Find Your Fix- Sport Dog Scent Detection Podcast
Our 2025 NOSEWORK SEASON is off and "running" ! Lets chat about TRIAL DAY and all the tips and tricks to be the BEST TRIAL TEAM we can be AND the BEST handler to our amazing search canine !
Find Your Fix- Sport Dog Scent Detection Podcast
HOST SUPPORT - Mastering Trial Prep: Insights and Tips
We share essential tips and insights on preparing for trial season, focusing on gear essentials and communication strategies. Key elements discussed include checklists, hospitality management, and effective team interactions.
• Importance of creating thorough checklists for trial preparation
• Essential supplies needed for the score room
• Strategies for effective communication among team members
• Significance of hospitality in enhancing participant experiences
• Role of flexibility and problem-solving on trial day
• Organizing materials for easy access during trials
• Discussion on adapting to various trial settings and conditions
• Insights on updating equipment and supplies for efficiency
• Encouragement for sharing experiences within the trial community
Hey everyone, welcome to your Canine Scent Fix hosting podcast. We wanted to jump back on and give you some tidbits for getting ready for trial season in 2025. So we actually have a conversation ready for how to prepare for your trial prep and your list of do's and don'ts, your list of things. You need all those sorts of things that may be to get ready as you're either coming out of a trial season and getting ready for new trials. Maybe you've had some timeframe that was between the trials, all those sorts of things, so I'm going to hand it right off to Alex. Oh, I have with me Alex Woodruff and Jen Fay and Myra Carter and we can all kind of jump in and offer some information. It might be important for hosts to kind of have that trial prep list and, knowing Jen, she probably actually has a list. I was just pulling it up. Well, it was just my talking, I was just pulling it up, okay.
Speaker 3:Okay. So before we dive into full lists, I just kind of wanted to say how I typically run through my head. If I've got everything, because I think that helps frame, what do I actually need? So I, before I pull out of my driveway going to a trial whether I have to drive a long way or short way I think about the sections of the trial that I need to cover as a host. So the first one is score room. Did I pack all the stuff? And we can get into what the stuff is, but do I pack everything for the score room? And I just think about the duties of the score room. Do I have everything that I was supposed to do? Is the box there?
Speaker 3:Then the second one is search areas. Do I have everything I need for search areas? This can be everything from boundary markers to blocking material to whatever I need for the search areas themselves containers, potentially. And then do I have everything for volunteers? That means getting from the parking lot, including number signs and all of that stuff, walkie talkies and radios and all that stuff going for the volunteers. Everything do I need from the parking lot all the way to the search and out. That could be signs. And then the last thing is host very specific things and that is do I have W-9 forms if I need them? Do I have my checkbook? Do I have everything printed off that I needed? That is for more like host type duties. Do I have all that stuff with me? So that's kind of the general gist of what I go through typically Before we dive into lists. Do you guys have anything else that you normally kind of go through? Hospitality? But it really depends, do you have somebody helping you with hospitality or are you doing that as well?
Speaker 1:Yeah, Jen, do you want to answer that or you want me to?
Speaker 2:I, I always. I mean, I do the same thing, but I do it the week leading up and um, and I have a staging area out of your driveway.
Speaker 1:Well, that's my double check, Right, and if you, go through the pieces I can't do that day off. Are you crazy?
Speaker 2:I can't do that day off, are you crazy? Oh, no, yeah, unless I have to pick up somebody from the airport.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, no.
Speaker 2:Um, um, I definitely work on that the week before. But see, I have I mean, not everybody has this ability but I do have a staging area downstairs in my basement where everything is, you know, set and ready and I've got, you know, my hospitality boxes and my score room boxes and my, you know, for every different thing. And then the week leading up I'm like, okay, it's a two NW, threes, how many container searches am I planning? How many of each container style do I need to take with me.
Speaker 2:And I've got that, and then I've got, you know, an overall packing list that gets checked off as items go into the car, and so that packing list. I have, you know, 20 copies of it downstairs and then, and so it's one for each trial and I've got got the paper there and I just check it off when it goes in the car, and so far, that's, that's worked. Knock on wood.
Speaker 3:I use my garage so there you go, that's perfect. And that's where mine is. The week before the trial. And, but I also keep things all pretty concise, except for score room. That's concise in another area inside my house, cause it gets pretty freaking hot, so I don't store things that I don't want to get hot.
Speaker 1:But, like Jill, you have a trailer that you put all your stuff in, yeah, so I started out pretty much like what you guys are talking about, right, which is where I'd have the bins and then I would fill my truck and then I'd take it to trial, and then I'd fill the truck and I'd bring it home and I'd unload the truck. And we live rural, so it became a mouse situation where I had, um, you know, contamination.
Speaker 1:So I actually said to my husband I need you to build it, Cause he has all of his hunting stuff in a hermetically sealed box that he right, that he like and even puts like mothballs in it or something, I'm not quite sure. So I said, can you build me a box? And he said, let's just get a trailer. And I went. Oh perfect idea. Thank you very much. I can move it around now Exactly so.
Speaker 1:I started out with a small one. This is my second size. I will tell you that the bigger the trailer, the more stuff I will tell you that the bigger the trailer the more stuff. Yep, yeah, potentially even junk, I have to say as a VC, that goes into your trailer because I know not everybody's allowed in there, but I can say so we should qualify that she's throwing me under the bus it's because, let me just say I don't think you're alone. Yeah, no, and it's a lot because that inventory piece.
Speaker 3:I want things to go back exactly where I know where they are, and you need to know if there's something that there's a problem.
Speaker 1:So at a glance, I can just go oh look, we need paper. There's no paper in that bin.
Speaker 3:Exactly, but also saying that there are more bins now than there used to be that. I do not need to go into at a typical trial. Yeah, myra's nodding her head like yeah Right, Some of that is because I have multiple well, various trial settings that need different stuff, Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So we have one bin that is massive quantities of tarps, yeah Right, and we use it at Pioneer Museum and we use it potentially at the Crossroads Museum that we're going to be having the end of this month, and that's kind of where right. But rather than put those tarps in the garage, wait for right, wait for that. And then what if you forgot them? And then what if I forget right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So that's how we kind of set up the trailer was, so that it would be the storage area as well as the inventory as well as the transport of supplies. So it kind of became everything, yeah. And then how I remember to do everything is really once the and my, this whole crew that we're talking here, as well as everybody that works either in the score room, especially the score room. I asked them to give me a list of what supplies we ran out of. So I make sure that I um, you know so if it's white paper or ink cartridges and stuff like that, and then I do all of hospitality myself.
Speaker 1:I have a tendency to do that the morning of literally just running by the grocery store and getting the breakfast stuff, and then the day before, a couple of days before, I'll do the pizza or the Subway order or whatever the sandwiches are going to be, if we're actually going to be making our own. I do now have crockpots and fryers that are in the trailer as well. So it really has turned out to be kind of just the the kitchen sink. We have everything in there, but when we go to the checklist so I've always done this host trial notebook and I don't know why I started doing this, but I kind of did and you guys have all seen it.
Speaker 3:I like it.
Speaker 1:I copied it from my trial and it's, it's everything I put in there and, granted, there's times when I go oh my God, all the paper that you were printing off and putting in here, you're just going to pull it and throw it away. Why are you doing that? Right?
Speaker 3:But you need it.
Speaker 1:It really is that checklist right? So I make sure I've got my facility contract in here and I've got my insurance copy of my policy. It has. Then it has all of my running orders and my volunteer well, no, my volunteer list. I leave pretty much oh no, I do that, don't.
Speaker 3:I no, you put it in there.
Speaker 1:So I make a schematic for my VC so that we can pick. I do one of I'm probably one of the weirdos who does everything, including VC work prior to trial, and my VC works as VC as of the day, and that's just largely because I know these people and I kind of, so it just works out easier. Especially, I don't like the idea of really having I work them hard enough, guys. Oh my God, right, yeah, right. So what else is in here? So then there's just my maps, right, so that I can go over my flow with my CEO.
Speaker 1:I make sure here's one of my kind of pet peeves that my maps are up to date. So if I touch base with my facility, like persistently and consistently, so you know, even like a week before, I'm still contacting them and saying, okay, I'm ready for our event, has anything changed? Is there anything you need me to know? Um, that sort of thing, um, and if it's close enough and I can do actually a drive-by or a look-see, um, that's even better. Right, but mine are pretty far away, so it's kind of hard to do that. Um, but make sure my maps are updated. And it's not so much because I want to be the nerdy host who has all the answers for my CO. It has so much to do with flow, has?
Speaker 1:so much to do with. When you hit the ground running and you're just trying to make up flow as you go, that can be pretty chaotic and, quite frankly, especially if you run into, as the four of us have all kind of congregated and when we've had a problem to try to think through how to make it better and get all four of you offering opinions, and it can be very challenging to go wait, we just need to fix this, stop Right, yeah, yeah. So that's one of the reasons why I really make sure my, my, those are updated Right, that I can kind of, yeah and granted, alex can tell you to admire that working as well in Gen 2, working as VC for one of our trials, we actually revisit flow the night before I like that.
Speaker 1:Or we revisit it the night before we do set up. And when I say by revisit it, we really look at it and go. Is there a better way? Is this the best way to get people from the parking lot to the search and back, without line of sight to other handlers or line of sight into the search area, maintaining the correct distance, appropriate policy distance, dog to dog and at the same time making sure our last gate, our last, station for waiting is as close as possible to the start line as we can get it so without auditory and visual line of sights, right and we use music we use.
Speaker 1:Jen has a new wall set, and actually I found that wall set in my garage that I never used. Instead, we ended up building PVC pipes for my walls. But stuff like that that just can really make your life a little bit easier.
Speaker 1:And some people like even Anita and Jessica, they'll split those even the supplies and stuff Right. So Jessica takes a lot of the stuff that's more VC oriented and Anita will keep the host stuff Right. So even between when you partner up with someone to do repeat hosting and have a good partnership, you can do that as well. So there's no right answer. But keeping organized is key, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think flow maps the night before is kind of a key thing If you can sit down with your VC as a host because you now know what the CEO is going to do Exactly.
Speaker 3:You now have eyes on the site. You really walked that path and so to be able to like, it's almost humble in some times because I find that we have like, but I said this and we are going to do this plan. But if you go, okay, no, let's go with the flow, let's fix it now, let's figure out what is the optimum path right now, trying to also think about what is the other lines doing. So in NACSW we've got two searches at once typically, but in like AKC we could have six searches going at once, like just being really aware of what else is running. Where are they running, what are their lines of path in and out, bathrooms score running right. So you're trying to do that math and that juggling, and that night right before is not a bad time to do it because it's all so fresh and you can make those adjustments without too many problems.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we'll even mark where we need the gates, where we need the people Right. So, almost doing all of your job assignments at that time Right, yeah, yeah. So and it really that time Right then Right. Yeah, yeah, so, and it really works really really well, yeah, yeah, so what? Other. So trial prep, what else can we think of?
Speaker 3:I have one in here and I think it's the first thing that I have to make sure that I'm going to be ready to pack, but it's the last thing that I pack is a cart, Jill you have yours in there, but I need to make sure that that wagon is on top so that I am able to take it off first and be able to stuff it full of things.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I definitely push it to wherever it needs to go. Yeah, um. So that is kind of one of those things that I am first to make sure that it is in my pile to go into my car, but the last to go in a pile yeah, yeah, that's a good point that's true, yeah and then all of your just general supplies.
Speaker 1:You could even make a list of that right which Jen hit on it about, like how many levels are you offering that are going to have container searches?
Speaker 2:right.
Speaker 1:And do you have? Because typically when you're sending in your information to your trial coordinator, you are telling them how many containers you have right. So make sure that you have that variety right, right um can be very, very helpful um and what's required to have for each specific level.
Speaker 2:Nw3, you have to have ort boxes and toolboxes and um shoe boxes available.
Speaker 1:Shoe boxes, yeah and I just stash a one of all of them, right?
Speaker 3:yeah, that seems to work, filler because you'll need filler for those shoeboxes.
Speaker 1:The clear shoeboxes yeah and the filler can be as easy as newspaper. It doesn't happen right, you could even recycle newspaper. You don't have to buy something special tissue.
Speaker 3:I do not recommend is plastic, uh like um, you can get it really cheap. But the tablecloth liners, because they're're colorful, like, oh, it looks like a great thing I could, but they do weird things with odor. I would not recommend it. Stick with paper, yeah. We learned that in AKC a long time ago.
Speaker 1:I'd be curious if ours doesn't say paper. I don't know now, yeah, but it's something that we tested out oh and the other thing is make sure that you're, when you're purchasing your containers, right that you're getting, especially with the shoe boxes. You're getting the opaque tops because walmart, for some reason, because they've been a good um source for me, because I can get the 10 stack of 10 for 10 bucks, basically so a dollar a piece for those shoes and I have to make sure my holes are in there right In the top.
Speaker 3:Yeah, make the time for the holes.
Speaker 1:They took away the like I love the dark blue and they had a burgundy. They're different now and now they did white and a tan and the white. You can see the Q-tips. Yeah, if I tape Q-tips to the underside of it. Yes, it's enough of a shadow. They're not opaque enough Enough of a shadow right and we really need to be able to be consistent with, as a CO, putting my Q-tips on that lid. I'm not going to bury it down in the paper like.
Speaker 1:Alex was saying right and then have odor not available for your dog because the lid was weird, the lid was wrong.
Speaker 3:What will?
Speaker 1:happen is, as a CO, we're just going to say, well, we're not going to use that, let's use the ORT boxes, right, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, double check your containers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so always be thinking of your contingency again. You know, while you may be trying to save money, you know you can really give your, your people, an opportunity to experience any one of those three. Back in the day, we used to haul all this luggage. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, yeah crazy, Takes so much time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay. So let's talk about check in box, because I believe having a box to put all your check in stuff into makes life so much easier, because you could just leave the box and walk away, because it's not necessarily anywhere near anything else.
Speaker 2:So what's in your?
Speaker 3:check-in box. My bin, your bin. Yeah, you have a bin.
Speaker 1:I have a bin.
Speaker 2:I do too. My trials run very similarly to Jill's. It's a shocker, I know. Right, I figure.
Speaker 3:She's invented the wheel.
Speaker 2:I know Right Um figure, but she's invented the wheel run orders. It's got my binders with the um, the numbers for cars, um, if we're using those. It's also got the numbers for the flipper, for the sign holder thing.
Speaker 1:Um liability waiver has liability waivers.
Speaker 3:Um what else? Um I print off volunteer forms, extra volunteer forms yep, that's in my one making sure. Yeah, I've got extra pens and yeah um tape. We need tape in that box lots of blue tape in there yeah, I also always put uh poop bags like rolls of poop bags just as extras of them.
Speaker 3:Yep same yeah just as people are coming in in, because it's the time when people forget about them and I'm just looking at my bin right now, so and that kind of goes to the we're going to have different hosts want to do different things, whether it's the number app for the managing the running order, yeah, Right.
Speaker 1:So I like to make sure that my my hopefully my flipping sign is in good repair. It is getting an entirely big overhaul right now. I saw that because it has broken so many times and some of that is shortened had it for so long right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but the other thing was I really think the design of it is what made it difficult, because when I fastened down the numbers and not to make a long story short, but I can't use this now is because and it was only three quarter inch PVC, so I went to a inch and a quarter and this one's robust?
Speaker 2:I think that's what mine is big and heavy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it's only going to have a single pole going up the middle, but yeah, I'm thinking outside the box is good, though Like for some of your trials, and something that we've done too is we lucked out that a trial site has railings right where we're basically putting them, and so then we just put the signs because they were on a big ring, yeah onto the railing and then just use the railing as the flipper, and it was so easy yeah, so I've done that at a few sites now. Well, when I saw on enthusiast some of that discussion.
Speaker 1:It was even. Just take a notebook that has your numbers in it right and literally they take off the plastic, so it is just the ring and they fasten that to the railing.
Speaker 3:And then you are just using the grip and flipping it.
Speaker 1:So you can be that easy. You can even decide you don't want to use it. But again, here's kind of one of my pieces of communication. The more communication I have going to my handlers, the better organized we're all going to be right. So, yes, you're taking one person as a position and asking them to flip those numbers, and I do have our handlers take their corresponding running order. Um, cause there's other hosts who just do the number flipping but don't label the cars right with a running order.
Speaker 1:Um, I like to do that more because if I need to find somebody, I don't know everybody and I really don't want to have go find a conversation, hey, do you know where? So-and-so sparked Right, I'd rather just go. Okay, let's just go look for the number and we can find that particular person. Whether it's an emergency or it's a discussion I want to have with them or the CEO wants to, I just think it's a, it's a wonderful way, so that everybody just sort of knows where each other is, and you know as opposed to, and it makes it easier to as a handler when you know, rather than going.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm following Jen who has a wonderful golden, so I need to be looking. You're going to spend more time outside your car and focused on everybody else and what they're doing. If you can't, you know. If the numbers are up there, you know exactly when to do what. Otherwise, it's you're just trying to watch whoever your neighbor is or whoever the dog is that's ahead of you, to determine when you're supposed to go.
Speaker 3:As a competitor, having some sort of access to the run order, whether I'm taking a photo with my phone or it's on AgilityGate or one of the other apps out there my phone or it's on AgilityGate or one of the other apps out there, but I want to see that because if I'm traveling somewhere brand new and I've made some friends in the parking lot I may not know their name, having the run order gives me an ability to go oh, that's who they were. So having that access just creates that community a little bit more that you might not be thinking of when we're like in host mode, because I know I'm not thinking about that, but as a competitor I'm very grateful to actually get names and be able to see those names on the paper and see oh, my friends are here, they're so and so yeah, so I don't know.
Speaker 3:And then that's from traveling a lot more, versus if it's just my small community and that's all who enters, it might be a little bit of a different situation.
Speaker 1:Got it, yeah, and so that means you have to go through your numbers to make sure that all those numbers are there, right? But it's not really a big deal of grabbing a magic marker and you know, making a new one right Really quick and shoving it in a plastic cover. Yep, that works. What else with trial prep?
Speaker 3:um, so we kind of glossed through this. But walkies, radios battery equipment yes, right, yeah, like that kind of stuff, it's an investment. But I'm gonna say walkie talkies can save a trial. Um, I don't know how many trials I've done, jill, sorry, but it's been like, yeah, people, people and that's all the volunteers that we have signed up, but we can make a trial run really smooth if you have a walkie-talkie filling in the gap for when you don't have a visual connection between two people. Definitely.
Speaker 2:Yep, definitely. So what Alex?
Speaker 1:is talking about there guys too, is for flow. What we can try to do is line of sight, gate-to-gate right, because you can have your handlers kind of almost self-advance right sometimes and you can even, um, I think, oh, I think it was judy who was the co at the time, way back when actually took the walkie-talkie and set it in its own place, and it was the one who then they would say, okay, next competitor at the red chair gate can proceed Right, and that's kind of they did it without a person and without yeah.
Speaker 3:I don't love it as much because you don't get that confirmation that the person's left, right. But, in an absence of any other people. That can happen Right Like, make it happen, yeah, yeah, so it happen.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So music too yeah.
Speaker 1:Batteries is huge, and then so is music. So have some means, because this can make a big difference of where you put that last gate. Yeah, if it's a CEO, I don't have an option to get that team closer, because I'm trying especially. Okay, here's one of the things coming down the pike. We're going to have more and more even though that's been approved this last year but we're going to have more and more split day trials. So we're going to have more and more.
Speaker 1:Where I'm going to have a level in the morning and a level in the afternoon, we are now allowed to split that with NW2. So that basically means and this kind of goes to hospitality too so whenever I'm serving for lunch, it can really be helpful if I can somehow make sure it's available at maybe 1130, so that and all the way to one right Like, yeah, button it up and put it away. But if you have somebody who can, who can, take charge of that, that's wonderful. If you don't, as a host, try to. You know whether it's soup in a crock pot or or you know sandwiches that can sit out or go into the fridge, something, so that you can potentially break those two judge teams differently, Potentially break those two judge teams differently, right, and then with because that happens with one level full day trial, right. But with these splits, boy, it's going to be really important and, quite frankly, I'm already of the mindset as a CO where I just like grab the sandwich and take it with me.
Speaker 3:So if you offer me Because you don't have time- no, if you offer me things to eat and some of that it with me. So if you offer you, don't have time.
Speaker 1:No, if you offer me things to eat and some of that's just me, there may be CEOs who sit down for an entire hour I like to get it done. I like to get it set up, get my dog and white done. Uh, chat with my judges. Have sufficient time. I don't like to be rushed on those pieces. Um then, having the ability to just sort of eat and run right really helps, so yeah, the trial is I charge everything.
Speaker 2:I don't just save it for the night before. I don't save it to plan to charge on the trial site overnight, the night before I charge my MP3 players and my speakers and my Ryobi batteries and make them work. Walkie talkies, yes, make sure everything works, and so I like to make sure that we're at 100% starting the trial to make that a little bit easier on charging in between multiple days, because likely we won't use up 100%. But yeah.
Speaker 3:So something that might be worth talking about is what are we talking about when we say radios and batteries? Because I don't think you have to spend a lot of money and, honestly, I wouldn't rely on local um FM radio, because you're not always going to get something that maybe is even oh so radios are not walkie-talkies radios or music sorry yeah like music yeah, walkie-talkies and then music and radio I have.
Speaker 1:What is a radio? Does anyone really have a radio? I have two different ones that I use.
Speaker 2:so like um, before my first trial, I did a lot of research on amazon to find the cheapest but most um, yeah, the best inventory player that I could get. I mean, it's basically like a today version of an iPod, right, and I think I spent $15.
Speaker 2:I have two of them and then I they connect via. They're Bluetooth speakers as well, but I actually did get a little like 12 inch cable so that they physically connect, so that they stay together, yeah, and that that goes to a little speaker, and those were about $15. So, right there, I'm at $60. And and that's it, and I've got as much music as I'm going to need for my trial and so for one of those trial prep things would be making your music, your playlist right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah that playlist and, honestly, I haven't touched mine a long time.
Speaker 1:I did bug jill enough that she updated hers last year and so what may happen to you guys is depending on the player. You may get ones that just repeatedly play the same song over, and it's terrible as a volunteer.
Speaker 3:Talk about not getting volunteers for your trial right.
Speaker 1:And that's when they'll say can you please update your playlist? I'm sick of listening to frozen happy, whatever it was yeah, happy yeah, yeah, and I have a tendency to use the halos, because boy talk about workhorses and I just have two of them they were charging. I mean, if they can if they can start a car, they're gonna run my radio right, and there's a lot of them out there now.
Speaker 3:um, it's just a matter of finding power banks that you could just charge, you don't have to think about. They're pretty cheap. So if you lose one, you're not like. That's why I like having something extra, because what if you left it behind? Because it is something that can get forgotten to get picked up because it's not in the search area.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, and that is one of the challenges to a trial prep right, which is can we do anything that is going to help at the end of the day, when everybody wants they want to help right to button everything up, but on the other hand, they're also wanting to get on the road, right? Yeah. So sometimes I find and that's one of the reasons why I just say just don't go in the trailer, right, just put the stuff on the outside. Um, because I've ended up with stuff in in places where I didn't even know it existed, and now I'm out replacing equipment because I couldn't find, you know the?
Speaker 1:yeah, whatever the one weird thing that was in the one weird place yeah right, some of the other interesting little pieces of, so the little ones that we keep losing, are those magnetic strips, the one weird thing that was in the one weird place.
Speaker 2:Yeah right, some of the other interesting little pieces of.
Speaker 1:So the little ones that we keep losing, are those magnetic strips for school. Those are great one, that right oh I absolutely love them I bought more of them because we basically lost every one of them we had last year. Go on the frame, not on the door right, yeah, exactly, yeah yeah, but they work really well but I gotta remember to go back and pick them up, right?
Speaker 3:yes, so I'm thinking I think judges, steward, if you can get them to do that role of pick up the music and the well the latches is the problem, because you want to keep that door open until the co is done and, and probably for the whole thing.
Speaker 1:So one of my other thoughts was because I actually wrote with a magic marker on a mountain dogs, right, but it wasn't. So now I'm thinking, maybe some bright green, like that bright green tape Color, yeah, and put a piece of bright green tape on it so that it's so visual, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you can tell that you see it once.
Speaker 1:it's because they're white yeah, yeah, you don't really see them so um, and then the other thing was um door stops yeah, I recommend getting some reasonable door stops and I keep losing them, right that's the other item that just gets left at the school. I'm I'm sure the schools are like great. Thank you. I think I leave enough of them that they would say great, but Right.
Speaker 3:So kind of along the same lines is barrier material, and I'm talking about plastic, big, thick metal, black plastic that you can cut.
Speaker 3:I have specific lengths that are cut for the narrow little door windows that happen in schools. I've got ones that are a full door that are cut for the narrow little door windows that happen in schools. I've got ones that are a full door that are cut for full outside doors. And then what we ended up buying is small, there may be the size of a penny and they are extra strong magnets and they are fantastic for putting up a piece of plastic very quickly as a blocker on a window or a steel door, which a lot of the doors frequently are for exteriors, and those are so fast to put up and take down and they take like one person to do very easily, especially when you have sizes already cut out and I haven't labeled them but maybe we need to label like this is for a door, this is for a window, but that has made night and day difference.
Speaker 3:And then the other thing is like really old but they used to make tent sides that were like solid and they would go around a 10 by 10 like easy up. But those I have used at more trial sites because they are light and they're opaque and they work perfectly because there's little hooks on all of them and they're easy to clip onto any surface. I use those more than tarps, because tarps end up being a little heavier.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:So it's something I've used a lot Mass quantity of, of easy up sides, yeah yeah, easy upsides are like the like if I could just buy just that, I probably would buy a go Well, and if people are worried about, cause I can remember back in the day we would always bring and I do actually in the trailer have a couple of canopies, right, that was you know.
Speaker 1:and then there's certain parts of the country where that's really important to make sure you need those Right, but we used to even use those inside the school. We would just set up as a right and even put just even if it was just one wall or two walls on it and you could create a good little staging area. Jen's got the the piped piped, I don't know it's almost like an office divider, right? Yeah, that's exactly what it is, whatever you would put behind you for a webinar, right?
Speaker 2:yeah, I'm providing to screen yeah, it's they had like the ones that I got came in a three pack and they attach to one another and you can fold them in different directions. You can make a U or an L or just flat straight across.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I have two sets of them Don't work great outside in the wind, but they work perfect Well you know or down a hallway.
Speaker 2:Right, yes, especially a long hallway in a large school. Yes, exactly, yeah, yeah, exactly yeah, they weren't great cool any.
Speaker 1:What else you got on your?
Speaker 3:list. Um, the last one that I have is score room, and I thought maybe jen could talk about that, because, as a host, I had to email jen. I'm like what do you need in the score room? Yeah, she's gonna know that list more than I would, for sure, even though I have the stuff, I just make sure it's always stocked. So what do you need, jen, as a good score?
Speaker 2:room. So I like I mean pens staples and electric stapler 100%. Jill started that and now I won't do anything without it. I love an electric stapler. It makes the end of the day so easy. I know there's a lot of score room leads that just hand out score cards out of an accordion file and so nothing's stapled together. But I don't like that. That's just a personal preference. I like to have everything stapled and then I can divide the group of oh.
Speaker 3:Hey.
Speaker 2:I'll take one to 19. You take 20 to 38. Let's pass these out. Um, so I mean other basic office supplies, maybe some post-its, uh, for sure, some Sharpies. Um. Blue tape, regular Scotch tape, um, but Scotch brand tape, not the dollar tape, that's a big one, white out tape, not the liquid stuff because that won't dry fast enough. That's true, myra will tell you I don't use it, I don't use white out Not all of us are perfect.
Speaker 2:No, no, I am so far from it, but I just scratch through, so you know it's's I, but I love that you that you are more?
Speaker 1:um, your stuff comes across more clean than mine, but um, let's see what else um so that's on the original, where you make edits on maybe the original and then you go to make copies of it, just so you guys are kind of following what they're talking about. They get into this little score room, lead kind of mode and you're not quite sure you know I made a mistake on your scorecard and now I need to copy it.
Speaker 2:um, but yeah. So then I scratched through on the original what my mistake was and write the correct amount of points, and and myra takes the time to white, white out through what she wrote and fix it and make it look pretty so, which I love, it is very good. I need to get in that habit.
Speaker 1:What are the benefits of colored paper? Or are we just doing it to be pretty?
Speaker 2:I think it's. For me it's just to be pretty Different. Score room leads do things a little differently. I personally just take the colored paper and just kind of shuffle it together, so I might have five different colors. I'm not going to assign green to this search and blue to the search and pink to this one. Some score rooms.
Speaker 1:do that yes.
Speaker 2:And yeah.
Speaker 1:I think I would do that too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because it's easy to look at that big table and say hey, oh, I'm missing a pink for this person and and I don't disagree that that's really nice to have. But for me, I forget, when I'm copying pages, to open up the printer and change out to a different color and I'm like, oh, uh-oh, what color was that supposed to be? Oh no, now I've got to make another copy.
Speaker 2:And, so at some point I just said you know what To heck with it. I'm just going to mix it all up and I'm just going to count sheets at the end, and so when I'm printing individual results at the end I'm making sure that I'm stapling four colored pages to that white sheet, and that's to me that works. It's worked knock on wood so far, but there is probably more merit in the, you know, designating a color per search area. For me it's your laziness, probably just because it's easier to not do that. Yeah.
Speaker 2:What else, and then you need a printer, don't you?
Speaker 2:Yes, you need a printer that can print a lot, and you need something that can photocopy and something that can print quickly and honestly, two printers is really a great great setup Because if you have your score room, lead can have their computer attached to one printer and they can put white paper in that one and then that's the one that their computer communicates with and, honestly, a lot of times it's in my score room box. I always have a USB printer cable, because not all printers communicate wirelessly easily.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so sometimes that cable makes your life so much easier. And then the other one needs to be truly, I think, a laser printer for making copies, and it has to have a document feeder.
Speaker 1:And it really should be laser.
Speaker 2:But yeah, extra toner for everything um all of the extra paper, preferably the correct cartridge.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is helpful.
Speaker 2:That's helpful. Um yeah, and extension cords, power strips. Power's important in the score room, but that's basically it for my score room bin. I don't have a ton of excess stuff in there. Yeah, I guess you know I've only hosted a few.
Speaker 3:So would it make sense, as a host, to check in with your score room to make sure that there's nothing specific that they need?
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 3:If it's somebody you don't normally use, yes.
Speaker 2:If it's someone you've used before then, yeah maybe yeah, exactly, but as a new score room lead to a host I haven't worked with before, I'm usually communicating with them ahead of time anyway and saying, hey, I just wanted to let you know, here's a few things. I'm driving, so I'll have this. Or I'm flying, so I won't have all of these things. Please make sure that you have clipboards. That's huge, you know. I mean, those are incredibly important If I'm driving, sometimes I'll have them with me, but sometimes not.
Speaker 1:So one of the preps for score room is talking with my score room lead and sometimes they find out purely by the email that goes out. Staffing like who, who do?
Speaker 1:I have to work with or not work with Right, right, that kind of thing, and I like to get their feedback on that, if I can, not just for purposes of conflict or you know what I mean, but there might be different. Okay, a good example would be the split levels. I think those split level days, even though it's an element right, we might think, oh, an element's going to be easy for the score room lead. Boy, between the score room lead and the co, you're going to have a lot of of chores and and brain drain. That needs to be happening.
Speaker 1:so really try to check with them about the staffing and what their staffing needs, if I what I have in mind and the other one I talked to jen a little bit about not too long ago, which was computers. So the score room lead brings a computer and as host I still bring a computer in addition to my computer that the score room lead has, just because we do rule enough that I'm always like oh God, if one of ours crashes you've got something.
Speaker 1:But on the flip side too, there should be a conversation between the host and the CO as to who is bringing the computer, because COs should be bringing their own computer unless they've communicated to the host that they want to. And it could be travel related, it could be whatever reason, and in that case they'd just be bringing a jump drive and they need the host to provide that other laptop or that other computer so that we can download video, so that the video is not being downloaded on the ScoreRoom Leads computer.
Speaker 3:I'm just kind of looking at AKC and just any sort of differences that might not be. The same is there is no requirement for photocopying or retrieving any sort of copy of that stuff. So you only just need one printer, a laser printer preferably, that often the score room, the trial secretary or if you have somebody specific scoring, will have already with their computer. But if you are hosting or a trial chair or involved and your trial secretary does not have one, that is something that needs to be discussed because that's critical. You need that to be able to do that trial day. So that's a big one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was just going to ask you. So when you have a trial secretary that's bringing their own equipment, are you then reimbursing them for basically wear and tear on that equipment and then toner and paper and whatever?
Speaker 3:So it is AKC's bottom up organization. It's all on the clubs. So sometimes the club may own the printer and buy the ink and paper club may own the printer and buy the ink and paper, right? Sometimes it's a trial secretary and maybe they get reimbursed whether they are getting reimbursed for the job and that includes their costs, or they're getting reimbursed um, just for their costs, right. So sometimes they're getting paid um, or sometimes they're doing it all pro bono, and I think it really depends on the club and that relationship, because I do think that's just kind of how it is.
Speaker 3:As a trial host, I used to bring a lot more for my trial secretary, and now that she's got all her stuff she's good to go.
Speaker 3:But if we have a new trial secretary that starts up, there's things that she may not realize or they might not realize they need up, there's things that she may not realize or they might not realize they need, and so then I might step in as somebody who helps the club organize it, as president right now, but in different roles, right. So a lot of the rest of the stuff is the same, akc versus NACSW, whether it's walkie talkies, it's radios, it's blocking material, cones, all of that I just probably need more. So if we're talking about four searches all happening at the blocking material, cones, all of that I just probably need more. So if we're talking about four searches all happening at the same time, potentially you need more cones, you need potentially more blocking material. You need a lot of that kind of stuff that we might not need necessarily, but if you're setting up all of your search areas for any CSW, you may be putting that many cones down anyway, right, so it might be about the same. So just kind of differences that you might think about.
Speaker 1:Well, and some of the trial prep. So I've been teased that Mountain Dogs doesn't have color coded cones. We should have blue going in one side and red coming out, or I have. We should have a row of blue and the other side should be red. So all I'm going to offer is if you are one of those hosts who wants to make sure you've got sufficient number of your colors, otherwise you're going to end up with a rainbow.
Speaker 3:Mix mash.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like for APC.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, like for akc, yeah, um, if we've got, uh, more than one level of exterior, because you might see more than one cones, they might be different colors. Yeah, um, right, and that's just boundary markers and that can help um, just separate things out. Um, if I do virtual walkthroughs for akc, I might use different start cone colors for different search areas, so I can see it in my videos and I know which search. I'm looking at when I upload them.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, and going back to the running order real quick, because Jen just mentioned app. So it's also making sure that I've decided that I've got a phone that's charged If I'm going to hand my running order.
Speaker 1:Flipper number person and ask them to also run the app, um it's, they may have a phone, they may not, right, so you may want to do that. And then have I figured out whether or not I have cell service, what's my backup, blah, blah, blah. And then getting making sure that app is got the running order loaded into it and it can be modified. Yada y, yada, yada. We actually I did anyway kind of have faded a little bit away from AgilityGate, because it's not my modifiable day of right.
Speaker 1:Well, it is, but then it just kind of ends up being confusing.
Speaker 3:So trying to look at but you also have weird reception. You have reception problems. You also have a lot more changes last minute than some other groups, yeah, and you also have a lot smaller trials, and so when there's only like 10, 12, it's like what was the point? Yeah, so I think there's that piece of it too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's good points. So anything else we can think of with trial prep that we haven't mentioned as a host? Covered all my main questions, yeah, my team.
Speaker 3:Oh, and then water. Make sure you have enough. Yeah, and something that I don't think about because I don't drink coffee, but some volunteers that vary or judges like there's no coffee right now, I don't think I'm to blame for that right now, because I leave the keurig in the trailer.
Speaker 1:Um, because it's a lot of stuff. Quite frankly, by the time you try to, you can't just bring out one flavor of coffee, then somebody else wants something either darker or lighter, and then where's the cream? Where's the sugar? Oh, I really want a tea. What about hot chocolate? So it can if you're going to offer it, it ends up being a little bit much. So, um, and what I need to add that quite frankly to my um. I do send out final information to my judges and my CEO.
Speaker 1:Um, and so I should just add that to that email, by the way. Um, I won't have on sitesite coffee for you in the morning, so please feel free to stop by Starbucks or whatever and tell them if I know where it is Right. If there isn't any anywhere, then you might Well then no, because probably what I'll do for myself is just the hot pot Right. Yeah, because the hot pot, then can do tea or coffee. Yeah, then they end up with kind of an instant coffee and they might think that's awful.
Speaker 2:So I don't know.
Speaker 3:So, that's kind of life situations that's true.
Speaker 1:And then mostly for breakfast. Guys, sorry, but I give you sugar, which is not, you know, it's easy. So, and a lot of other hosts are wonderful with fruit and making sure you've got fresh muffins, oh my God. When I go to Alaska it's like oh my goodness.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, right, they spray it on food yeah.
Speaker 3:So it's really good, so anyway. I just have to say, as somebody who is terrible at hospitality, that is not my strong suit. It is such a treat to be able to go somewhere and they have somebody who knows hospitality. Or I get lucky and somebody who's a volunteer of mine says oh yeah, I'll do hospitality and there's like amazing food oh my god, what a like saver.
Speaker 3:But it's not something I think about I, it's right no, it's a weakness of mine and I am happy to say that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but yeah, if you've got somebody cherish time can time the time constraint?
Speaker 1:I don't want to feed you anything that's going to take a long time for you to eat, agreed To serve or to eat right, because we kind of run on a 30 to 45 minute.
Speaker 3:So pizza sandwiches it's going to be grab and go.
Speaker 1:You know that kind of thing and that's going to be, I think, some host. Preference too, guys, is to how long you want to take for lunch. I can tell you that again, nacsw, we do have those timeframes allotted in your schedule that we're going to try to keep everybody pretty close to doing that, especially again with these split trials. What we want to really avoid across the nation is not having trials run until dark.
Speaker 1:That does like that the competitors are driving home in dark. We could potentially be finishing searches in the dark, and it's just not a safety issue. So we really would rather. And you got to remember too, if it's a multi-day trial, that at the end of the first day that whole host crew still has a lot to do.
Speaker 2:They still the.
Speaker 1:CO and the host crew still have to look at everything they're going to set up for the next day, get it all set up and be all ready to go by that next morning so that we are, you know, ready to go Arrival time, sticking to that schedule and being sure that you did print that off as many times as everything's the same. Why do I need to print it off? It can be a good reminder, just to have somewhere. I often put it in the check-in, that check-in bin, and the biggest thing we need to look for is when are the? Because as many times as a host you'll remind people not to show up before X time they will. Yeah, times as a host you'll remind people not to show up before X time they will. And so really making sure you've had that conversation with your CO about any search areas that might be in line of sight of people arriving, because what you may actually have to do is you may actually have to run dog and white after everybody gets there.
Speaker 1:And then it's a question of whether or not, if the co set their hides at seven right, how long that they want that order out there, um, waiting for all of those competitors to get there to then run it, hopefully right, because they're technically they're not supposed to be there till 8 15. I should be done with all of my, all of that by that time, right, and I'm running dog and white from eight to or even quarter to eight, actually to quarter to 8 30, um, so, so there's. And so, as a competitor, if you're listening to this, those are some of the constraints that we're running under and, um, as a co, it's my job to keep the host on task. Quite frankly, um, you know we're not trying to be mean or insinuate that you don't know how to do a trial, but if we're saying, you know, do you have dog and white ready? Right, are your judges here? All those sorts of things are little host reminders. It's because we want to stay on that schedule. Yeah, so well, I think that's been a really great session.
Speaker 1:Guys, for your host podcast part two for February Um, I'll probably wait until maybe a week or so into March and and, uh, we did record this during February, right after our last podcast, um, on ask me anything, just for saving time. But I think we'll wait and put it up for you so that you can enjoy it during March. So be thinking of anything that you want us to cover in 2025 and how we can be of any kind of support. Hopefully we'll be able to be more mindful about our Facebook page and make sure that we're getting ideas put up there and giving everybody a forum to kind of exchange information, just even sometimes it is the oh my God, I can't believe. This happened at my last trial. I just wanted to let folks know yada, yada, yada. Whatever that was, because we've had some pretty interesting, you know, situations, like even Jen had just a late arrival of the school person, right? Oh gosh.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And it probably made her more nervous than everybody else, right. Yeah, yeah, but you know, and she just did all the right things, got in touch with the right people and we just had to kind of wait until that person got there and she was organized enough that, you know, it didn't really phase too much of anything. So, yeah, so everything worked out, worked out All right, yeah, yeah. Well, thanks for joining us and we will be talking with you folks again either late March or in April. And happy trial season, thank you.
