New to running an event with software? The worried question is always the same: will this make things more complicated, or less? Less — because you're not learning a new way to judge. You're just trading clipboards and end-of-day math for something faster and harder to get wrong.

What stays the same

• Your judges and their expertise.
• Your standards — you define the criteria and what earns each score.
• Your rules — who enters, how they're grouped, how a winner is chosen.

What gets easier

• The math disappears — totals and weighting are calculated the instant scores land.
• You see the event live — who's scored, who hasn't, where it stands.
• The result is defensible — a clean record, not a shoebox of paper.
• Next year is faster — reuse your whole setup.

The three roles

• You, the host. You run the event and the day. This guide is for you.
• Judges. Score from their own phone or tablet — no passwords, nothing to install.
• Contestants & fans. Contestants compete; fans follow along and, if you enable it, vote (Section 7).

Fifteen minutes with a pen before the event saves hours later — and spares you the awkward mid-event discovery that your rubric doesn't quite work. Every scoring model is built from three pieces:

• Criteria — the handful of things judges rate. Pick the fewest that still capture a winner; if two always move together, they're really one.
• Weights — how much each criterion counts. Usually adds to 100%, and deciding it forces you to be honest about what your event rewards.
• Scale — how judges score: 1–10, 100 points, or deductions. Coarse enough that two fair judges land close together.

A worked example

A cooking contest, three criteria on a 1–10 scale:

• Taste — 50%. Matters most, weighted most.
• Presentation — 30%. How it looks and is plated.
• Creativity — 20%. Originality and use of the theme.

A dish scoring 9 / 7 / 8 earns (9×0.5) + (7×0.3) + (8×0.2) = 8.2 — and LiveJudge does that for every entry the moment scores land. Your rubric will use your criteria, but the shape holds: few criteria, clear weights, simple scale.

LiveJudge is a lightweight mobile app that passes low volumes of data, so your experience should be fine on normal 5G or wifi at your venue. Connectivity is rarely the thing that goes wrong — but if you want to be sure, a couple of quick checks and one excellent backup option have you covered.

Sign-in is refreshingly simple: no passwords, no accounts to create. But a little planning keeps a crowd from bunching up while people figure it out.

Your judges are experts at judging, not at software. A ten-minute huddle before doors and a few small preparations turn a nervous judge into a confident one — and this is the section hosts underestimate most.

If the prep was solid, event day is calm. Your job is to keep an eye on the flow and nudge things along — not to fight the software.

For many events — car shows and cheer especially — a People's Choice vote turns spectators into participants. It's optional, and worth it when audience energy is part of your event's identity.

Most event-day problems are small and quick to solve. Here are the ones hosts hit most — knowing the fix in advance is the difference between a shrug and a scramble.

The finish is the easy part — the math is already done. Focus on a clean announcement and saving your work for next time.

1. Confirm all judges have submitted and close scoring.
2. Review the final standings before you announce.
3. Announce winners — and share the leaderboard if you like.
4. Export results and records for your files.
5. Clone the event to reuse your setup next time.