Pageant Platform: What’s Your Purpose?

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What are three things that make you special? Last week I spoke about the importance of recognizing your gifts and choosing how to use them. When you have a clear picture of your talents and discover which activities make you feel completely alive, you can easily figure out where to spend your time.

As a titleholder, you will have less than 365 days to make the most of your experience. Having a plan ahead of time will greatly increase the FUN FACTOR of your year, and potentially open the door to future opportunities. The strength of your “why”, “purpose” or “platform” is the key to unlocking the door.

There are 3 keys to forming a solid platform in pageantry.

Key 1: BELIEVE: It must be something that you emotionally believe in.

No matter how impressive a platform may sound, if a contestant’s heart is not there, it will come across flat to the judges. This is one time when I say take it personally and make it personal. Find something that has emotionally moved you to take action in some way. A platform doesn’t need to come from some devastating event that happened to you. It’s about making connections. First it must connect with you, then with the judges.

Key 2: INVOLVEMENT: You need to be actively involved in your service.

A strong platform is one where a contestant can demonstrate to the judges a history of devoting time to her cause prior to the pageant. For example, a girl who has had an eating disorder as a middle school student overcomes her challenges as a teenager. As a result, in the past 3 years she has spoken to over 50 girls’ organizations about the importance of self-respect, health, and wellness. She volunteers one day a week at the local teenage health clinic and plans to become a nutritionist after high school. This platform clearly demonstrates active involvement and gives great insight to the judges about the character and goals of this young lady. The judges also get an idea of what she would do as a titleholder.

Compare this to the contestant who says her platform is for cancer awareness. On her bio she states that her cheerleading squad put together a Relay For Life team last month and raised $500. This was her first activity with this organization and was so inspired by the people, she says, she decided to become more involved with cancer awareness.

OK, I’m putting on my judge’s hat for a moment. First, I would acknowledge the second contestant’s efforts in raising money with her team. However, I would view this as a one-shot event and wonder how long her interest would last for this cause. The first contestant would get my vote in the interview round because of the depth of her experience, knowledge and personal conviction for her platform.

Key 3: INTEREST: Your topic needs to have a narrow focus but be broad enough for public appeal.

At first glance this statement may seem to contradict itself so let me go into some detail. Let’s start with the “narrow focus” part of the sentence. Would you agree that it is hard to hit a target when you don’t know where to aim? If the pageant’s focus is on a strong platform, a contestant needs to aim for the bull’s-eye and not let her attention get pulled by multiple distractions.

There is more strength in choosing one topic and totally exploring all facets of it than bouncing from one activity to another. Organizations, businesses, and people are more willing to support a cause when the message is clear and the benefits are obvious. It is your job to make your message as clear as possible, which means focus. The message will be diluted and vague if a contestant is all over the map with her activities.

However, your platform needs to have broad enough appeal so that many people are interested in having you make an appearance or speaking to their organization. Pageant systems want their titleholders out there making appearances and being in the public eye. Not only does this increase the awareness of your cause; but also it helps the pageant system continue to thrive from a business standpoint. So the judges are looking for the platform that will serve both purposes, advance the message of the titleholder and promote the pageant.

Even if your pageant system doesn’t require a platform, spending time developing your purpose and focus will benefit you and the pageant system. Because I feel so strongly that a solid purpose is the backbone to a quality pageant experience, I’m introducing my new A.I.M. Session. This session will include an in depth training teleclass, downloadable worksheets, an individual mock interview and a mini-feedback session with me at an awesome price. The session will cover in detail the Application, Interview and Mission parts of your pageant experience. At the end of this session you will have a solid pageant bio and vision for your platform that you can use in multiple pageants. The session is January 20th so don’t delay if you want to get focused and hit your target in 2010.

Click to register

Each week has 168 hours in it, subtract 12 per day for sleep, eating, and misc., you’re left with 84 hours. What will you do with those 84? Most people give very little thought to what they do weekly, daily or even in the moment. How about you? What purpose do you want your “84” to have? Which areas of your life do you wish were different? The A.I.M. Session will benefit not only pageant contestants but anyone who is wanting to gain clarity on their values, gifts and purpose. There’s something about seeing your life on paper that is very revealing. This week, think about your 84.

Rhonda Shappert is a pageant expert, personal development life coach, and owner of Winning Through Pageantry™, a business she created that not only helps her clients achieve winning results in pageants, but helps them Succeed From The Inside Out™ in their lives. In the pageant world she has held multiple local, state and national titles. Rhonda graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelors degree in Musical Theater from The Ohio State University and has performed on stage in 15 countries on the Asian, European and American continents. This mother of three home educates her children, has been married 20 years to her husband Stephen, is the former mayor of her community, and is on the Board of Trustees for the Ohio Virtual Academy. She and her husband perform original contemporary Christian music. Their music CD entitled Cana is available through www.cdbaby.com/cd/shappert or on her website. For more information on Rhonda, visit www.WinningThroughPageantry.com.