 3 years ago when the announcer thought he was doing chicken - instead was reading the overall list because it was first in the package.

Talk about a muck up!

Down in Amelia Island FL last weekend the announcer, some local TV guy I think, was clueless. Never said what division, backyard or pro, or category or place when he started calling teams. He announced them as the ' first winner' instead of 5th place Chicken. Did it all the way to the end before finally calling rgc and gc correctly. Worst announcing I've ever seen.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[Pack-A-Smokes]

Down in Amelia Island FL last weekend the announcer, some local TV guy I think, was clueless. Never said what division, backyard or pro, or category or place when he started calling teams. He announced them as the ' first winner' instead of 5th place Chicken. Did it all the way to the end before finally calling rgc and gc correctly. Worst announcing I've ever seen.

That was bad! Hard to believe he is a local news guy and that clueless on how to be an announcer.

 

[TheJackal]

My biggest one - make sure the person giving out the awards reads the sheet beforehand. Maybe talk to the rep to see the order.

Was at an event about 3 years ago when the announcer thought he was doing chicken - instead was reading the overall list because it was first in the package.

Talk about a muck up!

Last year at one contest we were called up and handed a trophy and check and went back to our seats. And then got an "Oh, wait. I think I made a mistake. Can you come back up and give us the trophy and check back?" That sure was fun.

 

[Pack-A-Smokes]

Last year at one contest we were called up and handed a trophy and check and went back to our seats. And then got an "Oh, wait. I think I made a mistake. Can you come back up and give us the trophy and check back?" That sure was fun.

Dang! There is no excuse for that. A couple of years ago in Tryon, NC there were two teams. One was Uncle Chet's and the other was Uncle Jed's Uncle Jed's had to give back two trophies and two checks!

 

[KC_Bobby]

When you call a team up for 1st place chicken and then announce they scored a 180, make sure you call the right team.

 

["Bone to Bark" BBQ]

I would like to echo the point, START AWARDS ON TIME!

 

[Podge]

Checks made out to me... not Moonswiners.. a lot easier to cash.

 

[CBQ]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I don't like it when the schedule says awards will be at 5pm and they actually start at 4:15.

Ya, I have been in the middle of the trailer strapping stuff to the wall and been told "awards in 2 minutes". Great. If you are going to move them up, please, please give us more than 120 seconds notice. I would make sure I wasn't in the middle of something if I had some notice.

 

[CBQ]

If you are doing an add-on contest that uses KCBS scores (such as the 2011 Kingsford Points Chase) don't announce that first. Everyone around me thought I got the GC in one contest last year after hitting 1st in chicken, 3rd in pork, 3rd in brisket, but I knew ahead of time I did not win because they had already announced I was second in Kingsford points.