How to Hold/Host a Show
© Copyright 2003 Jodi Swinn
Holding a show can be a very enjoyable experience for any simgame player, and it is well worth doing. Hopefully this guide can be of help to you, but if you run into any problems, post in the Newbies Forum at the Arena Forum.
Do you have the time?
First, ask yourself if you have the time to hold a show. To hold a show, you should have the time to make a classlist with entry details, post it on a webpage or as text in the Events forum, receive and process entries (Add them to an entry list) and do results randomly (with something like www.randomizer.org). If you do have the time for a show, make sure that the date you hold it, is not around exams etc.
What kind of show?
Do you want to have a multi-discipline show (Where you have more than one discipline - eg. Dressage & Showjumping) or just a one discipline show? Do you want a dressage show? A One Day Event? A Halter show? It's up to you.
What classes?
Research the disciplines that you want to include in your show, and the levels. If you haven't held a show before, it's helpful to look at other players shows, and gain ideas. Don't copy their classlists, but rather create your own. If you don't know much about a discipline, ask on the forum for other players help.
How many classes?
You want to have the classes realistic for the discipline/s, but you don't want to have too many! 30 classes can take a while to do results for, and 100 would take you forever. So keep in mind the time it would take to results before you add lots of classes. :)
How do I make the classlist?
Work out what classes you want. Number them in a list (Look at other players shows for an idea of this). If you are putting the classlist on a webpage, make sure it's easy to read.
What else do I need?
You can't just have a classlist. You need a show date, (make sure it's at least 2 weeks away), a location (Your Barn?), entry details (see below), entry fees and more. You can have it all on one webpage or all in one post on the forum. BUT you must get show approval (go to Events at www.arena.equinewebaustralia.com) before posting your webpage link or show information on the forum.
Fees?
You need fees to give you income, cover 'costs' of the show and make it realistic. Not too high an amount, but $5 - $20 a class is a usual ballpark figure. You may want to add an 'administration' fee (Of say, $20) to cover your own work of doing results. You can also use fees so you can generate money to use for prizes.
Entry Information?
You need to put your classlist in a text file (or another method if you prefer) and put the entries underneath each class. A common way that people like as an entry format is:
Horse ridden by Rider from Barn
You can change this to how you want.
Rules
What rules do you want? How many horses per class? Etc.
EXAMPLES
These are examples. Do not copy the classlists directly or the pages directly, but use them as a guide/example. (Players, if you have some shows that would be good as an example here, please email me).
KS Summer ODE
For further information, check out the Rules page under 'Holding Shows', ask in the Newbies Forum or email Jodi at kewarra@equinewebaustralia.com.