Strongsville Judging Teams & Administration: THANK YOU!!

[Smartin]

To all who sacrificed time this past weekend to attend the Friday Judging School and Saturday judging program:

 

Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!  Without your donation of time and sweat, we would not have a viable judged show.  There were several  large classes this year that put many of you under heavy pressure to get the job done in a timely manner, but you managed to hit a homerun with it.  Thank you to all of the Team Captains who took extra time to steer new judges in the right direction, and who also were responsible for making sure master judging forms were filled out completely and correctly.  Thank you to the Admin team for being patient with the captains who trickled their way in throughout the day!  Your efforts are largely unnoticed by attendees, but be sure that they are appreciated by those of us who have seen what it takes to keep the ship on course.

 

As of a week before the event, we were short volunteer judges, so I called out publicly for volunteers to sign up at the event.  The response was excellent and we were fortunate to get enough to fill every team.  That doesn't happen very often, so thanks to all who signed up on the spot.  Hopefully your experience was a positive one!  If you have any comments, suggestions, complaints, please let me know so we can work to make changes for next year's event.  It went fairly smoothly this year, but I spotted a few things that we could improve upon, so I welcome any input from those who had boots on the ground.

 

See you all in Concord in 2025!

[KAD36]

Definitely a positive experience and would sign up again.  Thanks for all the think through, prep work and willingness to teach us noobs.

[EmTee]

It was interesting to be on the 'other side' judging owner's cars.  I have a much better appreciation for what's involved and most of all it was actually a good experience.  It was rewarding to see the owners of the cars my group judged receive their trophies.  IMHO, when all of the scores were tallied, the cars in our class seemed to land right where they belonged.  I will definitely do it again! 

[Machine Gun]

Strongsville was my first car meet of any kind and from my perspective it was a complete win. I'm disappointed that I had to leave early Saturday morning and miss the highlight of the show. The hard work of others made it a great overall experience for me. Thank you.

 

I'm looking forward to Concord already!

[parkertom]

My second time out judging at a BCA National Meet. It was a good experience and I enjoyed doing a class that I hadn’t done in the past.
 

We had a fairly full class but got into our rhythm. A little trouble finding a few of the cars with the parking lot shake up and ended up not finding 2 of them at all. It may be good to have registration update the judging teams of any no shows after the check-in time passes. We spent some time and effort trying to find them. Also, I believe that non judges were going into the judges lunch area and taking lunches and it looks like they ran out before everyone was finished.

[Smartin]

I noticed the lunch thing, too, Tom.  That room was way too open to the public and that allowed people to meander in and help themselves.

 

As far as no-shows:  we will work on that.  I think there were 8 or so that didn’t actually show up at all that week, with a few additional that picked up their registration packets but bailed on Saturday.

[EmTee]

As much as I loath handing out my cell number, I think it is reasonable to ask (require?) a contact number be provided at registration for cars being judged.  That would at least offer the team captain a reasonable way to attempt to locate the owner and/or the car without undue effort or delay.

[Smartin]

There usually is a contact number available...although I'm unsure if it's on the master judging form.  I walked around for 2 days with a complete list of registrants and their contact numbers in my pocket.  I remember seeing several that had no numbers listed, though.  The team captain should have access to someone (head judge or Roy/Michelle Faries) who can provide a number if the owner cannot be located.

[parkertom]

15 hours ago, Smartin said:

As far as no-shows:  we will work on that.  I think there were 8 or so that didn’t actually show up at all that week, with a few additional that picked up their registration packets but bailed on Saturday.

It was weird because one of the cars was actually there when we were locating our cars that morning but, left a short time after that. The second car must have been a no-show because we never found it at all.

[JohnD1956]

The phone numbers coukd be a line on the master judging list that the Team Captains had, or better yet, the administration team could make the calls while the judging teams are on the field. After all, it is just a call to go to your car.  It was tough enough juggling 5 different class envelopes and paperwork, having to make the calls was just more confusion.

[Smartin]

I'll look into the phone number on the master form.  Admin doesn't need more duties.  Besides, if admin had to do it, the captain would have to call admin anyway to have them call the owner.  Double work.  Phone is already in captain's hand😁

[JohnD1956]

If the phone # gets on the master sheet then I'd agree.

If not, then it would go like it did at this meet.  Contact the head judge to ask for the number, he contacts Roy (I assume), the head judge calls me back with one (or in several cases 2 phone numbers) and then I was dialing the phones, getting phone calls, juggling 5 class envelopes with assorted paperwork, helping new judges on my team, and answering questions from some folks on the field regarding the process. 

Quite frankly, the process is onerous. The paperwork is extensive. The system of checks is time consuming, and the whole thing could stand to be computerized.

I don't know how to make an application but this process seems ripe for it. As it was, this consumed my entire day Saturday. Right to 3:30 pm. Started with 18 cars to judge across 5 classes. Two were added, one was reclassified to a different class and two never showed up.  Finished with 17 cars, missed lunch, and missed the rest of the show. I paid attention to the transfer of information to the judging sheet for each car and I dismissed my team at 1pm so they could see the rest of the show.  Maybe it would help if people are required to help judge if they want their car judged? But I am not certain that would fly given the physical needs of some members.

Another thing that could happen is to open judging on Friday. Maybe two experienced teams could take cars like the Senior Preservation or U class cars on an appointment schedule to lighten the load on Show day?  Could even be teams made up of team captains, as they traditionally have not had to attend judges training. 

Just some reality and random ideas here. I am in favor of judging, but this was a lot of work for my team. 

One last idea, how about issuing refunds of some registration fees for those who judge? Might bring in a few more judges and compensate those who miss everything on Show day to provide this service.

 

[parkertom]

Luckily I was released at 1:30 or so and could make the rounds through the parking lot at that time. However, I did note that many cars had left by the time I made it out.

[EmTee]

2 hours ago, JohnD1956 said:

I don't know how to make an application but this process seems ripe for it.

I hear ya John, however, I think that introducing electronic judging forms may simply introduce a slew of new issues.  A better approach might be to redesign the individual judging forms (i.e., engine, chassis, interior, etc.) to minimize 'long-hand' data entry by offering individual options for the various judging items associated with each area of the car (e.g., engine block/head paint).  Options for condition and authenticity (e.g., paint peeling, excessive dirt, grease or oil, incorrect color, etc.) could be listed and selected by the judge by checking a box or coloring a bubble.  A text entry field would also be selectable (e.g., "Other") when the standard options don't adequately cover the observed defect(s).  The ultimate goal would be to make the individual low-level judging sheets machine readable so that the data captured can be captured and compiled onto the master judging sheet for the car.  The team captain would then only need to input the details about the car and the judging team.  The captain's sheet would also include verification of any disqualifying circumstances (i.e., safety glass and fire extinguisher).  Even without electronic scanning and compilation, minimizing handwritten entries will improve the accuracy and help speed the compilation of judging data by the administrative team.  This would also be helpful to members who request copies of their judging sheets by making copies more legible and uniform.

 

Just my $0.02...

[Smartin]

All items are noted, guys.  Thank you for the feedback so far.  I agree, the Saturday judging was a major slog for many of the judges, for several reasons.  My goal would be to have no more than 10 cars in any given judging team's list, give or take 1.  

[Jack Welch]

Thanks to all for your thoughtful comments on this subject. I think all current National judging team members came away from this with useful thoughts going forward. Adam and team did an incredible job of making a difficult situation work , first with the use of a parking lot stretcher (a secret tool that many National Meet teams have used over the years and many cases taken a lot of heat for how they did it) (if you will pardon the pun ). The second was maintaining a sense of humor when the situation was a bit chaotic. All said and done there are always cars that can not be located at every National Meet. The reasons would take a whole other topic, but the need for a cell number is quite apparent and should go on the form (Adam and Bill G and Alan will be sure to deal with this as they always do. I am going to look in to the possibility of doing some form of computerizing more of the judging process. I am going in to this with no preformed opinions. It may help, it may make things work better, the only way we will know is if one of our "techies" in the Club is will to step up and volunteer to investigate the pros and cons of doing this. Hint Hint I am looking for a volunteer. I will also mention this in my President's message. Last thing said is that all in all the judging was one smooth running machine at Strongsville. Thanks to all who participated.