The Bridesmaid Challenge

 Hi everyone!

Unrelated to today's topic, here are models I painted during NaMoPaiMo!

If I haven't already, I want to write for a bit about the approach I'm taking with my live show string this year!

I decided last year that I wanted to take on a different strategy for this year's show season. My herd is getting to the point that it's very unwieldy and difficult to get everyone rotated through for shows. It's also difficult to manage while it's in two different locations, to look at everything and easily track what I want to show and what I don't. 

"The Bridesmaid Challenge"

This name is inspired both by my definition, and also the fact that I'm going to be MOH in a friend's wedding this year.

My main goal is to focus as much as possible on models who have not won any qualifications within the last 10 years (2014-2024). While this does include new additions, I'll be fairly selective about which newcomers I add to my show string, due to the shrinking amount of space I have in the tag manager. In the event that a class I'm entering has no candidates which meet this criteria, I'll either skip it, or select a model from the omitted category if it's class I don't see very often (in the case of the next show I'm attending this month, I'm doing that for a few Stone classes). 

I will try to also focus on models that have never won a ribbon, if I believe they might be competitive enough in the class, or if I just want to bring them for fun. 

For the show I'm prepping for now, I have a spreadsheet that is helping me organize my candidates:

(you may need to click to enlarge)

This sheet has the class name on the left, then Main category (realistic models that haven't won a qualification in the last 10 years - red names have never placed in a class), Unrealistics (that have not won qual in last 10 years - since this show is double judged, I'm not hugely prioritizing decos, but I'm taking a few), Models that last qualified in 2014-2019 but no longer have current cards (that's my next priority if I need to pull from my restricted category), and Queue (new models that don't have numbers yet). Then I have the green column which is outlining which models I'm planning to choose. To the right of that I note the sizes of the models in the class for packing information. Then noting location in the final column, so I can grab the ones I need before the show that aren't with the others. The example section here is just the Foal classes.

My hope with this challenge is that I'll spend more time focusing on models I don't show very often - and that it might help me decide if I want to retire anyone eventually. 

This year, I'm also focusing on containing my excitement for shows, because I tend to over-plan and bring too much, which drains me on show day and the following days. So, it was a good thing that this show originally had a limit of 2 per class (except the Fantasy classes), because I planned most of this towards the end of last year. In pulling out the models today to decide if I was happy with the amount I had, I have added a few. The announcement was made today that since the show is not as full as anticipated, we can do 3 per class. Me last year would have been adding a lot more because I could, but I'm managing myself here and not tossing in 3 to every class even though I could do that for more than I did. 

I can easily see the Bridesmaid Challenge being tweaked to fit other folks' ideas! You could for example, say you aren't going to show anything that has EVER won a qualification. Or maybe, keep it to just current qualifications, or models that have never won a champ/reserve/top honors - it's a flexible format! If anyone else decides to take up this challenge, I'd love to hear how you put your own spin on it! :)