AgShow - The Agricultural Show Society Administrator's Assistant

Quick Overview:

AgShow is a computer program that is designed to facilitate the show administrator in many of the day-by-day tasks involved in running an Agricultural Show.

Tasks that an Agricultural Show Society Secretary is involved in include:

• Schedule preparation and printing
• Collecting and collating entries
• Printing reports required for Show Day, such as Stewards Class Sheets and Entry Catalogue booklets
• Distributing prizes to winning entries, including calculation of any aggregate prizes
• Maintaining the Society's membership list
• Organising Trade Stalls sites

The Activities page from AgShow Help describes these activities in full and specifies how AgShow can assist with each activity.

AgShow Advantages for a Larger Show Society:

• AgShow helps to create a professionally looking Schedule Booklet.
• You can define what information you want to collect for each entry.
  eg.: Horse's Name, Date of Birth, Selling Price. You define the information on a section basis.
• Entrant details only need to be entered once, irrespective of how many entries.
• A Confirmation of Entry can be sent to each entrant clearly outlining their entries, amount paid and any amount owing.
• AgShow can help collate professional booklets such as an Entry Catalogue.
• Informative Stewards Class Sheets detailing extensive information on each entry can easily be printed for judging purposes.
• Prizes owing to each entrant can be printed making prize payment more efficient.
• AgShow supports GST that registered entrants must declare.
• Aggregate Competitions across different classes are supported.
• The Membership Module makes keeping track of members easier and supports communication by mail or email using Microsoft Word's Mail Merge.
• Trade Stalls are an important income source. AgShow helps with assigning stalls and printing income details.
• Schedule, entrant, membership and trade stall details can be rolled over from year to year, so avoiding work after the first year.

AgShow Advantages for Smaller Shows:

• A Schedule Booklet can be printed from AgShow for direct distribution.
• Maybe you only take entries on the day of the show. AgShow can print blank Stewards Class Sheets (a page for every class) that entries can be written onto. A Placing Slip can be printed on the bottom where winners are specified for returning to the Secretary.
• The Membership Module will still help with keeping track of members and communication.
• Even smaller shows rely on income from Trade Stalls.
• The AgShow data file can be rolled over from year to year.
• AgShow provides a solid foundation for a new Secretary in a Society already using AgShow. (i.e. AgShow supports Secretary roll-overs .)

GST Support:

• Detailed Tax Invoice reports for entrants and trade stall holders.
• Included GST on cash prizes to registered entrants.
• Summary reports that detail GST on entry fees, memberships, gate payments and prize money paid.
• Tax Invoice reports for Trade Stall site bookings.
• see the GST Considerations page from AgShow Help for more details.

System Requirements:

• A Pentium 2 GHz or better IBM compatible microcomputer.
• Windows 2000 or later.
• Mouse and CDROM.
• 1024 x 768 MINIMUM screen resolution.
• 1 GB RAM (preferably 4+ GB)
• 1 GB free hard disk space.
• Good quality printer.

Development of AgShow:

AgShow is under constant development with about 2 updates distributed each year. New inclusions for AgShow are suggested by the Show Societies currently using AgShow.
The first AgShow was written to help the 1995 Bendigo Agricultural Show. AgShow has undergone many additions and improvements since then. The current version is Version 15.1 released June 2015. 
Development of AgShow has come to a halt with the release of Version 15.1 in June 2015, which has led to a new pricing scheme for AgShow. (See below)

Version 8.0 was released in August 2010 and Version 8.1 in September 2010.
Version 8 contains an updated payment system that allows for a single payment to be allocated across any of AgShow's modules. eg. A payment may be split between entries, memberships and sponsorships.
Additionally, Version 8 also allows for multiple payments.

Version 9.0 was released in November 2011 and Version 9.1 in December 2011.
Version 9's main new features were an over-haul of Trade Stall sites to allow user-defined site Extras to be specified for each site, so providing immense flexibility.
Also, the Prize Certificates were expanded with extra options so enabling the user to create labels and certificates based on an individual entry basis as well as for entries that gain a placing.

Version 10.0 was released in June 2012.
Version 10 has a better Setup program that allows AgShow to run on any one of Microsoft Access 2002, 2003, 2007 or 2010. (Prior versions were restricted to Access 2002.) Sponsorships were expanded to include 'Collectors', a contact (committee person?) entrusted with collecting the sponsorship money from specified sponsors.
Extended Mail Merge options and improved Stewards listing were also part of V10.

Version 11.0 was released in Feb 2013 and Version 11.3 in September 2013.
Version 11's main new feature was Sponsorship Packages and extensions to In-Kind Sponsorship Contributions.

Version 14.0 was released in March 2014.
The main new feature is the ability to Email many reports directly to a contact. eg. Confirmation of Entry to the entrant, Sponsorship Invoice to the sponsor, Membership Renewal to members etc.
Reports are in PDF format and attached to individually constructed email messages.
Also, Special Requests (or Additional Items) are extended that allow any item to be defined and selected for any contact. eg. an item may be 'Straw' or 'Saturday Lunch' etc.

Version 15.1 was released in June 2015. The main new features are the ability to:

• Merge data from one AgShow .sho data file into another .sho file. (in AgShow Utilities)
  Data can be selected from Contacts, Schedule Sections (including Sponsors and Stewards), Entries and Trade Stall Sites.
• Import data from an Excel spreadsheet directly into an AgShow .sho data file. (also in AgShow Utilities)
  Data can be Contacts (with an optional membership), Schedule or Entries.
  This option should enable AgShow to quickly and easily import entries from a spreadsheet created by an online entries program.
  This enables a third-party online entries program to collect entries and payments, import the entries into AgShow, then use AgShow to produce your Stewards Class Sheets, Entry Catalogue etc.
• Create an .aba (Australian Bankers Association, or Cemtext) file of prize winners with their prize money for direct transfer of prize money.

As AgShow is now considered a fully-featured Show Society's Administrator's Assistant, development on AgShow has come to a conclusion which has led to a new set of pricing. See below.

How much does AgShow cost?

• An Annual License Fee of $500 per annum (payable just after running your show, except for the first year which is paid on purchase.)
• The Annual License Fee entitles the Show Society to:
  • Telephone assistance
  • Free updates
  • The right to request new features for future editions of AgShow
• The License Fee Invoice can be printed from within AgShow.
• An Annual License Agreement form is signed by both parties on purchase that outlines what the purchaser is entitled to by paying the Annual License Fee.
  You can download a copy of the Annual License Agreement.

• AgShow: once-off cost of $1,000 (no Annual License Fees)
• AgShow Entries: once-off cost of $200 (no Annual License Fees)
• AgShow Entries can be seamlessly upgraded to AgShow at any time for the additional $800.
• Will you still be able to receive help?
  As long as this website, http://www.softshow.com.au, is operational, I will endeavour to answer all phone or email enquiries regarding the use of AgShow by Show Societies that have purchased AgShow (Entries) or who purchase AgShow (Entries) in the future.
• The first time that you use AgShow is by far the most difficult because your schedule is required to be entered. This is a once-off, time-consuming task that SoftShow can do for you, subject to availablity, at an extra charge of $300.

How to order AgShow:

• A simple email to brian@softshow.com.au containing postal information is the easiest way to order. Payment is not required immediately as AgShow will be posted to you along with an invoice.
• Alternatively, you can ring or post a letter to the phone or address in the Contact Us page.
• AgShow is posted as a CD along with installation instructions plus a small information manual.
• AgShow does not come with a User's Manual as such, but it does contain a very comprehensive context-sensitive help system. (This help can be viewed from this web site via AgShow Help.)
• One question often asked is: Does AgShow support entrants entering and paying for their show entries online?
  Answer: No, and as the development of AgShow has ceased there are no plans to add this feature in the future.

Try AgShow:

The AgShow Trial Program can be freely downloaded and installed. This demonstration program is the latest Version 14.1 released April 2014.
The AgShow Trial is the same program as AgShow, except the number of classes, entries and contacts are restricted. So, not only can you play with AgShow but you can also start to create your own show data file using the AgShow Trial that can then be used when you purchase the full AgShow program.

Installation Troubleshooting:

• AgShow will NOT run under Access 2010 64 bit.
• Solution is to download and install the 32 bit Access 2007 Runtime.
  (A copy of the setup file is stored here (56 MB).)
  You do NOT need to uninstall Access 2010.
• Once the Access 2007 Runtime is installed reinstall AgShow.
• Within AgShow Setup, select Access 2007 for AgShow to run under.