My local California Betta Society hosted the 2014 Internatoinal Betta Society Convention several weekends ago, and wow! I think it was a complete success! Sorry for the delay - I had to recover from the excitement, as well as attend a wedding, so compiling all the pictures has taken a while!
Convention is wonderful in so many ways. It is the culmination of the show year, and many breeders send their best fish to this last show in order to make room for next year. There are seminars, workshops, stock shops, silent auctions, live auction...but the best thing to me is getting to talk with some of my dearest Betta friends. We are spread far and wide, but we are by far the best fish keepers (in my humble opinion...please don't eat me cichlid people!). I wish I could see my friends all the time, but then Convention would not be as special. What a whirlwind!
Convention is wonderful in so many ways. It is the culmination of the show year, and many breeders send their best fish to this last show in order to make room for next year. There are seminars, workshops, stock shops, silent auctions, live auction...but the best thing to me is getting to talk with some of my dearest Betta friends. We are spread far and wide, but we are by far the best fish keepers (in my humble opinion...please don't eat me cichlid people!). I wish I could see my friends all the time, but then Convention would not be as special. What a whirlwind!
My favorite picture from this show. Bob (furthest left) looks like he's very tired with all the opinions flying around...
Sabrina starts off convention with a bang!
The judging board meeting...Phil looks so bored! It probably set the record for the longest judging board meeting ever, but we were able to talk about quite a few important topics. Stay tuned for updates!
Here is what a judging board meeting sounds like....
 Cecilia and I hang out in the stock shop for a rare moment of rest. Being the host club at a convention is hard work! |  Rich and Phil catch up in the lobby |
Let the judging begin!
 Our very own CBS apprentices getting ready to check out some fish! *Sniff* I'm so happy | To say judging was long and intense would be a massive understatement. Convention judging is usually carried out by a dozen or more certified judges, and the scrutinization of some very large classes can be exhausting. We had one class of 72 fish!! This round of judging was particularly important to me because I have been working towards becoming an IBC sanctioned judge for the past year. The only things standing in front of me? The visual test and the written test. Oh boy I was nervous... I was incredibly lucky that I did not have to judge the 72 fish class for my visual test, but Rich wasn't about to let me get off easy. My first visual examination was on a class of 16 red longfinned halfmoons, and all of them were very high quality. In order to pass, my top 4 fish had to be somewhere within Rich's top 3 fish. And I would have to explain to him my decisions. Rich said that I was so thorough that he reconsidered is own placements a couple of times! |
 If Gerald stared any harder at these fish, I'm sure that they would burst into flames! Judging is SERIOUS BUSINESS |  Aj and show chair extraordinaire Jeremy chat while the judging is going on across the room  Oh wait, Aj is judging too?? LOL |
Judges vote for their betta of choice using a show of hands. Wait hold on a minute...SAM. We need a close up on Sam!
 Clearly our newest apprentice doesn't take judging that seriously! (yet!) |  He needs to get some tips from Sabrina |
My favorite picture I managed to get from the show. Larissa carefully judging the most prestigious award - the Best in Show Male! BOS at convention is literally the best of the best!
Next morning at 8am was my written exam. I am happy to say that I only missed one question and received a 98/100! I wish I hadn't second-guessed myself on that last question...
Dinner Shenanigans
My absolute favorite part is talking with all of these wonderful people. And it's not just about bettas either! There must be something truly amazing about these little finned fish that pulls all these cool people together. Beware the hospitality suite!
Sieg and Jeff get cozy while Judy judges them in the background
 Cookie shows off his skills! |  Shake!  Waking up poor Cookie with the flash |
Awards Banquet
The first half of the awards banquet was MC'd by little old me. I kind of choked up there in the beginning but our ass-kicking vice president saved me! Thankfully the rest of my time as Master of Ceremonies went a little bit better. Scary!
I was incredibly happy that my grandfather was able to come down to convention. Our red and yellow plakats (and his wilds!) did very well!
 The elegant Sabrina and Mr. Cookie |  Hawaii represent! |
I was not able to take very many more pictures because I was the Master of Ceremonies. Instead, all of the following are Minh's pictures! Minh is our dedicated paparazzi for these kinds of things :)
Will you ever see CBS dressed up this nicely again?...probably not for a looong time!
Gerald and I wrestle over the small/large bubblenesters year end award!
 True Red award to Sieg. We have a memorial award for one of our club member's father that goes to the most red male and female betta in the show. Sieg gets to go home with a bottle of red wine! |  Yvonnnnnnne Chaaaaaaaban! |
Only a portion of the awards!
 So many great smiles!  Young Ethan carrying on the Limhengco family legacy!  Rick looks happy! |  Ok, not a real award - Minh needed two models for figuring out the lighting before the ceremony!  Greg all the way from Australia!  Cecelia wins her true red award! |
 Mike! Can you see why he became Grand Champion this year?? |  My grandmother couldn't stop laughing every time Mike's name was called!  His side of the table was noticeably sagging... |
The Peacock and Peahen awards go to Mr. Cookie and Ms. Liz!
 Our very own Sam! First two shows, BOS and RBOS! Can you BEAT THAT |  Ariel and June!!  Kathy, Minh, and Jack! |
Larissa receiving the Gene Lucas Award of Merit! Very well-deserved!
Here I am crying my eyes out as I receive Betta Person of the Year...I never believed that I would receive such an honor.
Not everyone is here, but it's darn close!
Auction Time!
CBS has the (in)famous reputation of having the best auctions around. We were a little scared that 326 fish (that's right...three hundred and twenty six fish!) might have saturated our market, but Bay Area betta addicts are ruthless. Prices soared high and there were many instances that I was outbid for ones that I REALLY wanted! (grrr little girls grrrr)
Amit can sell anything with fins and scales!
Our Show Results
We did very well for our second convention show. It was so meaningful to have my grandfather able to come down and be there for all of our awards!
I honestly don't know what Sieg and Judy do with all of their awards....build a house?
 Old man does it one more time! His last show?? | For Convention 2014, my Grandfather and I were awarded: 1st and 2nd Traditional Plakat Male 2nd and 3rd Small/Large Bubblenesters 1st Photography and Reserve Best of Variety Shortfin Male |
The Dream Team! (my grandmother helps just as much!)
For Year End Awards, we received:
C4 Crowntail Patterned Male
F1 Small/Large Bubbenesters
D1 Traditional Plakat Male (probably all by my pineapple champion! I love him so much)
Overall 9th Place
and
Betta Person of the Year!
C4 Crowntail Patterned Male
F1 Small/Large Bubbenesters
D1 Traditional Plakat Male (probably all by my pineapple champion! I love him so much)
Overall 9th Place
and
Betta Person of the Year!
Now....I know what you're thinking. WHAT ABOUT PICTURES OF ALL THE SHOW FISH?! Never fear! Sabrina did an amazing job of photographing show fish while I was running around with my head cut-off helping to run the show. You can find her stunning photography at her FB page: https://www.facebook.com/Showbettas
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