Don't put your horn down at all. My experience thus far has been that you're going to be holding your horn a hell of a lot longer in arc than members do in shows. If you're serious about it then do 3 hours of horn holding a week. Start off with 6 minute segments. Work your way up. Buy ankle weights and add them as you get better (This makes your normal horn feel like holding a feather). Then show up to camp and look hella better than everyone else. My understanding is that how you look over the course of the weekend is huge, as others have said.