Tuesday, November 9, 2010

The Magic Word - Confidence

Okay, so I have received a few requests lately to keep posting, so here we go.
Latest update. Two of my daughters returned to state competition last April. One place queen (winner) and is currently reigning here in the state of Mississippi. The other placed princess, again. They both moved on to World competition in July in the beautiful city of Scottsdale, AZ. One made top twelve and one did not. As always, I was extremely proud of them both. However, I had to start thinking... what is separating my girls from those who are winning these pageants.
Well, this past weekend, we returned to state competition. My oldest daughter as visiting royalty and my other two as comptetitors. Both placed princess. This is the third time in a row that my youngest daughter (8 years old, beautiful as can be) has placed princess and of course as a parent, I don't understand why, but as a judge... it is becoming clearer. Then today when I received her judges comments what I already know hits me like a ton of bricks. Following are some of her actual judges comments to make my point:

Interview: ... don't be nervous, you are beautiful...
Sportswear: ... make eye contact with the judges, smile bigger you are beautiful, own the stage, you are great!...
Party Dress: ... SMILE YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL...

and my favorite from judge #2 ...LOTS OF POTENTIAL FOR WORLD CROWN, JUST SMILE AND SHOW THAT PERSONALITY...

Yep, there is the problem - confidence. How can a girl so beautiful be so lacking in confidence? The honest answer - who knows?

This is something I have seen in my past time judging pageants and directing pageants. The beautiful girl who finds it hard to win because she doesn't act like a winner. I have found myself writing these same comments on contestants cards and now I have to deal with it with my own daughter. The only question is how?

Well, I think that entering more pageants at this point is out. She has shown that she is lacking in confidence and if that translates to more losses then I think that is only going to work against us. So here is my plan and as we work over the next few months to prepare for World Competition in January - I will do my best to keep you updated.

Back to Basics
This means - 1) Daily practice smiling in the mirror. - I know this seems silly, but reminding her how she smiles when having fun and laughing while showing her how beautiful she is by looking in the mirror or taking pictures of these moments seems key.
2) Interview practice - Interview is normally the tiebreaker in the event of a tie at most pageants. Its not enough to sit still and look poised. We are going to build her up by practicing questions and allowing her to already have a good stock of answers for those most common interview questions. The more interview doesn't seem like a "pop quiz" the more she will speak up, make eye contact with the judges and smile. For more info on this check the archives for most often used pageant questions.
3)Practice, practice, practice, her modeling - Yep, she needs to know every modeling formation backwards and forwards and turns should be second nature. The less she has to think about these things the more she can concentrate on having fun (which I definately think is a skill, when you are being judged on your appearance).
Anyway, this is my three step plan and I will work hard on keeping you updated. I may even try to get some video up of our practice sessions.
More to follow,
Lindsey

Monday, March 22, 2010

Okay, Time to Update

Well, I know it's been a long time, so I feel it is necessary to do one update blog before I get started on some more Pageant tips...

First of all, we did not attend our first world pageant in July of 2009, but I did have a major undertaking in getting three of my daughters world pageant ready by January of 2010.

Also, in the time I have been missing from my blog, I have directed my first preliminary pageant, judged a pageant for the first time, and I am currently busily organizing my second preliminary pageant - Miss Pumpkin Patch. All of this while preparing my daughters for their own competitions. So, you can see why I may have been a little preoccupied. I do, however, have plans for upcoming blogs on what judges are looking for (now from a judges perspective) as well as the pros and cons of professional make-up and hair styling at pageants. So stay tuned and check back.

By the way, two of my daughters placed Princess (runner-up) in our State pageant last October, and one placed Mini-Queen (second runner up) in the same pageant - each in their own age division. While they did not make finals at World's, they all did an amazing job, and I couldn't have been prouder of them at their first international pageant. And believe me - when an interpreter is needed and you can't understand him - it is definately an international pageant. :)