We asked World Festival and State-Level Judges for general tips and advice they have for teams. Here is what they shared:

1) Judges are fabulous people and they are looking forward to learning how awesome you are. Be confident and have fun in your judging sessions.

2) Try to make sure that every student has something to say in judging. Every team member should have knowledge about all the basic aspects of the team, even if they are not the expert in an area.

3) Be flexible. If you forget something, just adapt. Sometimes the judging room is not the way you imagined or something doesn’t work properly.

4) If your team has any special needs (maybe a student that needs some extra help), let the judges know in advance. Don’t assume that they know.

5) Coaches/Mentors and audience members should never interact with the judges. If allowed in the room, they are only there as observers and photographers.

6) Judges are not there to see what you didn’t do. They aren’t looking to mark you down. Tell them everything you did you this season.

7) Be on time and prepared. Be ready with what you are going to say and stay on time. Judges have only so much time per team and you may get cut off if you go over to stay fair to all teams.

8) Everything you need to succeed is in the rubrics. KNOW THE RUBRICS. It’s like a study guide for the test. Judges go by the rubric, so you already know exactly what they want to know.

9) Make all your materials as easy to transport and set up as possible. It will save you time.

10) If you need to move the tables and chairs in the room to suit your presentation, you may. Just let the judges know that you need a table closer, etc.

11) Go close enough to judges that they can hear you, but don’t get too close. Judges need some personal space. They also may have rubrics or other documents on their table that are confidential.

12) If you have a student missing on the day of the competition, make sure that someone else can cover the information as best as possible. Let the judges know.

Thank you to Fiona, Joe, Anderson, Asha