Wearables and Judging Contests
Jeff Pull up your local major show's premium book and do a search for "cell".
Please turn OFF your cell phones during the contest. There will be no usage of cell phones at all, i.e. texting during the contest
Usage of Electronic Devices: Neither contestants or exhibitors may be in possession of electronic communication or storage devices at any time during judging or while in arena or in competition. These devices include but are not limited to cell phones, Palm Pilots, Blackberries, personal computers, pagers, and radio devices, such as walkie-talkies and/or handless phone devices.
Cell phones are not allowed in the judging arena by any contestant. Use of any cell phone will result in immediate disqualification.
Exhibitors are not permitted to bring any form of an electronic device (i.e. cell phone, pager, etc.) into the judging arena. Any Exhibitor that violates this rule will be ruled ineligible and removed from the Show.
No electronic devices will be allowed in contest area, including cellphones. Violating this rule may cause the Participants and their teams to be disqualified and ineligible to receive awards.
Rules regarding cell phones are almost standard for just about any show organized enough to put together a premium book. Not only are the prohibited in judging contests, at many shows they’re prohibited when exhibiting animals.
But who is paying attention to wearables?
I’ve asked that question several times at livestock judging contests over the past few months. The general answer is “what are wearables?” That’s certainly understandable, the people officiating contests generally don’t have much time to waste keeping up with such things.
Well, what ARE wearables?
They’re things like Apple Watches, think mini phones that look like watches. They have all the functionality of a phone that you’d want in order to cheat in a judging contest.
A contestant could text their placing of one class to a teammate via a wearable quite easily and it’d be significantly more inconspicuous than doing it with a phone. A kid could look like they’re just holding their hands behind their back and text other contestants.
On the receiving side of things, it would just look like somebody checking their watch. There’d be no need to pull out a phone, they could do it while looking at their scantron.
Just something else for you guys to worry about….