Dear Show Sleuth, Thank you for your fair assessment of the Ferret Extravaganza '99 show. However there are a couple of issues you may or may not be aware of. First: the show organizers/officials: Jerry Jackowski (Show Coordinator), Scarlett Gray (Co-Coordinator), Pamela Hostetler (Show Registrar). Lori Sies was in charge of organizing the judges (not the judging process) I don't want anyone to blame Lori for any discrepancies in this show. Lori was the coordinator for the '97 and '98 shows which were both outstanding. Second: This year's show was planned with the expectation of getting approximately the same number attendees (maybe slightly more) as the '98 show. This years show hall was actually bigger than the '98 show hall. The number of exhibitor tables we provided for this year's show were slightly more than what was provided in '98. The biggest difference between the two shows was attendance. In '98 there was 283 championship and specialty entries, in '99 it was 451. In '98 we had approximately 400 walk-ins, in '99 we had over 1000. The '98 show's biggest complaint was the hotel and accommodations, this year we resolved that issue. We would have never picked a show hall on the second floor without access other than stairs. The hotel did have an easily accessible freight elevator at the rear of the show hall, unfortunately the elevator was damaged that Friday afternoon :-( Just our luck! The cage vendor (Martins Cages) was one of the last vendors to request space. They were provided a layout of the show hall and it's limitations in accessibility. I contacted them personally. So they knew up front what to expect. They brought 175 cages and I believe they sold all but five or six. A very successful show for them I personally visited every single vendor and shelter in the show hall trying to get a feel of how things were going, out of the thirty I talked with, three said sales were less than expected. I did get a chance to talk with many on Sunday and Monday, all of them said it was there 1st or 2nd largest money making show. However they felt they could have done even better if customers would have not been so rushed or congested in the show hall. I will be sending a questionnaire to all the participating vendors sometime this week. The original intent (months before the show) was to place the scoring and comment labels on the table ribbons before they were attached to the carriers again we were thinking we would be dealing with far fewer entries. At this show, scores where supposed to be written on the table ribbons and the labels would be available for people to pick up if they wanted them. During the judging process a decision was made to stop totaling the scores (thinking the database was working correctly), unfortunately it was later determined that the database was not separating the ferrets into three different rings (a big problem). The database was sent to four people for evaluation a month before the show, L.I.F.E received it about two and half weeks before the show. It was ok if you entered a different entry numbers and ring numbers nobody including myself tried the same entry number three times with a different ring number. The error was tracked down to one line of code :-( At This show the database was to be used as a backup to the conventional scoring. Yes, we intend to pursue and conquer the electronic scoring issue. In fact we are hoping to implement it at an upcoming specialty show. When it does go into full use, a steward will be entering scores and comments directly into a computer and a printer will be assigned to each ring. When it is completed it should reduce errors, simplify and speed the judging process it will also provide additional information to exhibitors on judge's comments and thoughts about their ferrets. It is a wonderful system, I wish you could have seen it work in it's entirety. Next year is a whole new year, we will get the bugs worked out and you will be amazed! Jerry Jackowski Show Coordinator Ferret Extravaganza '99 [Posted in FML issue 2790]