Planning a beauty pageant is not a child's play. It takes a whole lot of planning and preparation, which starts months in advance, to ensure that the pageant goes on smoothly. So, if you are planning one and wondering how and where to start, here are some tips on the same, which are sure to help you out.
Venue
The first thing that you need to do, when organizing a beauty pageant is to decide its venue. A hotel ballroom is the ideal place for a beauty pageant. Although, depending upon your budget, it can also be organized in a community hall, school auditorium or even church! So, depending upon the number of participants that you are expecting as well as the budget, book a venue. Once the venue is booked, you will have the date on which the pageant is to be organized.
Theme
Next, decide on the theme for the pageant. If you are organizing it for small girls, choose themes like "princess" or "fairy", something that you think will appeal to the girls of that age. If it's for teen girls, choose some fun themes like "retro" or "Hollywood". Whatever theme that you choose, try to incorporate it in your venue dcor. Planning a round, where the contestants walk the ramp dressed in clothes bringing forth this theme is a good idea too!
Sponsors
Look out for sponsors for your event. You can have one main sponsor and a couple of co-sponsors. The co-sponsors can give funds for various sub events, like, Ms. talented, Ms. Perfect ten, Ms. Congeniality, etc. You will definitely need a few sponsors at least to fund for the entire program and also for giving cash prizes and tiaras to the winners.
Rules
Decide on the various categories in which the contestants will compete against one another. Usually, most of the beauty pageants have five competitions, namely, the casual wear, the formal wear, the swimsuit round, talent competition and finally, the question-answer session. If you have some good sponsors backing you up, you can keep small contests like "Ms beautiful skin", "Ms. beautiful smile", "Ms. beautiful hair", besides the ones already mentioned in the previous point. After the categories, you need to decide on the rules and regulations which will bind all the participating contestants. The registration fees, the things that are allowed, not allowed, all need to be written down carefully and a draft prepared on the same, which the contestants have to sign.
Judges and Staff
Find some good, impartial judges for the contest. If you can get a local celebrity or someone related to the fashion world in some way, it will lend weight to your event, and thus, will help you get sponsors easily. You would need three or more judges for a beauty pageant. You would also need a host who would compere your show. As a host plays a major part in ensuring that the show turns out interesting, choose one carefully, someone with experience and the required expertise. Besides this, you would need a number of workers, who would help in putting the dcor together, manning the registration table, making sure that the contestants are ready on time to go on the stage, for adding and tallying the scores of various contestants and finally, cleaning up after the event is over.
Advertising
Once the rules and regulations are laid out, start advertising for the pageant. The advertisement should mention the location of the event, date and time, criteria for participation, the various categories, prizes which the winners will get, any celebrity judges that you expect, registration details and the contact information. If it's a small level, local pageant, you can get some fliers printed and distribute these in your area, including schools, eateries (which you think the possible contestants frequent), neighborhood, etc.
Process
You would need to send a copy of the rules and regulations to all the contestants, sponsors as well as the judges. Send a participation form to the contestants, well in advance, in which they have to list their personal information, such as, age, height, vital stats, weight, contact information and parent's signature (in case of minors). The form should also have space for contestants to write about their interests and hobbies. This information is usually read out by the host, as the contestants walk on the stage. Based on the information as well as the photographs, which the contestants send, you would need to select the best ones, who would finally participate in the contest. If you are organizing the beauty pageant on a large scale, you would need to call the shortlisted contestants for an interview, before the actual event.
The Actual Event
On the day of the show, see to it that the stage, decorations, a table for the judges, a registration counter and seating arrangement for the audience is in place. If you can get the venue an evening before, it will help you to organize things better. As soon as the contestants are registered, have a staff member direct them to the changing room. Ask another staff member to ensure that the participants are ready to go on the stage, when their names are called. Overlook backstage, registration counter and the staff yourself, so that the show moves forward as planned. After the winners have been declared and the audience leave the venue, ask the staff to do the cleanup job.
With these tips you should have no problem getting started. As good planning is very important when organizing a pageant, see to it that you have each and every detail of the pageant worked out and preferably written down, so that there are no hitches and glitches on the D day!
