Chapters

• CHAPTER 1: What's New1 hour

  For those either already familiar with ShoWorks or who would like to see the latest improvements of ShoWorks since 2009. Topics in this chapter will also be covered in the later chapters within their appropriate section; however this collection provides easy access to those who have used ShoWorks in the past. Topics include using an iPad to check-in, weigh-in, and judge entries, publishing results to Facebook, Twitter and your own website, the new powerful Division & Class update tool and other wizards that allow you to adjust the sale, checks and bills all in one place. New preset reports like back-tags, buyer cards, and those to help track down payout discrepancies are also covered. The chapter wraps up with online ticketing and other significant improvements to ShoWorks.

• CHAPTER 2: Basic Introduction45 minutes

  Become skilled with a foundation of how ShoWorks operates and important considerations before starting your fair. Learn how and where to get help when you need it. Most importantly, learn how to manage your data files both locally and on a network, and protect your work with backups as well as utilities to help your file run more efficiently during your fair. Also learn how to carry over data from year-to-year, merge data from other files, and export financial data to QuickBooksâ„¢. This chapter and the following are considered the two most important chapters in the entire video set.

• CHAPTER 3: Understanding Records and Menus1 hour

  Learn tips on arranging records so that you spend less time with the software. Get up to speed on how to build lists, sort, and filter for quick access to valuable fair records. Identify common mistakes that affect your data when working with the software. Also discover how to customize menus that are tailored directly to your fair. This chapter is extremely important to becoming fluent in the ShoWorks environment and should be the chapter of choice should you be short on time and need to get up and running quickly.

• CHAPTER 4: Data Entry2 hours

  Explore techniques of getting data into ShoWorks in the fastest way possible and how this data interacts among related areas of the fair process. Each menu of ShoWorks is covered in depth, describing all fields that are available in each area of data entry. Learn how to setup user defined fields for cases when you need to collect unique data. An extensive look at how to setup Points & Premiums is covered, followed with the remainder of the chapter looking at the major menus: Divisions, Clubs, Schools, Exhibitors, Entries, and Tickets.

• CHAPTER 5: Running a Sale or Auction1 hour

  For fairs that have an auction: Achieve the skills needed to allow for a smoother and more efficient sale process. The chapter begins with configuring and setting the sale order, followed by a detailed walk-through of different sale scenarios including split buys, multiple ways to collect add-ons, flooring and resale of animals, adjusting the sale for fees, and different ways to automatically route funds in situations that would otherwise require time-consuming manual intervention. An equal amount of time is spent looking at different ways to bill your buyers and what to do when problems arise.

• CHAPTER 6: Tools to Automate Tasks1 hour 30 minutes

  Discover the ins and outs of tools which help automate tasks. These tools are at the heart of ShoWorks and what distinguishes it from a simple data base to a full-fledged application. The popular tool "Quick Entries" is covered in depth. Also explored are wizards which are used to quickly update data such as breaking classes by weight or age, renumbering records, and sharing data back and forth between Excel spreadsheets and ShoWorks. Most of the new features of ShoWorks are included in this chapter such as updating many divisions and classes at once, adjusting exhibitor checks, publishing results to Facebook, Twitter and your own website, and using an iPad to check-in, weigh-in, and judge entries. Also included is how to use the Financial Inspector which scrubs your data looking for common mistakes that affects payouts to exhibitors.

• CHAPTER 7: Reports1 hour 45 minutes

  A complete walk-through of every preset report available in ShoWorks makes up the first portion of this chapter, with the second half illustrating how to create custom reports that are formatted exactly to your needs. The chapter concludes by teaching you the techniques to leveraging Microsoft Access®, uncovering the full potential of reporting and building queries over your fair data.

• CHAPTER 8: Online Entries1 hour

  Gain insight on how ShoWorks can save time and costs and reduce errors by processing your entries, taking auction buyer payments, selling tickets to the public, and running surveys - all online through the Internet. Even generate revenue through sponsor banner ads.