I am old and if you don't look too close this creates a superficial veneer of wisdom and gravitas. Two years ago this illusion was enough to get me invited to join the judging panel for a major European show. Obviously the prizes are there to help sell stands but if I am going to do it I take it seriously; it's my name and my reputation is on the table. Now to judge something it has to exist and has to work. When I saw that most of the entries were going to be launched at the show or later I politely declined to take any further role, reasoning that if we give an award to an idea that never makes the market or gets there in a form radically different from what was judged then we all look a tad stupid and arguably it's not quite honest.
Two years on and the same people ask me to do the same job but with reassurances that my concerns had been understood and addressed. What do I get? I get products where half the entrants can't even get the entry category right, where most of the products are launched at the show or later and the few that actually exist have zero information about what they do that makes them innovative. One guy actually wrote on his entry paper "this is not a new idea but..." full marks for honesty nowt for the award.
I have written to the organisers asking them to take my name off the judges list; hopefully for ever.
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