decibel meter or?

[kenpattx]

anyone ever use an applause meter or decibel meter in judgeing contests. I have a week night show that needs a boost, so I thought I would do small one night contest with audiance applause to determain the winner... anyone ever do this...pros ...cons what do you think.......

[bjswaim]

I have never used an applause or decibel meter for judging a contest, however I have found that when a contest is determined by applause the winner is usually the singer who has brought the most friends and family with them. I don't judge contests with applause any longer. I either have outside judges or some of the bar patrons who are not singers and aren't friends or family of the singers. I've found this to be the most fair.

[CochrellGary]

We use an applause meter to determine the winner of our BYOB challenge. BYOB stands for "Bring Your Own Buddies". We call it a challenge because it is NOT a contest. The object of the challenge is to bring in enough friends to generate the largest reading on the applause meter when the judging begins. The BYOB challenge is used to bring in more customers to the venu and it does. We have to stress the fact that it is not a singing contest. We tell them that if they want to read an ad from the newspaper and they get enough of their friends to cheer for them and generate the largest meter reading, they will win the challenge.