• Which exhibitor populations is the location likely to draw from?
• Is the facility large enough?
• Is the rent within the budget?
• What cooking and restroom facilities are available?
• Does the building meet any heating/cooling considerations for the time of year?
• Is there adequate parking?

The fact is that exhibitors are not spread out equally along the countryside. Certain areas are home to more exhibitors. Also, breeders in certain areas have historically shown more willingness to drive to shows. One town may be much more successful than another.

If you've never shopped for a space for a rabbit show, you may be in for sticker shock. Yes, it is possible to get a free space, but those are far and few between. One club I belong to does get its space for free - sort of. We put up and work a week-long display at a fair for the free space. Yes, it's a bargain for us, but we are going to be spending money of display cages and we definitely collectively spend a lot of time earning the space.

When's a Good Time?

Hand-in-hand with the facility goes the show date. ARBA may restrict conflicting shows within a certain mile radius, but anyone who has hosted a show knows that the impact can stretch far beyond. Shows in North Carolina, for example, are impacted by shows in Georgia and Pennsylvania!

Here are some other things to consider:

• Conflict with holidays
• Conflict with national specialty shows
• Vacation time
• Being wedged between two very popular shows, one a weekend before; the other a weekend after
• Weather - people who normally transport their rabbits in the open air may not feel they can attend an August show; snowstorms can wreck a winter one

Judge Appeal

Once you have picked your time and location, you can apply for your sanctions and hire your judges (or vice versa). Many skilled and popular judges are booked a year or more in advance. Booking the judge as soon as possible can make all of the difference in the success of the show.

• Try to balance the skills of the judges - you don't want all of the judges to be most skilled with commercial breeds, for example.
• Variety is the spice of life - the number one complaint I consistently hear about shows is the lack of variety among judges.
• You will most likely need to use at least some local judges to make your budget work - try to rotate them from year to year.
• When bringing in judges from outside your area, be sure to bring in some new perspective there, too. Shows can get into a rut with their mid-range traveling judges as well.
• Bringing in a big name can make your show more popular, but don't overreach too soon. It can also put your club out of business if the huge cost causes the club to lose money.
• Look for the bargains. There are good judges that can be hired for the same money as so-so judges. But you might have to work harder to find them.

Planning

There are a million details to be planned once you have your show locked in and judges scheduled. Much of that information is contained in a show flyer and the show catalog. In the show catalog, one problem is often inadequate or inaccurate directions. If you can get someone to actually drive the directions, so much the better. Also, realize that some people work best from diagrams and others work best from words. And, people know their left or right better than they know which direction is north or south.

Preparation

The club does a lot during the preparation stage. For pre-entry shows, the show secretary receives, hopefully, a ton of emails, phone calls, and mailed-in entry forms. All of that information must be entered into a computer and proofed. Equipment is hauled, food is prepared, raffle tables are set up, scales are collected (that has been a real problem lately at a lot of shows - few or no scales), judging stations assembled, and much more.

The Show

If you have been to a show, then this is the step you are most familiar with. Sometimes, we find that the show secretary is not in a great mood. It may be puzzling since the show hasn't even started yet, but remember, his or her job started days, weeks, and even months ago.

I'll be show secretary for the first time this weekend. Even though it's a day of show entry, I've already been putting in some time to try to keep things organized. I'll need to guard against leaving everything to the last moment and not getting enough rest. That would not be a good time to have a grumpy day.

Hopefully, the show superintendent doesn't have any difficult calls to make during the show, but he or she should be up on their show rules to know which jobs are theirs and which are the judges'.

Here are some characteristics of a successful show:

• The sponsoring club members and judges are friendly and professional
• Exhibitors behave themselves!
• Check-in is reasonably smooth
• Show starts reasonably on time
• Breeds are scheduled so that neither judges nor exhibitors are standing around with nothing to do
• BISs are conducted at the end of each show and before the next begins (taking the BOB from the first show off the table in the middle of the next show is always a problem no matter how unbiased a judge tries to be)
• The show ends at a reasonable hour
• As a bonus, the food is good and reasonably priced, the bathrooms are plentiful and clean, the facility is a good temperature, the raffle table has some interesting items, and the awards are unique and thoughtful.

After the Show - The All-Important Show Reports

I'm sure we all know what happens after the show. We go home and either celebrate or complain. No, I mean what happens after the show in the lifecycle of a rabbit show. Things are far from done.

Sure, there's the clean up of the facility. But what else happens?

• Data from every show and breed is either entered into a computer or collated by hand
• Reports are sent to ARBA and any national clubs the show was sanctioned with
• Show reports are sent to the exhibitors

Here's where the rubber hits the road for serious exhibitors. Sure, there are some people who go to shows simply for the joy of the day. But most exhibitors who are at all serious about their breed are very interested in the report, legs, and making sure that the information is sent in to the specialty club. If these reports are not completed, the shows may as well have not happened in terms of granding rabbits and competing in nationals sweeps contests.

Clubs have 30 days to get this last step of the show lifecycle complete. Most of the time, it's no problem. We and the clubs get our reports on time. The show secretary is responsive in correcting any errors. Things are good.

But sometimes, we wait and no report shows up. If there's no extenuating circumstance, this is a breech of trust, in my opinion. It will take a while for that club to earn back trust.

We had a situation a couple of years ago in our area. The reports were delayed for about six months. There was no reason given for quite a long time. The show secretary reportedly refused outside help. The situation was totally unacceptable in my opinion. The club was not able to sanction its normal summer show that year. (Previous sanctions must be finalized before a new sanction can be granted.) Exhibitors were extremely frustrated, club members were being hassled about the reports, and the club lost the confidence of the rabbit community.

What should have happened? In my opinion, if a show secretary cannot meet the deadline for any reason, the club should post the information - to their district Yahoo! Group, district website, club website, or other location. A brief explanation should be made. Personally, I would prefer to hear, "Wow, this was a lot harder than I thought it would be and I'm running behind - sorry," than to hear nothing. The explanation need not be in-depth - "computer problems," "health issues," or "family conflicts" is enough. It should also include an estimated time of completion and an apology. Silence is not acceptable.

We recently had another show report to be delayed. It wasn't horribly delayed, but folks were starting to ask each other if their report had arrived. In this case, the show secretary has built up a reputation for being dependable. It probably would have been best to post an explanation, but they did get the explanation out by word of mouth. When the report came, it had a sticker on it explaining that there had been a computer problem and the legs eventually had to be printed by hand. That was good enough. In this case, inquiries were answered, and explanation was given, and the reports were sent as soon as feasible.

What Next

What happens next? The paperwork is stored for six months and someone says, "Let's get started planning next year's show!"

Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry “Home Of Grand Champions”
Precious Pet Rabbits
Affordable Web Site Design

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