The Philosophy of International Exhibiting

Mary Ann Owens

The Columbo Chronicle, Vol. 1, Nr. 1, July 1991

pdf - 12k

There are differences between national and international exhibiting and judging, especially for US exhibitors: 1) We are judged primarily by non-thematic judges in the US and wholly by thematic judges internationally. 2) We use a modified score sheet in the US which is required at TOPEX and optional at the other APS shows. It is more similar to the previous international score sheet than that used now. George or I will discuss the new scoring with you in due time. That is not among the more important things to discuss at this time.

The international jury panel come from many countries where the judging within the countries is also quite varied. These judges will come with their countries' practices in mind and might adapt the international (FIP) regulations and guidelines to fit until reminded by their fellow judges on what they are supposed to think. Therefore, it is even that much more important that we try to follow every regulation and guideline as it is written. George and I will endeavor to give you some interpretations where meanings are not quite clear so that you have some ideas as to how different countries look at different things.

The regulations and guidelines frequently state "the judges prefer" and in the US, many of the judges will give you much latitude and your options on what you want to do. At the international level, "the judges prefer" becomes the rule if there are any questions during jury sessions. Therefore, I would recommend taking very seriously what "the judges prefer".

At the international exhibiting seminar at TOPEX last month, I made available to those present, the current FIP SREVs (special regulations for evaluating thematic exhibits), the Guidelines to the SREVs, the two-page article that I wrote for the AP a couple years ago on the new regulations as of 1988, and the Philatelic Elements Inventory Check List sheet that I developed several years ago. The package of 10 pages was available for $1 to cover photocopying. If you are interested in receiving the package, please send me $1 plus a #10 or larger SAE with 75c postage on it, and I will send the package to you. The SREVs do refer to the GREVs (general regulations), and those that apply, will be given to you in our articles. The Philatelic Elements Inventory Check List is the subject of my article in the July issue of The Philatelic Exhibitor. I will comment on it again a little later on.

For those of you exhibiting internationally for the first time and for those of you who haven't exhibited internationally lately (optional for the rest of you), I have a few suggestions that have worked for me as I have tried to improve the medal level of my exhibits over the years.

Profit by experience and redo entire exhibit for GENOVA '92

1) Plan on redoing the entire exhibit from scratch. As George will verify, I have done it almost every time that I have shown my exhibits these past 20 years. The judges frequently comment when looking at exhibits they have seen before "The exhibit hasn't changed and should be redone or why show it." And, if they think that way and other exhibits have been redone to try and improve the exhibit, the exhibit that is not redone is in danger of even dropping a medal. The first time exhibitors need to remember that they will be competing with exhibits that have been shown internationally before. And, if you do any of the following three suggestions, I have a feeling that you will want to redo the exhibit from scratch.

If you have been thinking about getting new paper or new mounts or new method of writing your text, now is the time to think about doing it. Paper for internationals can be white, light shades of gray, or light shades of buff to tan to ivory with the most important factor being that it enhances the material. If you want to introduce some color, do it with your mounts. Just make certain that the color "works" with both your paper and your material.

Reevaluate your thematic text for continuity and development

2) One of the major problems with thematic exhibits is the plan and the development of the theme. I would recommend that you see how well developed your thematic text is and the way to do it is not all that difficult.

Put a fresh piece of paper in your typewriter or bring up a blank screen on your computer. Working from your Title and Plan Pages, put the Title at the top, then at the far left any thematic introductory remarks on either page, then put your Chapter One heading. Below that, put the first subchapter heading. Below that start writing all the thematic text on the first page of the exhibit itself including captions above or below material in the sequence on the page. Then continue with the thematic texts in the same sequence on the following pages until you have covered all the pages of that first subchapter heading. Then write the second subchapter heading and below that the thematic text on the pages for the second subchapter heading. Continue until the entire exhibit has been completed.

Using my elephant exhibit as an example, the above would look like this:

INTRODUCTION:

Ever since man arrived on the scene, the elephant and his ancestors have lived in close proximity to man. Because of and in spite of man, the elephant has survived early man, explorers, settlers, masters, promoters and scientists. These relationships are portrayed on an interesting variety of philatelic material the basis of this exhibit.

1. THE ELEPHANT AND THE EARLY HUMANS

1.1 Ancestors

Elephant ancestors inhabited most areas of the Earth's surface long before man came. About 60,000,000 years ago the maeritherium appeared (Palaeocene Era). From him evolved the dinotherium, mastodon, archidiscodon, and others.

From the stegodon descended the mammoth, Asian elephant and the African loxodont.

Many of the ancestors were still around when humans appeared because early people immortalized the ancestors on caves and walls.

Modern man has been able to study the ancestors because they have been preserved in tar, ice and other mediums.

In 1801, Charles Wilson Peale, better known as an artist, dug up in a morass near Newburgh, New York, world's first relatively complete mastodon. He later dug up a second & the mounted specimen is a composite of the two skeletons.

"Matilda" was unearthed near Vernon on 19 Feb. 1954, as a nearly complete skeleton from circa 9,000 B.C. She now resides in the N.J. State Museum in Trenton.

"Dima", a baby mammoth 39,000 years old, was discovered by Russian scientists in 1977 frozen into Siberian ice.

1.2 Hunting

Elephants & their ancestors have been hunted since man first saw them. This is evidenced by the rock and cave paintings.

---- To be continued in like manner.

Also, if there are any pages with no thematic text on them (AND THERE REALLY SHOULD BE THEMATIC TEXT ON EVERY PAGE!) on the line where you would have written the text, write instead "No thematic text on page. You will then know which pages you will want to add thematic text.

After you have completed writing your thematic text, read what you have written and ask yourself "Does it make sense?" "Does it have a thematic and logical fIow?" Do not stop to analyze while doing the typing, just keep typing. The chances are that some chapters or subchapters will make sense and others will be quite confusing. At least, you now know which ones will need thematic text changes. Those changes will most likely also mean the addition of new material as we remember the other criteria, "WE WRITE ABOUT WHAT WE SHOW AND WE SHOW WHAT WE WRITE ABOUT".

If your text has a lot of problems, I would suggest starting from scratch by doing what I do. I write all the text for the chapter first and then revise it to work with the material that I have. As you will have plenty of time before next year, you can also work on acquiring the material to help round out what you had wanted to say for your thematic text.

Philatelic elements inventory check list on how to better spread them out

3) The other area the judges really look at in the exhibit is the variety and balance of the philatelic elements available for each exhibit. At the same time, they are checking to see how many "good" philatelic items you have. The Philatelic Elements Inventory Check List mentioned earlier can help take care of that. The sheet is set up for 8 pages. For chapters with more than 8 pages, you can scotch tape a second page on the right or use whatever method you prefer. You will then check off in the columns the various elements listed down the left side. Remember also that you will have items that can belong in more than one category, the more of them, the better for you and your exhibit. You can then analyze each chapter and learn where you are lean on some elements and heavy on others. 'BALANCE" is the main word to learn.

I also put two Philatelic Elements Inventory Check List pages together for a frame and analyze that also. There are times when some chapters will be short on some elements because the countries with material for that chapter could be quite limited. The frame analysis can help to correct some of those deficiencies.

GENOVA '92 will have 12-page frames of three rows of four pages across. That means that everything that you show will be seen. There will be no pages 15 or 16 where you can hide things. That also means that everything that you want to be seen will be seen, including all of your "gems". Many exhibitors prefer the 12-page frame over any of the others.

I encourage you to prepare the Philatelic Elements Inventory Check List pages for your exhibit as it is right now. It will help you in knowing what could and probably should be moved as you redo your entire exhibit anyway.

Photocopy of exhibit to make restructuring notes on for GENOVA '92

4) Make two photocopies of your exhibit as it is now. Put one away to look at later on. Or if you already have a photocopy set of pages as it is now, then just make one set. The second one is for making notes on based on what you have learned from numbers 2) and 3) above. It can even be cut up with material moved to other pages or whatever method you prefer to use.

I know that the above will take some time to do. However, if I didn't think that the typing of the thematic text and the filling in of the Philatelic Elements Inventory Check List were worth the time, I would not be suggesting that you think about doing them. By the time you have finished them, George and I will be back with some more helpful hints for you.

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