Running a Successful School Fair

Below are a few key things to keep in mind when running a school fair. Please take time to review the hyperlinks as they share valuable information.

1. Follow the instructions on the RRSEF website in order to have your fair registered and your students prepared.
2. Students should complete the necessary paperwork prior to experimentation in order to advance to RRSEF and GSEF.
   • Review the ISEF's FAQ's so that you can help your students avoid common mistakes.
3. Help students Prepare, Present & Publish their work!
4. Recruit Judges - Start early with the goal that each judge evaluates 10-12 projects. Keep in mind that you want your judges to feel valued but not overwhelmed. Also remember that approximately 10% of your scheduled judges will have to cancel due to unforeseen circumstances. A formula to claculate the number of judges you need can be found below.
   • Judges needed = (Number of projects x 4) / 10 * This formula accounts for 10% of judges cancelling due to unforeseen circumstances.
   • Students love to share their work, and feedback is valuable in teaching and preparing students for future events. It is recommended that each project be judged a minimum of 3 times at the school level.
5. Organize your fair - Use Microsoft Excel to layout your fair. Every project should be assigned a project number and the judges should have project numbers pre-assigned.
6. Collecting scores and scoring projects quickly and efficiently is a challenge. One option is to use a product like Google Forms which would allow judges to score projects electronically. The rubric can be input electronically. This will allow the fair director to download the data as a spreadsheet, sort, and score. Feedback can also be gathered and distributed using the mail merge function in MS word. An example of a Google Form School Fair judging sheet is provided below.