On-line Application

Bodybuilder Hubby's bodybuilding contest has had an on-line application for the last couple of years.  Through a form on the website, the competitor's information was e-mailed to us, but the information wasn't saved in a database or anything like that.  So we'd copy and paste from the e-mail into Excel so we could sort and organize and make the forms and labels we needed.

But there were lots of problems.  If a competitor skipped a question, a line would be missing from his/her data, which threw off the rows in Excel.  A minor thing, but a major pain.  The most commonly skipped question was "T-shirt Size" which is why this year's competitors will discover that the new application for this year won't even allow them to submit the application without answering that question.

We're trying something new with this year's application that gives us nice options like required answers.  It will save Bodybuilder Hubby and me approximately thirty kajillion hours of copying, pasting, sorting and error-correcting.  It should also cut down on mistakes; with the new application, the only way a competitor's name will end up spelled incorrectly on the program is if the competitor spells his or her own name wrong on the application.  Which I have seen happen, actually.

The new on-line application will have lots of advantages for the competitors, too.  It will allow them to create a password so that they can come back and make changes to their application anytime before the contest.  For example, if a bodybuilder wants to change weight classes, he or she can re-open his/her application and make the change.  I expect the most changes will be made to the Competitor Bios, the information that the MC will read at the evening show as each competitor is introduced.  In past years Bodybuilder Hubby would get lots of e-mails right before the contest because a competitor would realize he/she forgot to include a "thank you" in the bio to a trainer or a spouse or something like that.  Now the competitors can change the bios themselves as often as they want right up until a day or two before the contest, when I'll be printing everything out for the MC to read.

I think it will really be a good thing for everybody, easier for everybody.

Now we just need to get it live, which could happen as early as this week!  Bodybuilder Hubby's been getting lots of questions about when the application will be available.  I think the background work on it will be done today.  I'm looking forward to seeing how many competitors we'll have this year.  Last year's total was 106.  Think we'll get more this year?