how to set up a contest

[oncall]

ok, i've sung in contests, but never organized one.
what are different methods you've used to set up a karaoke contest, something fair and not really bias based on who has largest crowd of family members or drunks there cheering for them??

thanks for input in advance.

Randy
On Call Karaoke

[Lonman]

DO NOT use audience response or participation for a judging criteria. Get at least 3-5 judges preferably not associated with the bar, but have at least some kind of music knowledge. If it's a big contest, I will try to get local radio personalities, vocal trainers, recording engineers/producers from local studios, local 'karaoke friendly' musicians - yes they do exist. Make sure your judge understand how to judge & what is being looked for & to ignore large crowd applause for any one person. We judge more on vocal ability including timing & tone, stage performance & appearance over anything else.
We've used the nightly contest - in which is usually small prizes & in house judges not sitting with contestants. And we've used the qualifying rounds in which people will sign up. You'll have an inhouse contest for the night with either outside judges or in house not sitting with contestants. They will sing & be judged. The winner (s) will come back at a later date to compete in the finals. You can actually go into longer contest doing quarterly, then semifinals then finals - but this takes more work & tracking of all contestants although sometimes better for bar business for the duration. I prefer qualify then finals. You finals is when you'll want the complete outside judging. Always allow contestants to see final judging sheets - hidden sheets looks like it's rigged (not that you won't get these people anyway that will think it if they don't win). Offer the outside judges at least a meal & drink either during or after. If you have a large contestant base, you may need to take a break halfway through. Our biggest contest we had 42 contestants competing for $1000 cash, $500 2nd & $250 3rd. Had to start the contest at 7:00 just to be done by 11.

[TKaraoke]

?

[TKaraoke]

Why not take let's say 5 people in the finals, give each of them a piece of paper with their name at the top. Then they can vote for one of any of the other 4 finalists, but not themselves. They won't vote for the worst, because they may figure that person would win, they are more objective in their decision. Was at an American Legion, when they were running a contest, the fella that won was not very good (worse there) and many people complained, there was a $100.00 prize. His brother ran the bar, contest, and he had lot of people he knew there. The following month they did the same thing, the brother who was bartending and running it that night asked me what I would do, he knew I did shows, the above is what I told him. At the end of the night there were no complaints, everyone was happy, and even the bartender and contestants commented on how fair it was. You can get the 5 finalists however you want. Seems the fairest way for me!

[Lonman]

I've tried this, it was a larger scale - had 15 finalists. It was the worst catastrophy that I had ever put on. Everyone rated everyone else on a lower scale. Some of the contestants had ill feelings toward some of the others & rated them lower than anyone else even though they probably were the better singer. Never again, live & learn.

[TKaraoke]

I can see where with 15 singers things could get ugly, It really worked great with the 5 finanlists, it seemed you had to be honest about who you voted for. When everyone there went and told the bartender they really liked what he did that night he told them I gave hoim the idea, 4 or 5 people came up and just said they thought it was the fairest contest they had been at. I guess I've never been a contest person because it should be who's the better singer, not who has more people there, or who knows the Bartender, or.......You get the picture. That is why they make Chevy's & Fords!

[Lonman]

Originally Posted by TKaraoke

I can see where with 15 singers things could get ugly, It really worked great with the 5 finanlists, it seemed you had to be honest about who you voted for. When everyone there went and told the bartender they really liked what he did that night he told them I gave hoim the idea, 4 or 5 people came up and just said they thought it was the fairest contest they had been at. I guess I've never been a contest person because it should be who's the better singer, not who has more people there, or who knows the Bartender, or.......You get the picture. That is why they make Chevy's & Fords!

Oh I completely agree which is why audience response or participation is not ever one of my judges criteria & my judges (for big contests) are not associated with the bar or contestants in any way.