If a club is making an entry into your fair, should that be created as a team entry, or as an individual entry? Although it would SEEM like this is a good place for a team entry, it is almost always preferable to set up an individual entry, using the club name as the first/last name for the "exhibitor".
Example:
- First Name = Go Getters, Last Name = 4-H Club;
- Address = leader's address;
- Email would either be the leader's email or a "fake" one, depending on whether the leader's email had been used for their own family entries. If they have used that email for their family, then if you are creating this entry as a manager, you might use a fake email address.
Pros/Cons:
- TEAM PREMIUMS - If you create a team entry, listing members, each member will receive the whole allocated premium. For example, if you pay $10 for blue-ribbon communication entries, each member listed with the team will receive $10. Even if that is what you intend to happen, you will still need to be certain that all members are listed accurately. If you want only one premium to be paid, you will need to have exactly one member listed in the team--zero members means no premium, multiple members means multiple premiums. Listing only one member for premium purposes defeats the purpose of creating a team entry, which is to list multiple exhibitors participating in the same entry.
- INDIVIDUAL PREMIUMS - If you create an individual entry for the club (as in the example above), that entry will receive the $10. The premium is assigned to the "exhibitor" - the Go Getters 4-H club, and if mailed, it will go to the address listed for that exhibitor.
- SHOW PROGRAMS - If you are going to print a show program that includes team entries, you need to know that the program will list each team member on a separate line of the program. On the Standard Show Program "Show Program - By Exhibitor Name", each name in the team is alphabetized in its correct order, whether or not that is grouped with other team members--the only thing that indicates that they are participating in the same entry is the entry number. That is very confusing for spectators and judges. The show programs for animals are slightly better, as the entry is sorted by the weight of the animal (for example), so the team members would be grouped together, but there is still one line of the program used for each team member.