Are there really secrets and tips to preparing and winning a pageant? After all, everybody says “just be yourself.”
After doing this for decades, my answer is, yes, you must be yourself; but there are secrets and tips about each system that you must learn in order to be the best “YOU” you can be at the pageant.
My first year transitioning from festival pageants to beauty pageants was a frustrating time for me. I was desperately seeking resources that would help me be my best at the pageant, but I couldn’t find anything complete and comprehensive. I went to the library to find books on pageant preparation. Zero. Went to the book store and all they had to give me was their last copy of Pageantry magazine. OK, so the issue was 2 months old but at least it was something. A few of the articles were helpful and I did find a couple other resources in the back of the magazine, but still nothing to really get me where I wanted to go.
Information on the internet was spotty. So I finally asked the director for help and she gave me the phone number to a pageant dress shop which was helpful in putting together my wardrobe. However, nowhere along this path did anyone tell me about coaches or about the different pageant professionals people hired to help them prepare for a pageant. Hmmm.
Two things quickly became apparent to me. First, there was no organized A to Z system to help girls and women completely prepare for pageants. Secondly, it was only by word of mouth that contestants found the individual professionals they needed to help them prepare for pageants. That is if you could find people who were willing to share that information with you.
You see, for some people, competition means keeping all the information they learn a secret so that they’d have (or they perceive to have) the inside power and advantage to winning. They don’t acknowledge the team of people who help them because they want the public perception to be that they did it completely on their own. Winning to them means there is only one winner and the rest are losers; and by golly, they’re not going to be a loser. So they’ll use people and do whatever it takes to win that crown at the end of the night. The only way to be a winner in their eyes, and have any self worth, is to have their name called as Miss/Mrs.____ at the end of the night. It’s all about bragging rights and ego.
However, there are other people within the pageant industry who believe that when the tide comes in, all ships rise in the harbor. These people freely and generously share names and resources with others who seek them out. They want the contestants to be fully prepared to present their very best to the judges. Words of gratitude and acknowledgment flow freely from these people because they understand that there is plenty to go around; and what goes around, comes around.
I’ll be forever appreciative to my roommate who shared the name of her pageant coach with me. It completely changed my pageant experience from that point on. Pageantry has had such a positive effect on my life that I don’t want others to experience the same frustration I felt before I knew what I know now. So I want to share three of the most important insider pageant secrets I’ve learned over the past three decades:
- Titleholders have a team of people who help them prepare for the pageant. This help comes in many forms from family and friends, to hired professionals; but make no mistake; they have help- lots of help.
- Your hair, makeup and clothes are very important. Fit, color and style must be perfect for you and show you in your most flattering light. This takes time and lots of practice to figure out. You can’t do this the week before your first pageant. You must start a year to 6 months before your pageant.
- Your mental attitude and communication skills are more important to winning than the color of your dress or your hairstyle. Directors and judges know that it’s simple to buy another dress or change your hairstyle. However, the way you think and speak are not as easy to change. These skills must be well developed in a titleholder.
By Rhonda Shappert
Nov 10, 2010 @ 13:35
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