Part 2: How can we improve our bodybuilding events?

2. Provide time for the athlete's 15 minutes of fame

Organizers might need to adjust the length of the show depending on the number of entries. I know this is a pain for the organizers because of last minute entry. The smaller organizers might not be able to stomach this as registration fees are one way for them to earn money. But the only way to go forward is to be strict with entry deadlines.

I  know of an organization that mandates that all athletes should be called out for comparisons, regardless whether the judges specifically asked for them. This is to ensure no athletes are missed out. At least that's what stated in their rule book. Whether it is actually enforced, I don't know. The other way of doing it is to limit the number of athletes in your show.  The Mr. Kadayawan event in Davao has been notable in this aspect.

Now if you have 40 athletes competing in a category, this will be tough. Allocating time for them to do their introductory pose and their comparison call outs will help in better judging. Again the time is dependent on the size of your stage, though I wouldn't put more than 10 athletes at a time, for the photographer's sake.  Some organizations pick up the top 15 just by their quarter turns before delving deeper into the competition. This is a shame.

If you plan to put more than 10 people on stage, at least give the judge a second look at the athletes. As shown in the picture above, don't make the mistake of taking the easy way out and do the switch like the second row. This will not give the guys on the edge visibility to the judges. The guys at the center will remain at the center. The better, but a bit more confusing switch would be the bottom row. This give the guys on the edge a chance to be seen at the center, where presumably the better lighting can be found.

In the Jakarta competition they ask athletes in a couple of categories to do their introductory pose, I reckon they could have saved time if instead of calling 1 athlete at a time, they had 2 or 3 athletes do their poses together as the stage was fairly big anyway. The audience interest would've waned after the first 10 athletes.

One last thing, do you really need to have that intermission dance or song number in the contest? Why not allocate that time for the proper comparison call outs instead? Remove any unnecessary items in the program. Only consider these add-ons if you find yourself lacking in athletes or if you have a certified celebrity guest.

to be continued...