Convention Officials

6.0 Convention Officials

These people make the competition events work. Two or more of the jobs described below may be combined into a single person, eliminating some of these titles from any given convention, but all of these tasks must be covered for the events to work. Names must be assigned for all the jobs listed below, to create a hierarchy of authority for the convention. All officials are expected to work objectively and impartially.

RACING OFFICIALS:

RACE DIRECTOR: The Race Director is in charge of seeing that all equipment, forms, people, sound systems, and other requirements are taken care of before the convention. Ideally, the Race Director should be a member of the host organization, or live local near the convention area.

REFEREE: The Head racing official. Makes all final decisions. Handles protests. Makes sure racing areas and officials are trained and ready. Works within the system set up by the Race Director for running the events. Normally, the Referee is an expert from out of town. This aids in objectivity.

CLERK: Sets up riders in lanes before races. Checks riders for correct unicycles and safety equipment.

STARTER: Starts races; explains race rules; calls riders back in the event of false starts. Also checks riders for correct unicycles and safety equipment.

PICKER: Assists Timers by observing riders' finishing order. Watches for finish line dismounts.

TIMER: Takes the time of riders at the finish line. Also watches for finish line dismounts. Two timers may be used for 1st place, the average time being official.

RECORDER: Writes down place and time of each rider after each event. Riders must not leave the finish area until the Recorder has gotten their numbers and information.

RUNNER: A general helper who brings racing forms from start to finish line, to tabulators, and to announcer.

TABULATOR: Processes all race results; totals points; prepares awards for presentation.

RESULTS POSTER: Puts up Race Recording and Results Sheets for all to see, and marks the time.

ANNOUNCER: Operates public address system, announces race results, and calls riders for upcoming races.

OBSTACLE COURSE and SLOW RACE OPERATORS: Run and administrate these two events in an area separate from the track, doing most of the above jobs for each.

ARTISTIC OFFICIALS:

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: The head organizer and administrator of artistic events. The Artistic Director's job starts well before the convention, arranging equipment for the gyms (or performing areas) and recruiting the other artistic officials. With the Convention Host, the Artistic Director determines the operating systems, paperwork and methods to be used to run the events. With the Chief Judge, the Artistic Director is in charge of keeping events running on schedule, and answers all questions not pertaining to rules and judging. The Artistic Director is the highest authority on everything to do with the artistic events, except for decisions on rules and results.

CHIEF JUDGE: The Chief Judge and the Artistic Director can be the same person, provided that person is able to set up the events, and is also an expert on artistic rules and judging. Ideally, the Chief Judge should be an experienced, neutral person from another geographic area, who is more able to be objective. The Chief Judge must be thoroughly familiar with all of the artistic officials' jobs and all aspects of artistic rules. The Chief Judge oversees everything, deals with protests, and answers all rules and judging questions. The Chief Judge is responsible for seeing that all artistic officials are trained and ready, and that the artistic riding areas are correctly measured and marked on the floor. The Chief Judge is also responsible for the accuracy of all judging point tabulations and calculations.

TIMER: Keeps the time for all performances, and makes acoustic signals at key points in performances.

JUDGE: Rates the performances. The various artistic categories require different judging qualities, and may use different judges. All judges must be completely impartial, and must understand the rules and judging criteria.

TABULATOR: Processes all judging sheets and fills out final results sheets and other forms.

RUNNER: A general helper who transfers forms and other information from one place to another.

ANNOUNCER: Operates sound system with DJ, and announces all upcoming riders and results of competitions. May also provide color commentary between performances.

DJ: Operates sound system, plays all performance music, and keeps track of riders' cassettes.

RIDER LIAISON: Checks in riders before they compete. Determines performing order. Makes sure riders' music tapes are properly marked and rewound, and are otherwise prepared.

STAGE CREW: Helps riders set up, tear down, and clean up after themselves.

RESULTS POSTER: Puts up artistic results sheets for all to see, and marks the time.