Competing in Evening Gown

I head off to Jacksonville to judge the Miss Jacksonville/River City tomorrow! First, I am heading to for some pampering with my mother today. If you read my Bump Post from yesterday then I am sure you remember that I am re-coloring my hair, but we also have a few other fun things in store as well.

I figure a pageant-related post is warranted given this occasion.

And, if you are new to my blog let me highlight my three-series post about nailing the pageant interview - Part I, Part II, and Part III.

In my opinion, the simplest portion of the pageant competition is the Evening Gown. Simple in the fact that the contestant only has to walk gracefully on the stage. I underlined "only" because this is not always as simple as it appears, but way simpler than answering an on-stage question or executing a talent, if competing in the MAO system! To be honest, nothing about competing in pageants is downright simple!

Before you walk on stage a contestant must find a pageant gown. This process can be a little daunting as there are so many gowns to chose from. My rule of thumb is to choose a dress that flatters your body and personality.  Also, it is important to consider your age when choosing a dress. If you are competing in a Mrs pageant you would want to chose a dress fitted for a married woman verse a Miss or Teen dress.

After watching the Miss Florida's Outstanding Teen pageant this past summer, I believe the Teen division is the most challenging to find a dress. Many Teen titles are for girls 13-17 years of age, and we all know a lot of development and maturity occurs during those 5 years. There is a fine balance between being age appropriate and not in that division.

When choosing a dress and your undergarments, remember that many of times your judges are sitting in the orchestra pit of the theater. Always practice walking in your evening gown (and shoes) to ensure that none of your lady parts are exposed; it's not a good look!

As in the interview, confidence is key to doing well in evening gown. Sure a judge may not prefer your choice in a gown, but if a contestant presents herself with poise, a judge will undeniably score her high.

Have a lovely weekend, and see you Monday!

Michelyn Cynthia

Miss America vs. Miss USA

Oh my, readers! You are in for a treat today! I am so giddy to have my dear, pageant friend Ashley guest post about the differences between Miss America and Miss USA! I simply love this girl! She is such a fun, fashionista, dog lover, runner, and forever "sparkler" in my eyes! She is one of the lovely ladies that supported me in my quest to run a marathon! She has the cutest fur babies, hubby that adores her, and mother that I would not mind claiming as my own.

 

With the greatest pleasure, joy and excitement; please take it away Ashley.... 

 

Hello! I’m Ashley and I write over at If You Give A Girl A Ring. I wanted to first say thanks so much to Michelyn for inviting me to write today. The two of us met years ago competing in the Miss Wisconsin pageant and you won’t meet anyone as genuine and as nice as her! Now that we’re both married and living our happily ever after’s, it’s fun to stay in touch via our blogs and social media since we have a shared love of running and our dogs.

I wanted to share some information on 2 of the major pageant systems out there, Miss America and Miss USA. To the common person, they’re the same thing and no one knows the difference. However, both have some similarities but also differences as well. Both Michelyn and I have competed in each of these pageant systems. As pageant girls, the way we explain the difference between the two is " Miss America is the girl who lives next door and Miss USA is the girl you wished lived next door.”
 

 

 

 

The Miss America pageant is a scholarship program. In order to compete at the national pageant, which is televised on ABC in September, a contestant has to compete in a local preliminary pageant where she win’s a city or regional title. From there, she goes on to the weeklong state pageant and the state winner advances to the Miss America pageant. This system started out as a marketing plan by the city of Atlantic City as a way to keep tourist around after Labor Day and since then has evolved into a way for young women in college to earn scholarship money for college. Each time you win, you earn money to use towards your education.

There are a number of different areas of competition for this pageant including swimsuit, evening gown, onstage question and the two most important and heavily weighed areas are talent and interview. Each contestant has to have a 90 second talent that can be anything of their choosing. I’ve been around pageants for nearly 22 years and I’ve seen everything from dancing and singing to archery and art demonstrations. Contestants also compete in a 10-minute interview which is harder than any job interview I have ever had. You can be asked anything from politics to current events to questions about your state or your personality.

 One other thing to note about the Miss America pageant is that each contestant has to have a platform on which they speak about. This is an issue close to their heart that they want to create awareness on. Bullying, healthy body image, texting and driving, there are endless possibilities to what a contestant wants to promote during her year of service. Along with a contestant’s personal platform, they also promote the national platform of Children’s Miracle Network. Miss America titleholders help create awareness by raising money for the organization and also make appearances to local hospitals and volunteer their time to children in need.

 WHEW! Did you get all of that? That was just one pageant system. In short, the Miss America pageant is all about giving scholarship money to young women who are active in their community. See the connection of how she’s the girl next door?

Now, the Miss USA pageant on the other hand is a different ball game than Miss America. Some states have local pageants that advance to the state pageant, but in most states, girls pay an entry fee where they go to compete at the state pageant.

 At a state Miss USA pageant, each girl competes in three areas of competition; evening gown, swimsuit, and interview. As you can tell, there are less areas of competition when you compare it to the Miss America pageant. While Miss America puts an emphasis on talent, interview and earning scholarship money, the Miss USA pageant puts emphasis on the beauty portion. Having a toned body in swimsuit, a fun personality and exuding confidence and poise in evening gown are what Miss USA is all about, all while showing a little bit of sex appeal. Now do you see how Miss USA is the girl you wished lived next door?

 Having competed in both pageant systems, both are very different depending on what you hope to gain and win from a pageant. If you’ve got a smoking hot body and love getting glammed up, then Miss USA would be the pageant for you. If you’ve got a talent, and would love to earn some money for college, then give Miss America a shot.

In terms of preparation for both pageants, both are equally as hard to prepare for, but in different ways. Miss USA takes a lot of physical preparation of working out and eating right to make sure your body is swimsuit ready. Interview for Miss USA is more about your personality and doesn’t focus on questions about politics or current events in the interview. Miss America requires a lot of preparation in numerous different areas. You need to tone up for swimsuit, brush up on current events for interview, volunteer in your community to support your platform all while finding the time to practice your talent.

While both are very different experiences in competing, I’ve gained a lot of skills and life lessons through both that have helped shape me into who I am today. And, I know it’s a total pageant cliché but let me tell you that it’s true, I’ve met some of my best friends through competing in both pageant systems.

 

 

Nailing the Interview (Part III): Read, Question, Journal, Converse & Record (Repeat)

I never intended this to be a three-part post (sorry, not sorry), but obviously I have a wealth of information to share about this portion of the competition. In the two previous posts, we discussed the 3Cs to a Pageant Interview and Some Basic Interview Tips.

Today, I am going to share a few tactics and strategies that may be useful as you prepare for the interview. I am going to leave out the mock, or practice interviews, because if you have not figured out that that is paramount, then you aren't taking this seriously. Honestly, practicing is a given!

Read the Newspaper: I know that many today get their news from Twitter and other outlets; all of those I am not apposed to, but you need to be well aware to the events happening in your city, state, as well as, national and global issues. I recently came across a new service, theSkimm, a daily e-newsletter that breaks down the days news. Have you heard of it? Have a subscription? I have had a membership for a lofty 3 days, but my overall impression is that it is a clever idea but not my ideal source for news. I recommend actually reading the newspaper, like USA Today or the Wall Street Journal. Now, I do not think it is imperative to read the whole thing, but the main articles are a good idea. Watching the daily news broadcast can also be an alternative. I am better at grasping facts by reading, so simply listening does work for me; however, I do not think it truly matters how you gain access to this information - just get it!

Develop Questions & Responses: While reading the newspaper and/or listening to the daily news broadcast ask yourself some leading questions; jot those down on a paper or begin compiling them in a notebook. Then, develop responses for those questions and others. The "other" questions can come from the Interview Form or Questionnaire that is given to the judges. You should develop potential questions from the information you placed on the form. See, YOU are in control!?! Never place anything on your bio and/or interview sheet that you don't want someone to later ask you more about! Now when I state to develop responses, I in no way am encouraging for one to develop and then memorize responses. However, having a few bullets and main points that you want to convey with your response is a good idea!

Journal: Keeping a journal is a great way to document your ideas and get to know yourself better. Check out this article which shares 6 Ways Journaling Will Change Your Life!  The Interview portion of the pageant is your opportunity to share your opinion on many hot topics, which requires you to have a stance and opinion. Journaling will assist you develop this, and also have stories from your every day life! Hey, sometimes those are interesting too, and may support a question posed by one of the judges. You never really know!

Converse with Others About Hot Topics: In my previous post, I did say that others' should not provide you with direct responses to questions, but having conversations about topics is a good idea. I believe it is valuable to have your own stance as well as being knowledgeable about others.

Record Yourself: The support of pageant coaches, parents, and friends is always important, but I also believe that self-evaluation helps one grow too. I can remember people telling me things I could improve on in many areas, but at times, it was not until I saw it with my own eyes, that I was truly able to make a change. Observing yourself use too many hand gestures, or hearing yourself say "uhm" 10 times in 1 minute is the only way to break yourself of a bad habit. Or am I the only stubborn person out there? I encourage the use of video and audio recordings as a method of improving your skills in the interview room. You can, of course, also use this when practicing the other areas of the pageant too.

Michelyn

Nailing the Interview (Part II): The 3 Cs

Because I'm happy

Clap along if you feel like a day without work

Because I'm happy

Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth

Because I'm happy

Clap along if you know what happiness is to you without work

Because I'm happy

Clap along if you feel like doing nothing is what you wanna do

Because I'm happy it's Summer Break!!

Gosh! I am so darn cheesy that I can't handle myself! But, I am one happy lady since my summer vacation begins today! I know, I work from home how hard can it be... But, the fact that I can arise whenever I want; know that my phone will not be ringing and no emails need to be responded to is pretty fabulous!  Hello Summer Break!

Now that I made that announcement, we can get back to the topic at hand - Interview. If you have not done so already, please review my post from yesterday which introduces a few preliminary interview tips. After tackling those things, you are now ready to start practicing your interview! 

Let's take one step back. I said this yesterday, but I must reiterate it again today. The Interview portion of the pageant is your opportunity to SELL YOURSELF! I liken the interview and on-stage question to the presidential debates, hear me out on this one. When I watch the presidential debates, I am really assessing the candidates overall confidence level, their perceived candor in response, as well as their clarity in answering the question. So, how does this relate to a pageant interview...

Confidence: Are you comfortable in your appearance? What you are wearing? Your make-up and hair? This will exude in your presence and overall aura. Do not allow someone to persuade you to wear something that you don't feel comfortable in or say anything that you truly do not believe! You must believe in yourself - from your appearance to the words that are coming out of your mouth!

Candor: Being open, honest in one's response, showing expression and appropriate emotional responses are important. You may be wondering, how do you practice this? Well, this comes with time and truly being passionate about your stance and opinion. Again, this is why you, the contestant, have to formulate your stances and opinions on your own. I do think having discussions with others can assist your stance, but simply taking another's stance/opinion because it is easy is not the best approach. 

Clarity: Being clear and concise is imperative. You can first be clear by simply re-stating a portion of the question. For example, what is your name? Answer: My name is Michelyn. I know, very simple example! However, listening to the question at hand, and answering the question posed is critical. Also, not rambling is key to a good interview. Although the judges are asking the questions, if you are doing well in the interview, you are truly in control! You control your responses and provide just enough information that answers the question, but allows for  follow-up question. This may not always happen, but when there is good chemistry among the judge and contestant, it can, and you may be golden! 

That is it, right! Well not really. I do have a few techniques that I have found handy when preparing for the pageant interview. I too believe these tips can be advantageous for a job interview! Ask Coach Kemp what it is like to have a beauty queen wife assisting with an upcoming job interview! He was not too fond of my exercises but was later able to realize that my tactics were helpful. Love it when I am right! Wait, that is every day!

Michelyn

Pageant Tips 101: Nailing the Interview (Part I)

Welcome to the first of many posts providing some basic tips for competing in pageants. I have elected to start the series with the interview, since in many cases, the interview is the very first time the judges have an opportunity to see the contestants face-to-face and get an overall feel.

I competed in the MAO system for many years, and we always said that the pageant was won in the Interview. Now, all pageant systems are different, and they may weigh certain areas of competition differently, but in my opinion, if a judge likes you in the interview, they most likely will "like" you for the remainder of the pageant.

The interview is more than just the words that are coming out of your mouth, although that is very important. Also of importance... your appearance! Appearance as in the whole package - hair, make-up, attire, etc. A contestant can be eloquent in her responses, but wearing inappropriate attire and/or make-up, and it is a huge loss.

Now, it is hard to provide general tips for attire, but I recommend doing some research on what past contestants have worn. Pageants are not the time to completely re-invent the wheel. Yes, you want to set yourself apart, but if contestants have traditionally worn traditional suits (not really the case nowadays), I would not recommend that a contestant wear a party dress!

In addition to doing research on the appropriate attire for the interview, also research the pageant history. Research the respective pageant system and know it backward and forward. Also, if you are competing in a MAO preliminary, know your platform as well as the national platform (Children's Miracle Network). If competing in MUO then know about the charitable alliances (Ovarian Cancer, Best Buddies, Gilda's Club), perhaps even volunteer with one of the organizations prior to competing.

Most pageants provide a template for the Interview Biography or Interview Form. I recommend getting some assistance with completing that form whether it be your best friend, parent, or some one who has competed prior. You want feedback about the content in the interview form. This form can also serve as a starting point for your mock interview?!?!

What, you should practice interviewing? Yes, every aspect of the pageant should be rehearsed and practiced for some time. I am not saying that you should have responses memorized, no one wants you to sound like a "Pageant Patty," but you do want to be prepared.

A few things to also find out:

• How long is the interview
• Are you standing or sitting for the interview
• Do you meet with the judges individually, small group, or all of them at once

After knowing what to wear, some information about the national/state-level organization, the format, etc., now you need to prepare for the interview from a personal point-of-view. The interview is your opportunity to SELL YOURSELF!?! Why are you unique? Why would you be a good Miss XXX?

More tips about that tomorrow!

Michelyn