A few months ago I was interviewed by Valerie Hayes on Pageant Talk Radio about one of my favorite subjects: Directing Beauty Pageants.

At the time I shot a little video during part of the interview. When the interview took place the Saints were in the middle of the season and undefeated. Since then they went on to win the Super Bowl.

The feeling in New Orleans and the whole Gulf Coast is unbelievable. It is even more intense than winning a pageant. Everyone that is a Saints Fan knows the intense sense of jubilation from the win.

The story of the Saints winning even though the national media ignored them and the Las Vegas odds maker said it was hopeless can be used to inspire any one to keep on striving to reach their goals.

Whether you are entering your first pageant or directing your first pageant believe in yourself and your success. Use the New Orleans Saints as a role model. Drew Brees the quarterback and MVP of the SuperBowl bought copies of the book Finnish Strong for all his fellow players.

You too should strive to finish strong in your endeavors in pageantry.

Check out the full audio interview at Valeries website at this link:

Yours in pageantry

Shelly

I recently received a letter from some one who purchased my ebook “How to Start and Direct Your Own Pageant”. In the letter they mentioned that some of the information in the book can be found for free on the web, in fact a lot of it on my own websites.

The Internet is a wonderful resource for people interested in starting any new business, including the Beauty Pageant Business. When I decided to put together a book and then a kit to help others interested in starting a new pageant I scoured the web to see what was already out there.

What I found was bits and pieces of advice from people all over the world. Some of it good and some of it not so good. What I didn’t find was one source of information that had all the essentials needed to start some one in the right direction.

I spent years working for other directors and even more years directing pageants and learning from my own mistakes. What I have put together is based on my 16+ years of experience running Beauty Pageants that have made me money. In fact with the terrible economic situation the extra income I earned from pageants in the last two years has kept me and my husband afloat as his business dropped off.

There is a lot more free information available on the web today about the pageant industry than when I started writing about it. If you look closely you will see that most of it is on my web site directyourpageant.com. I give a lot of good stuff out and will continue to do so.

But I don’t give everything away. I worked long and hard to learn my trade and I believe I’m entitled to a fair compensation in exchange for sharing this information. This is the foundation of good business.

If you really scour the internet you can find a lot of information from many different people about the pageant industry. If you are very industrious you can grab this info and put all the files together in one doucument. You can even make an index and add some pictures and make it look like a book. You could spend a few weeks working on this project.

Or if you want to let some body else do the work for you and put it it in nice neat package then my Pageant book and kit are for you. If you want to be certain the information is coming from a trustworthy source that has real experience in the pageant industry then my ebook and Kit are for you.

I keep adding articles and giving away information on my site directyourpageant.com because I’m learning everyday from my experiences and from the experiences of many other pageant people, many who started by purchasing my Kit.

If you are really serious about succeeding in the pageant industry I suggest you continue going to all the other web sites out there. Keep buying books and products from other authors. Get a subscription to Pageantry Magazine. Keep accumalating knowledge from free sources and from paid sources.

Never stop searching for good information and never stop learning.

Yours in Pageantry

Shelly

Running a Beauty Pageant is about more than glamor. It is also about being financially successful. The business goal is to walk away from the event with more money than you spent.

There are many different ways to monetize your Beauty Contest. One way is to add extra awards.
For Children Pageants I like to add Overall Most Beautiful and Overall Fashion.
When the parents register their children they can choose to pay for a slot in the Overall Most Beautiful category. Only the kids registered in this award category will be eligible for the award.

This award has no bearing on who becomes King or Queen. Giving these extra awards helps spread awards to other kids.

The kids registered for the award all go on stage at the same time. The children hold paddles with a number printed on it. The judges use the number to score on their sheets. The judges select who they think fit the Overall Most Beautiful ideal. The Overall Fasion award will go the one with best outfit.

It is important to have all the contestants on the stage at the same time for the judges to compare and select.  If your pageant is very large and you have more than thirty kids on stage it can be a problem because of the stage size. Also the judges job can be very hard with that many contestants on stage at once.

When my pageants grow too big to offer this award I drop it from the pageant. You are already making good money because of the large registration. But if you are just starting out and you have a smaller group of children in your pageant then these awards are a great way to earn extra income at your Children Pageant.

Yours in Pageantry
Shelly

Sponsors are a very important source of revenue for your Beauty Pageant. Try to come up with novel ideas to tie them in with your Pageant. I like to get one restaurant for each Beauty Contest I direct.

I’ll go to a new restaurant in my town who is looking for ways to promote their business. Get them to be the host for the Winners Banquet. In exchange they get a page in the Program Book and put their menu in the contestants goody bag.

A few days after the pageant we had the banquet at the restaurant. The girls ate for free. Since the girls had family come with them the family members paid for their own meals and drinks. So the restaurant donated about ten meals and recieved about twenty paying customers. It was a win win situation for all involved.

The restaurant owner took photos with the queens to use in advertising and to place in the lobby with other celebrity pictures. The outing became the first appearance for the girls as queens representing the pageant with me the director there to give them pointers.

You can use this technique to for a profitable relationship with a restaurant sponsor for your Beauty Pageant.

Yours in Pageantry

Shelly

Miss Camelia City 2009 Program Book

One of the most important tools of the Beauty Pageant Director is the Pageant’s Program Book.
You will sell this book the day of the pageant to the audience.

This paying audience will mainly consist of family and friends of the contestants.
You will also give away some to judges and entertainers to add value to their experience in participating in the pageant.

I use a program called Publisher that comes with Microsoft Office. There are other programs out there that you may already be familiar with that do the same thing. Basically the software program allows you to compose pages with pictures and text.

I’ll be using the program book from my newest pageant, Miss Camelia City, as an example of the format.

1  Cover       Use a colorful background that reflects the tone or theme of the pageant, and put a   picture of a contestants that reflects average contestant.

2  The Director’s Message      Make a personal thank you to all the contestants, staff members, sponsors, judges, entertainers, and the audience for participating. Give the history of the pageant as well as your own bio.

3  Schedule of Events        List the times for each entry of the days events.

4  Advertising               Could be your photographer and or video service.

5   Staff                Show pictures of all the behind the scenes people.

6  Contestants Gallery        This is where I put kids division photos.

7  Advertising                  Put three to five pages of various advertising.

8  Judges                        Pictures and bio.

9  Advertising

10  Contestant Gallery      Teen, Miss, and Mrs Divisions.

11  Advertising                 Remember this is an important part of funding your pageant.  Many of the contestants will be featured in ads bought by their family and friends. Some ads will be for businesses sold by the contestants.

12  Special Awards           Honor some one in the community or in your pageant family.

13  Advertisements          Don’t forget to promote your own business and any other pageants you are directing in the future.

14  Back Cover                  Usually a premium advertising space.

I put the finished product on a memory stick and take the files to a local printer like Office Depot that can produce the number I need for the pageant.  My pageants are usually on Sundays and I like to receive the books by the Saturday before.  If I bring my printer the files by Thursday they will be ready for Saturday. Check in advance with your printer to see what his schedule will allow.

Here is the link for my Miss Camelia City 2009 program book to use as an example.