The Show Committee
As I said before, dog shows are put on by individual clubs, either all-breed, specialty, or limited breed. The show is the principal way clubs earn money to operate. A well-run show at an attractive show site will earn a club a good reputation and good entries (and greater profits) in the future. The organization of shows lies in the show committee. Let's look at the job of a typical show committee for an all-breed show.
A show committee will have a chairman and an assistant chairman. If obedience trials are to be held at the show, there's also an obedience chairman. These are the CEO's for the show. They usually are responsible for renting the show site and handling contacts with the AKC and the show superintendent (an organization I'll discuss next time). They make sure that there is a veterinarian either at the show site or on call during show hours. They also hire a professional dog-show photographer, since everyone likes pictures of their wins.
Under them are a number of committee chairmen for the large number of jobs involved in putting on a show.
The trophy chairman solicits and collects prizes (usually some item, rarely money) to be awarded at the show: Best in Show and Variety Group prizes and trophies donated by club members for their breeds.
The hospitality chairman arranges a dinner for the judges for the night before and makes sure that the judges and club workers get lunch at the show, as well as providing for each ring refreshments (candy, drinks), decorations, and sundries like tissues, paper towels, sani-wipes, etc.
The grounds chairman takes care of the gate and parking for the show - including RV and motor home hookups, exhibitor parking, judges and show committee parking - and enforces cleanliness at the show site. This job is sometimes split between two people: gate and parking.
The chief ring steward is responsible for making sure there are enough stewards to man each ring, either drawn from club volunteers or a professional organization, or a combination of the two. For shows including obedience trials, there is often a chief conformation steward and a chief obedience steward.
The vendor chairman solicits vendors to come sell their wares at the show and renting of space to them, as well as making sure refreshment concessions are available for exhibitors and the public.
The catalog sales chairman, as the name suggests, runs the table where show catalogs are sold.
The judges transportation chairman makes sure that judges get from and to airport and the hotel and arrive at the show on time. There may also be a publicity chairman, usually for large shows, and an emergency plan coordinator; in any case, an emergency plan must be on hand before the show.
The show committee has to start work well before the show. The application to hold a show must be made to the AKC six months ahead of time and, at the very latest, the panel of judges must be submitted for approval five months ahead of time. The show committee has to have a panel of judges sufficient to cover all the AKC-approved breeds, variety groups, and Best in Show.
Even though there are about 3000 licensed judges, this can be remarkably difficult to do. The show committee has to be mindful that the number of dogs a judge can do in a day is limited to 175 (and the AKC prefers no more than 100-150), so close attention to last year's entry is important.
To save the cost of transportation, it's preferable for a club to draw judges from their state and immediately surrounding states. Unfortunately all clubs try to do this; a judge seen too often in the area is apt to be predictable in his choices and so many people won't enter if they don't feel they have a good shot at winning. A judge also cannot have judged a breed if they've judged that breed within the last six months within 200 miles of where the show is being held. Not to mention whether the judge they want will actually be available on that date and is interested in working!