How to Host a Baton Twirling Contest

No matter the size, hosting a baton twirling contest is an enormous undertaking. BUT—with a well-organized, dedicated team of people—anyone can do it!

To help you delegate tasks and get a sense for everything that's involved in hosting a contest, here are several checklists that aim to cover the entire process from start to finish. Depending on your contest's size and budget, certain items may not apply. Feel free to take what feels relevant and ignore the rest!

Before you can host a contest, you have to have a place to do it, along with the necessary furniture/equipment.

• Choose a date and book a venue (6 months to 1 year out)

• Arrange for a tabulation room/judge's lounge

• Arrange for locker room access

• Arrange for tables and chairs

• Purchase items for each lane: table cloths, baskets for completed division folders, candy bowls and candy for judges, easels for current division

• Purchase/arrange for set system board/tracker

• Create lane signs

• Purchase decor/theme items

• Purchase/make a podium

• Purchase/make contest banner/podium backdrop (avoid a including a specific year for easy reuse)

• Sound system preparation (purchase speaker system or arrange tech support)

It takes a village to host a baton contest, and that starts with the people who will help you run it. At least three to four months prior to the contest, if not earlier, you'll need to:

• Recruit judges

• Recruit clerks

• Recruit food & beverage staff

• Recruit tabulation staff, runners to retrieve completed division folders, and an emcee

• Arrange travel for judges (hotels, flights, etc)

• Market the event (social media, custom website, flyers)

Most contests offer food for purchase throughout the day. Some venues will have onsite solutions for this. Or, if you're hosting at a middle school or high school, you might consider collaborating with a booster program to offset costs.

• Order/arrange food & beverages for attendees

• Arrange lunch for judges, clerks, and staff

• Make a reservation for pre-contest judge's dinner

For contests providing a paid pre-contest judge's dinner, you might consider working with the restaurant to assemble a custom menu that fits within your budget.

There a number of material items and supplies you'll need before and during the contest. To be ready, you'll need to:

• Order trophies, banners, tiaras, etc

• Order t-shirts, towels, etc

• Design and order program

• Purchase thank-you notes/gift bags for judges and staff

• Purchase paper & printer ink for masters & scoresheets

• Assemble contest director survival kit (first aid kit, ice packs, blank paper, scissors, scotch tape, masking tape, duct tape, pens, highlighters, stopwatches, calculators, clipboards, binders/folders, safety pins, staplers, paperclips, sticky notes)

• Assemble division folders

• Print extra blank scoresheets

If you're using Twirlmate full registration and contest management capabilities, you'll be able to easily do all of the following in one place prior to opening registration:

• Set up a Stripe account to receive daily payouts

• Create a new event/contest (e.g., contest name, date(s), location)

• Select organization affiliation(s) and tier(s) (e.g., open, state, regional, etc)

• Select disciplines and set prices

• Define all-arounds/pageants and set prices

• Create custom disciplines/divisions and set prices

• Create products (t-shirts, towels, clinic registrations, etc)

• Define additional fees (gym fees, late fees)

• Create liability waiver

• Answer frequently asked questions (general schedule, awards structure, additional rules, etc)

• Select featured disciplines and venue amenities

• Create twirl-offs

• Create high point awards

• Offer coupons

• Add event staff/co-directors to help you manage the event

• Create and publish registration forms (separate forms for individuals, duets, trios, and teams)

• Submit your event for review/publication

For those using Twirlmate's full contest management capabilities, as registration comes to a close and you set your sights on preparing for the contest day, you'll be able to:

• Close discipline registration (if you like, people can still purchase t-shirts, candygrams until closer to the contest)

• Close registration forms completely

• Add judges and tabulators to this year's contest

• Make discipline registration and level changes for attendees as needed

• Calculate how many awards you'll need, and how much it will cost

• Draft, revise, and publish performance schedules

• Share schedules with judges, coaches, and attendees to confirm there are no conflicts or timing issues

• Generate master scoresheets

• Print master scoresheets and contestant scoresheets

• Generate high point contestants

• Generate twirl-off rounds

Finally, Twirlmate also supports you during the actual contest, allowing you to:

• Make last-minute changes to the schedule or contestant statuses (scratching/disqualifying a contestant, marking them as comments-only, etc)

• Reprint master scoresheets and contestant scoresheets

• Tabulate and publish results for standard divisions

• Tabulate and publish results for all-arounds/pageants

• Tabulate and publish results for twirl-offs

• Tabulate and publish results for high point awards

We wish you the best of luck in your hosting journey, and commend you for dedicating the time and effort to offer young twirlers everywhere the opportunity to pursue the sport they love.

If you're interested in learning more about how Twirlmate can support you in the process, please reach out to [email protected].