Taffy

Hi all.

Over the years, we noticed that with such a complex production, some parts of our set up are often forgotten or missed (making sure that all audio sources are balanced, that cameras are leveled or that there are no spelling mistakes in our graphics). Therefore, we’ve come up with a checklist to make sure that we remember all our pre-game procedures. The list (which has increased in length from two paragraphs to three pages) includes everything from where the cameras go, to how we route our video signals, to what must be done before we can un-mute our announcers.

I always tell my directors that they MUST cross off every item on the list before they can start the broadcast. Just glancing through it means that you’ll often forget to do something. For example, during our first game, we forgot to press “record” when the game started. We also forget to white balance our cameras (so I guess it’s a good thing we forgot to press “record”).

Once all our equipment is set up, we are ready to begin our broadcast. To help us keep the show interesting and tight, we work off a timeline that lists every single thing we do (except for actual game play coverage). Since we are also charged with providing the content for the arena’s video board and sound system, we must make sure that everything we do is in sync. This is a sample first page of one of our timing sheets:

Even with all our preparations, procedures and checklists, we sometimes have things go wrong. Equipment doesn’t work, cameramen forget to follow the ball/puck, announcers don’t follow their scripts, and many other things. Additionally, even if everything goes according to plan, this is still a live sporting event. We have to expect the unexpected. Therefore, we try to roll with the punches. Follow our timing sheet as much as possible, but be ready to improvise and deviate from the plan. Keeping that in mind, we usually end up with a successful broadcast.

For those of you who were brave enough to read through my long post, I’m sure that this can seem a little daunting. We’ve been very fortunate to get our university and department’s financial support, and purchase a lot of good production equipment. I realize that not everyone can match this kind of control room setup. Regardless, I think that everyone can have first-class professional-looking broadcasts. Here some tips I can offer to achieve that goal:

1. Preparation is extremely important. Spend some time thinking about your broadcast ahead of time. How will you fill the obvious gaps in play (halftime, intermission, etc.)? Do you have pre-recorded content, live interviews? Anything but static to keep fans engaged.

2. Mind the little details. I’ve seen numerous productions that use amazing equipment, but look horrible. That usually happens because they don’t take the time to level their tripods, white balance their cameras, or equalize their announcer audio levels. The more time you spend paying attention to the little details, the more professional your production will look.

3. Trust your team. My team is made up entirely of Northeastern undergraduate students. The vast majority of them don’t have any production or live-broadcast experience. But with pre-season training, and plenty of on-the-job guidance, they do an amazing job. I always try to remind them of our target audience, and our overall plan. I let them make the technical decisions that help shape the end product.

4. You don’t need a large budget to have a first-class production. With only $15 million, you too can have the production of your dreams. I’m just kidding (though $15 million would be great). We started our productions with a very limited budget. We just improved our equipment in an incremental way. Overall, we’ve probably spent a little over $200K over the last four years. But I can promise you that you can do a production that looks just like ours with less than $20K (though don’t tell my boss that!)

5. Try new things. We try to improve our productions every season. We do that by trying new camera locations, creating new graphics, changing the way we use replays and many other things. Some things fail. We tried some new graphics last year that I really liked, but our fans immediately complained that the text was too small for iPhone viewing. This past year we tried to put one of our basketball cameras on the floor by center court. We didn’t really plan on our fans jumping up and down and blocking our shot. That’s all OK. If you don’t try new things, you’ll never know what works for you. We succeed more than we fail.

6. Finally, find a good partner to help you with your streams and customer service. We’ve been very lucky to partner with Stretch for the last two years. Ryan and his crew have helped us serve our fans, and have always been ready, willing and able to try new things (like HD streaming).

I hope this has been interesting (if not a little helpful).

We will continue to strive to improve our productions, and better engage our fans. This year, we’re looking into in-game social media video highlights as a way to draw more people to watch our productions. We’ll be posting in-game highlights on Twitter, and trying to get people to start watching our games mid-way through. We’ll see how it goes.

If you have any questions about our productions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m always happy to help.

Imry Halevi

i.halevi@neu.edu
617-373-4469

It was a little more than a year ago when I first applied to work at Stretch Internet.  As someone who spent a pair of summers broadcasting summer collegiate baseball and was coming off of four years as a student broadcaster at THE Pepperdine University, I understood the importance and value of providing regular broadcast coverage of an athletic program or organization.  After reading the job posting for a position with Stretch, I was immediately intrigued.  Their primary goal was something I always desired as a broadcaster: Support.  I can recall numerous instances while preparing for, or even worse, DURING a game, a technical issue would hinder the broadcast production.  There was nothing more frustrating than putting in the research, enduring the 5-hour bus ride, setting up the broadcast equipment in a sweaty press box, and then ultimately not making it on the air.  If Stretch was a company committed to alleviating that concern amongst SIDs and broadcasters, that was a company I wanted to be a part of. So I fired an application and waited for the phone to ring.  A couple days later, it did.

After “passing” a preliminary interview with J.D. and Jordan, I was invited to a second interview.  I met Ryan and was given the tour of the Stretch offices.  Soon after, we went to lunch, and as the conversation went along, my excitement about the prospect of working for Stretch grew.  It sounded like Ryan and the rest of the company were even more passionate providing top of the line support than I had originally thought, and on top of that, Stretch had some great plans for the future.  As the interview concluded and the discussion turned towards the current state of our respective golf games, my confidence began to grow.  I had survived all of the interview jargon about my personal work history and “why I feel I’d be a good fit at Stretch,” and had moved on to talking about where the best courses in the greater Phoenix area were located.  We might as well have been talking about apartment leases and gym memberships.  I had this thing in the bag.

Ryan told me he would have to finish conducting interviews with other candidates that week and would inform me of their decision the following Monday.  Alright, that makes sense.  It’s a company and there’s a protocol they want to follow.  They have to interview some other people just to say they did.  It takes time to draft a contract and figure out how lucrative of a signing bonus to offer someone like me.  Take your time, Ryan.  You’ve got my number.  Talk to you soon.  When I received the call on Monday I had my acceptance speech prepared.  I did not have a rejection speech prepared.  I should have.

After the reality set in that I had not gotten the job and that I would not be spending my free time exploring the golf landscape of the Arizona desert, I traveled east to live with a pair of friends in New Orleans.  During my time in “The Big Easy”,  I perfected my golf stroke by day and explored Bourbon Street by night.  As the year went by I continued my job search.  As I scoured various job boards, I found myself comparing every posting to the opportunity I had missed out on last summer.  Anytime I became intrigued by a specific posting, I’d think of how it couldn’t measure up to the job I’d been so close to having with Stretch.

After about nine months had gone by, and with the collegiate athletic season wrapping up, I decided to shoot Ryan an e-mail to see how things were going with the company and to see what their “plans were for the coming year.”  Translation: “Is there any chance you have another job opening?”  The answer was yes.  And after going through another round of interviews with J.D., Jordan, and Ryan, I found myself staring at an offer to join Stretch.

I didn’t take long to accept.  I quickly packed up my car and made my way back to Arizona.  After three weeks with the company, all of my initial instincts regarding Stretch have been confirmed.  From the top down, it is a company that practices what it preaches.  They offer a dynamic streaming service, and more importantly, provide dedicated support.  In my short time here, it has been exciting to see the genuine care and concern that everyone has for the company, the clients, and the support that we provide.  I am thrilled to join Stretch as a Support Specialist and am looking forward to the upcoming year and to a season of seamless streaming.

Six months ago, I never would have thought I would be sitting in the middle of the Sonoran Desert in the offices of Stretch Internet putting together an introductory blog, introducing myself to our client base as a support/operations specialist.

In fact, six months ago today, I was watching the Arkansas State Red Wolves men’s basketball team in conference action against the Denver Pioneers en route to a 52-66 loss at Magness Arena.  I certainly wasn’t considering life outside of being an SID from my cushy seat court-side next to our bench, and the very talkative officials observer.

I had been looking to move on from Arkansas State but was extremely narrow minded in the search. I had two goals in mind:
1. Move up (either to a bigger school or a head SID position) and
2. Find a work environment that was as stress free as possible, which is nearly impossible in the SID game.

I had been experiencing mixed success in my job search, a few close calls with some universities I was very familiar with and a few more off of my beaten path. Then, mid May hit and I saw an interesting posting on CoSIDA’s website. A company I was mildly familiar with that I knew provided excellent service in the streaming community – Stretch Internet. What piqued my interest was that the job was not strictly a support position but also worked in the operations department. I checked out the posting and let’s just say the uniqueness of it drew me in. I felt like I would be a great fit, especially with my ongoing subscription to Wired Magazine…

During my six years working in college athletics I had carved out a niche as a communications and media relations professional with tech expertise (which most good SID’s have in their repertoire this days) which seemed like just what Stretch was looking for, so I applied. It was a bit of a departure from my previous experience which included student work at my alma mater UT Martin; internships at Presbyterian College and the now defunct Schaumburg Flyers of Independent Baseball’s Northern League; two years as an Assistant SID at Drake University; four years as an Assistant SID at Arkansas State and a newly minted master’s in Sports Administration from Stretch client Ohio University (Go Bobcats!).

After a few conversations with Ryan, J.D. and Jordan, some top notch interviewin’, a fair amount of soul searching and convincing the wife “how lovely Arizona is this time of year,” I found myself on a cross country trek and a new member of the Stretch team.

For me it has been a whirlwind of emotions. Just a week before I left for Arizona, my wife Melody and I welcomed our first child into the world, a beautiful baby girl named Madeline. So, leaving Arkansas also meant leaving them behind for a few months while Melody tied things up at our home there and readied for the move. I also left behind a six-year career which I had worked hard to build for an uncertain future career path, plus an office with coworkers and coaches that helped me realize again what I enjoyed most about working in college athletics. Also how would someone with SID experience fit in with an internet streaming company?

But, as I sit here today writing this, I have never enjoyed work more, felt more comfortable with or welcomed by my coworkers, or been more excited for the future. Turns out, I fit in pretty good. The culture here and the quality of the product is truly unique for this business and I am so thankful to be a part of it.

It has been a lot to absorb so far, but it seems like everything here will continue to be awesome. As a former SID, I am sure I will be able to relate to the vast majority of our clients. I look forward to getting to know you all and helping you manage and minimize your issues, if and when they may arise.