Showtime -- The Committee

One of the first things you need to do before putting on a dog show (or trial) is set up a Show Committee to run the whole shebang. To keep things moving smoothly (and satisfy the AKC) the Show Committee needs to select a Show Chairman. This person’s duties include:

• Proper planning of the show
• Ensuring all AKC is submitted in time (and there’s A LOT of paperwork)
• Securing/contracting venue
• Soliciting/contracting judges
• Overseeing all sub-committees (Advertising, Catalog, Concessions, Grounds & Equipment, Hospitality, Parking, Stewards, Trophies/Awards, etc.)
• Coordinating with other clubs if the show is part of a cluster
• Hiring stewards (if applicable)
• Verifying insurance and permits are in order
• Getting the premium out on time
• Contracting an official photographer
• Developing a Disaster and Emergency Plan
• Preparing for any misconduct hearings (while simultaneously praying there are none!)
• Meeting with the local AKC representative
• Ensuring ring is set up properly
• Putting out any last minute fires (there are always fires)
• . . . Plus a million other things as required

Next, the Show Committee needs to select a Show Secretary. A club may choose to hire a professional superintendent/show secretary (i.e. MB-F, Onofrio, etc.) to handle the all the paperwork. However, they’re expensive. A small club like ours usually chooses someone from within the club to handle things. The secretary’s duties include:

• Developing and sending out premiums (entry forms)
• Ensuring entries are properly filled out and fees are included
• Organizing entries into proper classes
• Assigning armband numbers to dogs
• Developing official show catalog
• Passing out armbands at show
• Maintaining a correctly marked “Official Show Catalog”
• Filling out/sending in official judges' reports to the AKC
• . . . And a whole bunch of things I don't know about yet!

 According to the 2017 AKC Show Manual:

Individuals should be appointed to committees based on experience, the workloads they can handle, and the time they can apportion to each task. Candidates for committee positions must familiarize themselves with the specific duties and responsibilities involved.

Doesn’t that sound nice? Unfortunately, when you have a small, limited experience volunteer base like we do, you just take what you can get and hope not to screw up too badly. It may not be ideal, but it makes for interesting blog posts!

So for those of you following along on our journey: RK has taken on the responsibility of Show Chair and I have agreed to be Show Secretary. Are we nuts? Probably. I'll keep you updated on our decent into madness progress. But for now, I'm trying not to freak out over Step 3: Judges! TTFN, -- K