This “juggling act” will be among the topics, big and small, at a Glen Innes workshop designed to give young women the skills and confidence to be a Standout Showgirl.

The region’s show season is fast approaching – as is the Sydney Royal – and about a dozen workshop participants will gather on January 28 and 29 to learn how to excel at and enhance their Showgirl experience. 

The host, Polish Works owner Adi Ritchie, has been holding the events at her Glen Innes property for eight years.

More than 500 young women a year enter a local show society contest, vying to make it to the zone finals and then the state finals.

Mrs Ritchie said many people had the wrong impression of the competition, and she stressed to her learners “for them to forget that this is a ‘beauty pageant’ – it has nothing to do with it. Nothing”.

“As I say in my workshop, it’s about your brains, not your boobs,” she said.

These days, it was about finding and developing “strong, smart, young rural women as leaders and ambassadors for our community to promote rural Australia”.

“Now the judging criteria goes on personality, on rural knowledge, on ambition, on community volunteering … Katrina Hodgkinson, Fiona Simson, Leila Sweeney-McDougall – these are powerful rural women with a voice and are the kinds of role models I hope the participants to aspire to be like,” she said.

“Keeping the showgirl competition relevant for young women is so important. It is not a beauty pageant, it’s the first step to a whole new world of experiences and learning.”

Mrs Ritchie said her workshops had no more than 15 attendees, to allow for personalised help.

The attendees will cover nutrition, stress management, interview skills, conversation, grammar, body language, table manners, fashion, makeup and more.

“Everything I teach is holistic … it’s not just about interviewing skills, it’s about going to the formal, going to a race meeting, going to grandma’s for dinner; it’s a holistic thing for the rest of their lives.”

Mrs Ritchie said she admired the young women for their courage in entering, and felt it was important to provide a relaxed, friendly learning atmosphere.

“These girls are so brave: they stand up to be judged on a public platform. They need a gold star.”

Narrabri primary school teacher Ellen John, 23, will be one of the workshop participants. 

She said she entered the showgirl competition because she was new to town, having grown up in Griffith and studied at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga.

“I thought it would be a good opportunity to become more involved in the community and put my hand up and say, ‘I’m willing to help at the show and various other charities around town’,” Miss John said.

“Another reason is that, while studying at uni, I was given an RAS [Royal Agricultural Society of NSW] scholarship and that really helped out with my studies, and I really wanted to give back to the RAS in some way.”

As the 2016 Narrabri Showgirl winner, she’ll represent the town at the zone 4 finals in Walgett on February 25.

“The workshop is endorsed by the Agricultural Societies Council as a very renowned course for upcoming showgirls, and I think personally I need to gain confidence to excel in the showgirl competition, develop my public speaking skills and learn how to structure an answer to a tricky question that may be asked,” Miss John said.

“I’m really looking forward to meeting some of the other showgirls attending; I think it will be a good opportunity to mingle and get to know the other participants prior to going to Walgett.”