Jim,

I agree that having a serious judging seminar with demo flights would be great. However, before I drive 400+ miles to the seminar I would like some reasonable guarantee that it won't devolve into an "FAI snap vs. AMA snap" beeatch-fest like the last judging seminar I attended. You need to have a published format and syllabus for the weekend so when the inevitable happens and a couple self-appointed experts begin to hijack the seminar we can all point to the syllabus and tell them to sit down and shut up. You also have to appoint an instructor with enough Street-Cred that can keep everyone on task and maintain the crowd's attention.
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We already have a very powerful resource that can be leveraged to begin standardizing judging - the nsrca.us web site. There is already a judging exam in the judging section. This exam could be expanded to include videos of maneuvers that you score, and make the test an online version. Your score would be recorded for the NSRCA judging committee to review. Before a contest the CD would receive a list of pilots via e-mail who are not up to speed with their judging exams and their highest score over the weekend would be Zeroed. If people are going to be driving long distances to come to a contest, they expect fair and standardized judging - and that means US.
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Also, we need to standardize what classes you are expected to know for judging at contests and then have an additional exam that each member is responsible for. For example - each competitor needs to pass the test for one class above and below their current class. Obviously, guys showing up for their first couple contests in Sportsman would be exempt, but they know when they're ready to take the Intermediate judging exam. If everyone is qualified one class up and down, then the CD doesn't have to waste time beating the bushes looking for judges, he just assigns them while he's making up the flying order. If someone refuses their judging assignment, then Zero their top score of the weekend (for some guys that may be a fair trade!!). If someone doesn't "feel comfortable", then they should be assigned an experienced judge to sit with them and score along with them for a round. After each flight, they are allowed to discuss the scores and make changes if necessary. . .
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All right. . . didn't mean to get that long-winded. .
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. . . . "And that's all I got to say about that". . . .