Calibration sessions can be used for tournaments with multiple lanes of judges, and provides an opportunity for the different lanes to "calibrate" themselves. One team is selected to lead off the judging in each of the three areas, and ALL judging pairs in that area participate in the judging session. Afterward, a few moments are spent reviewing and scoring the team.
Calibration Example 1: This Championship Tournament chose one team to be the calibrating team for all three judging areas. They notified the team before the event, had them show up early, and had them go through their judging sessions early – before opening ceremonies. They picked a team that had been to the championship before.
Calibration Example 2: Their calibration session is the first judging session of the day, all of the judges for each area meet together. A different team is used for each of the three areas. One team of judges is the designated judging team, and the others are observers. Ten extra minutes are scheduled after the session ends for the judges to discuss and agree on the scoring for that team. After that, the judges split up into separate rooms for the rest of the judging sessions. For qualifiers, experienced teams are chosen that did well in each category the previous season. These teams don’t have a problem going first or having extra judges in the room. For the Championship, teams are chosen that were ranked high in each category at their qualifier. Choosing a team likely to be nominated for awards provides a benchmark to which all other teams can be compared.
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