Overview

Managing your judges effectively is a crucial part of running a successful regional fair. The YSC Portal provides tools to help you review judge applications, approve judges, and communicate with them throughout the fair process.

Finding Your Judge Registration Link

Before you can start receiving judge registrations, you'll need to share your fair's unique judge registration link:

1. Navigate to your fair under the sidebar menu
2. Click on Events in the Assets section
3. Find your regional fair event and click the View button (eye icon) - you might need to scroll horizontally in the table to see the View button
4. Scroll down to find the Judge Registration Link
5. Copy this link to share with potential judges via email, your website, or social media

This unique link will direct judges to a registration form specifically for your regional fair.

Viewing and Reviewing Judge Registrations

Once judges begin registering, you can review their information:

1. From your regional fair menu, click on Judges
2. You'll see a list of all registered judges with their basic information
3. The Status column shows whether their registration is complete
4. The Approval Status column shows whether you've approved them to judge

To view a judge's detailed information:

1. Find the judge in your list
2. Click their name to view their complete profile, including their qualifications and challenge preferences

Judge Approval Process

Not all registered judges may be suitable for your fair. The YSC Portal allows you to approve judges through a simple process:

Approving Individual Judges

1. From the Judges list, select the judge you want to approve
2. Click Choose an option dropdown at the top of the list
3. Select Set Judge Approval Status
4. Choose Approved from the dropdown menu
5. Click Run Action

Batch Approving Judges

To approve multiple judges at once:

1. Use the checkboxes to select multiple judges
2. Click Choose an option dropdown
3. Select Set Judge Approval Status
4. Choose Approved from the dropdown
5. Click Run Action

Other Approval Statuses

Besides "Approved," you have other options for managing judges:

• Not Selected: For judges you don't wish to include in your fair
• Standby: For judges you may call upon if needed (creates a waitlist)

Exporting Judge Information

You may need to export judge information for offline review or to share with your committee:

1. From the Judges list, select the judges you want to export
2. Click Choose an option dropdown
3. Select Export Users
4. Choose which information to include in the export:
   • General contact information
   • Survey responses (if you added custom surveys for judges)
5. Click Run Action

The export will download as an Excel spreadsheet to your computer.

Communicating with Judges

While the YSC Portal doesn't have a built-in messaging system, you can use the exported contact information to communicate with your judges through email or other means.

Best practices for judge communication include:

• Sending a confirmation email once you've approved them
• Providing orientation information and judging rubrics before the fair
• Sharing their judging schedules once generated
• Sending reminders as the fair date approaches

Tips for Managing Your Judge Pool

• Review qualifications carefully: Ensure judges have appropriate expertise for the challenges they'll be judging
• Balance your judge pool: Aim for diversity in expertise, background, and experience levels
• Check for conflicts of interest: Review judges' affiliations to avoid potential conflicts with participants
• Consider language needs: If your fair has projects in multiple languages, ensure you have judges fluent in those languages
• Plan for backups: Approve more judges than you need in case of last-minute cancellations