Atlantic Indoor Association

October 2011

Two years ago WGI converted to digital delivery of judges’ commentary of its shows.  In the latest nod to  technology’s ability to make shows better, AIA will follow suit in 2012 to join WGI and DCI in going “paperless” at shows. Using a product called CompetitionSuite, which was trialed successfully in both national circuits throughout their 2011 seasons, the effort was agreed to at the fall EBOD meeting.

Tabulators have since 2009 used software developed by WGI Percussion Education Coordinator Caleb Rothe which converts judges’ scores from 100 point sheets to the weighted caption totals. This advancement helped to ease judges’ calculations and deliver clear recaps, which going way back had been the bane of staffs bleary-eyed nearing the end of a thirty hour day of rehearsal, drive time and show pipeline.

The Suite represents a wholesale embrace of the role that smart phones and tablets continue to bring to our lives from synched calendars to news readers. Here the intent is to provide instructors with timely “tapes” which they can disperse and hear separately, simultaneously, minutes or weeks after a performance. Staffs and panels alike can have better critiques when even the last drumline of the day has heard all three captions before walking in.

“This will be a huge resource for geographically dispersed instructional and design teams as well,” said AIA Percussion Coordinator Lenny Keesee. “It’s pretty common for me to have a music arranger located in North Carolina, a visual designer in Tennessee and perhaps a consultant all the way out in Southern California. With the advent of CompetitionSuite, the entire team can process commentary in near real time.”

Judges’ commentary will now be available to play on your smart phone.  That will mean multiple instructors will be able to access commentary and all digital commentary will be archived for your group for easy access. “In a prelims/finals situation, I’ve always tried to fix at least two things on each tape before the second run,” added Keesee. “Sometimes based on the schedule, that window of opportunity for corrections may be slim. CompetitionSuite will just be one more tool to help ensembles improve in between shows."

In fact, beginning in 2010 judges’ tapes were uploaded for panel review periodically, the tabulator sending full shows to circuit staff to “put up” in a password-protected area for judges. “That paid big dividends right away,” said AIA Chief Percussion Judge Daniel Valadie. “Judges like feedback too, and part of the accountability process is reviewing their own ‘double tapes’. Now they can drive home from a show and hear their tapes as part of an extended reflection process. Even before they get a call from me.”

Watch a short promotional piece on the product and look for announcements from AIA as we head into another exciting season with this cutting-edge technology at hand in the name of providing instructors and judges alike with a high quality experience. You can leave the digi at home and even your CD player behind, but just don’t lose your phone.

Do you have suggestions or submissions? War stories from the floor, questions or other interests? Email Michael Kirby at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .