Dear Members,
After successfully trialling our competition changes on Monday night, plus feedback from members we will be following the below schedule on Competition night from now on.
Below this schedule I have explained the rationale for these changes for those who would like to read it. Hopefully this will answer any questions.
Please note that our starting time has changed from 7:00 pm to 6:30 pm.
- 6:00 pm prints will need to be on the stands (read below for those who have a problem here).
- 6:30 pm our judging will commence with judging the digitals first.
- 7:30 pm we will have a break.
- 7:45 pm we will start the print judging.
- 8:45 pm we will finish up and start to pack up. (If members could place their used glasses in the glass trays provided this would be very helpful and much appreciated).
As we like to be finished around 9:00 pm this schedule will give us 15 minutes up our sleeves if we run a bit overtime in any area.
Image titles will no longer be put on the front of our prints.
Rationale for Changes:
As we all know, at our competition night last Monday night we trialled some changes to how we run our competitions. We then invited members to give us their thoughts.
We have had very favourable feedback. The only suggestions that could be seen as being negative were that some members are disappointed that judges will no longer be giving written messages and that it was perhaps a little rushed, especially when judging the digitals.
Whilst we do acknowledge that some members are disappointed with no longer receiving written comments, the majority of our members liked hearing the comments on the night. (Those of us who have been members for a while will remember that this was how we previously did the digital judging at our club).
Also, please understand that these changes were made in response to feedback received from members. This has already been outlined in previous emails.
We cannot ask the judges to provide both written and verbal comments.
We have suggested that members who cannot attend the meeting find a friend to write down the judge’s comments and relay them.
As far as the problem of things being a little rushed, we are going to address this by starting half an hour earlier.
We have asked members if they thought the earlier starting time would be a problem and everyone who has replied has said that they are fine to start at 6:30.
One member who replied suggested that some members may have to still be eating their meal when we start.
For this reason, as well as a couple of other reasons, we are going to reverse the order of the judging.
Moving forward we will be starting with the digital presentation and comments and awards.
After the break we will then have the print judging.
Reasons why it has been decided to reverse the order of the judging include;
* Members who cannot arrive early enough to have their meal finished when we start will still be eating when the judging commences. As the room is slightly darkened during the digital presentation it is felt that this would be less disruptive if members were still eating. (I’m sure there’ll still be enough light for the members still eating to see their meals).
* With the new starting time of 6:30 it will mean that if prints are being entered that they will need to be on the stands at 6:00 pm for the judge to have time to view them before we begin. We realise that this may be difficult for some members and that these members would appreciate not being pressured to have their prints on the stand by 6:00 pm. (For the few members who cannot have their prints there early the judge will have an opportunity to view these later arriving prints during the break).
* Also, it has been pointed out that standing up judging and making comments in front of the audience can be quite an overwhelming experience, especially for new judges.
Judging the digitals isn’t quite so confronting as the room is darkened and the judge is viewing the computer whilst delivering the comments and awards.
It is felt that judging the digitals first could be a sort of “icebreaker” for the judge and that they then may feel more comfortable and relaxed when live judging the prints.
We will continue with leaving the image names off the front of our prints.
Yes, we’re aware that there are still places eg: the print stand layouts, where the judges could still see the name if the really wanted to. However, we do believe not having the names displayed on the front of the image will help encourage our judges to judge our prints on the strength of the print rather than on its name.
Thank you everyone for your input and cooperation.
