How To Pick the Right Pageant System for You
Let’s face it, pageantry can be a very expensive and time-consuming hobby. Registration fees, hair/makeup, and coaching can all add up very quickly. For that reason, it’s very important to choose a pageant system that offers the best chances of a positive experience.
The biggest mistake I see so many contestants make is not choosing a system that is the best fit for them. I see women choose systems that won’t allow them to highlight their strengths, causing them to feel terrible when they don’t take home the crown year after year. Here is how I ensure I pick a system that values me as much as I value it.
1. Know your goals
First, sit and determine what you want to gain from a pageant experience. For example, the last pageant I joined, my goals were to make friends, learn new skills, and have more opportunities to serve the community. Once I figured this out, I researched pageants and found ones that emphasized sisterhood and community service, ensuring I had plenty of opportunities to reach my goals. Pageantplanet.com is a great place to start pageant research!
2. Will I be successful in this system?
The next step is to look at what the pageant is really looking for.
Not all pageants are the same. Some pageants emphasize beauty and poise, while others are very big on platform and community service. To determine this, examine the areas of competition and how each area is weighted. If a pageant scores interview at 50% and gown at 10%, that tells me this pageant is looking for a personable and well-spoken queen
Another clue to what the system is looking for is to look at past queens. Take a look at the past queens and look for patterns. What do all previous queens have in common? Do they all have a ‘look’? Are they all well-spoken and great speakers? Do they all have impeccable style? If I believe I have many of the same traits as the winners, or if I want to work on developing the skills they possess, I will consider applying.
3. What are my strengths?
Evaluating your strengths is a crucial step in this process. Take an honest look at your skills. Do you have a very strong stage presence and a beautiful walk? Are you passionate about your platform and have made a big impact in your community? Or are you very charismatic and eloquent? Take stock of your skills, and then use the information gathered in step 2 to ensure that the areas where you excel are scored highly. Given that I am strong in the interview, I look for systems that score that phase of competition at 40% or more. Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
4. The Prize Package
Now let’s check out the prize package. It should be somewhere prominently on the pageant website. Is it something you feel is worth your time and effort if you were to win? From scholarship money to travel opportunities, if it's valuable to you, then it's worth it. But if the pageant doesn't have a listed prize package, that's a red flag that the pageant may be disorganized.
Please let me know below which pageant you would like to join. Also subscribe for more pageant talk.
