tuff truck commentating. Your 2c.

[taps]

I had a good weekend also ,except with a certain individual and partener, They know who they are and they know what they did. We really apreciate the feed back ,which we can use to make next year better and more entertaining. It is a hard job calling the event and thinking on your toes, especially with several vehicles running at one time and trying to make sense of it and see every thing. I would also like to congradulate Phil and Mal for there placing and everyone for there kind words

Tapper

[LIF71T]

Deep breathes Tapper. It was all just a bad dream

[Mousie]

I already made a comment in the other thread but thought I could add some positives in this thread to go with the negatives.

- for the most part commentators conducted themselves professionally.
- mix of three people was good especially having some on the ground and one up high for an overall perspective.
- the sponsors were given plenty of recognition.
- mentioning the other activities that were going on like kids events and competitions were informative and let people know where and when things were happening if they were interested.
- description of what was happening on other tracks was good.
- interviews with competitors to break up commentary was good also.

My biggest gripe was the non stop noise, more so on the Saturday than Sunday. As some-one has already speculated, it was like you were afraid to have silence. It is not radio so it is ok to have dead spots, in fact I think it improves commentary. If there is constant talk, and much of it is idle chatter, people will tune out and listen less. If there are breaks in the talking you will find people will pay attention and listen to what you say more as they will assume it is something informative or important, hence my suggestion in the other thread that less is more.

Overall, I think you guys did a good job and with some of the suggestions already offered in this thread implemented will be a valuable contribution to TT 09.

Cheers, Rob

x2 me and nelso were talking about the non stop talking it was rather annoying towards the end of the weekend,

[CAP51Z]

2 gripes....


speakers on Devils Marbles should have been angled away from the track so not to deafen Drivers & interfere with comms, i already suggested this to Amy on sunday night so it may be looked at for next year.

and my other gripe...i didnt know i had a DP Chip & Auto in my zook...lol. I thought this was said, then a bunch of people kept asking me about it cuz they heard it from the commentary

otherwise all good, what i heard was on par with what was happening.

ps cheers for not interviewing me & after some choice commentary James wants to rename us to "CAP51Z: Rock Elephants" for next year.

[beebee]

I didn't have a problem with the volume of the speakers. I can't even remember hearing them when I was on the course.

The commentary was great. My only advice would be to have some guest appearences from various people involved in the industry - not just those who are sponsers of the event. Maybe some of the competitors have the knowledge and experience to discuss some of the finer points of the sport in more detail. For instance, people like Pete Antaunac should have been brought up to the mic for an interview. Not only what he's been through to try and get to the event but maybe he could share some insight on a particular vehicle that was on the track.

All in all, good work guys!

[pootrollin]

Peter did have a chat on the mic.

[beebee]

Peter did have a chat on the mic.

Fair enough - I must have missed it. It could have been anyone but that's who came to mind. The only time I heard a voice other than the commentators was Mr Tuff Dogg. (which I didn't have any problem with as he's a major sponsor)

What I'm getting at is that people don't listen to commentators just to recount what they can see with their own two eyes....rather, they listen to commentators to gain some level of insight to which they wouldn't have otherwise been aware of. To enable this sport to have more appeal to the general public, we need to acknowledge that a lot of the spectators would have no idea what we're doing or why we're doing it. It's probably too much to expect the commentators to have a handle on all of the subtleties of the sport so that's why I suggest having more variety in the commentry.

Interviews with drivers are always good too. I'd love to see every driver given a short interview after each track. And not the boring questions like "how was that track - was it difficult etc etc etc" but more depth to the questioning like "what do you think you could have done to improve your score on that track" or "how are you going for breakages this weekend" or "what was the reason you took a different line to everybody else on that track" or "does this track suit your vehicle"....... I think you get the drift. It might be a problem for some competitors but I know that if you stick a mic infront of me, I'll always do my darndest to give an informative (and hopefully) interesting reply.

Just a suggestion....

[prontozuk]

CAP51Zed Rock Hippo just does not have the same as effect or ring to it like Rock Elephants. Maybe I can be the first of a new bred of navi. And I am not like other animals on this forum, I will keep my trunk to myself.

[1MadEngineer]

As a competitor or someone who has good insight to the whole show, i thought the boys did Quite a GOOD job. It is very hard to please everyone, but you guys tried hard. I personally feel that us too as competitors should have tried to help you guys out, please feel free to come over to the other competitors and chat to them (off air) and get some GOSSIP or inside info on the cars, or the drivers. Then at least you have some PERTINANT info to relay to the crowd. Evan having a chat to the drivers waiting in line to get there ideas on the track or comments on OTHER drivers and vehicles!!

Just a few thoughts

[... rick]

As a competitor or someone who has good insight to the whole show, i thought the boys did Quite a GOOD job. It is very hard to please everyone, but you guys tried hard. I personally feel that us too as competitors should have tried to help you guys out, please feel free to come over to the other competitors and chat to them (off air) and get some GOSSIP or inside info on the cars, or the drivers. Then at least you have some PERTINANT info to relay to the crowd. Evan having a chat to the drivers waiting in line to get there ideas on the track or comments on OTHER drivers and vehicles!!

Just a few thoughts

Im not surprised to see such great ideas come from you and Dave, easily two of the best interveiws out there, always clear and concise.
Thanks to everyone for there input, it really goes a long way to making it better for all.

Rick.

[beebee]

As a competitor or someone who has good insight to the whole show, i thought the boys did Quite a GOOD job. It is very hard to please everyone, but you guys tried hard. I personally feel that us too as competitors should have tried to help you guys out, please feel free to come over to the other competitors and chat to them (off air) and get some GOSSIP or inside info on the cars, or the drivers. Then at least you have some PERTINANT info to relay to the crowd. Evan having a chat to the drivers waiting in line to get there ideas on the track or comments on OTHER drivers and vehicles!!

Just a few thoughts

Im not surprised to see such great ideas come from you and Dave, easily two of the best interveiws out there, always clear and concise.
Thanks to everyone for there input, it really goes a long way to making it better for all.

Rick.

Thanks buddy

We always try to help

[taps]

x 2

This all helps

[jop]

Sitting near the competitors waiting area for mudrats was useless as the p.a. was none existent.

Thats where the crowd probably got the most agro from the delays as they couldn't hear the explanation - especially the friday night.

We could have moved but we had prime realestate at the front, sat night near ice cream van - sweet.

[BundyRumandCoke]

I wasnt there this year, so this comment comes from 07 and 06. Remember that it is an event that families attend. Yep, there are the drunks there, but the commentators dont have to add to it. I refer specifically to during the mudrun in 06. Young kids dont need to hear every crude joke under the sun.

It was shitloads better at 07.

And no, Im not a wowser, I enjoy a good joke as much as anyone else, but there is a time and a place.

[DX 80]

Were they doing breath testing this year, I didn't notice it?

[RUFF]

Were they doing breath testing this year, I didn't notice it?

Yes they were.

[DX 80]

Cheers Tony.

Breath not breast.

[mikmav]

I agree PA can be a bummer if its in the wrong spot, but you can easy fix it with a low power FM Transmitter that can get temp TX approval , and everyone can tune in on there walkman or other FM receiver with ear phones.
The PA doesn't have to be that loud then...... a suitable pre recorded bunch of adds etc can then be run as well during breaks etc..... seen it done a couple of times and it works great....

You could turn this into a marketing thing as well.. get a sponsor to donate a heap of those little crappy FM radio's you get in cereal packets with their logo's on em.. then everyone has a radio to listen with.

[... rick]

I wasnt there this year, so this comment comes from 07 and 06. Remember that it is an event that families attend. Yep, there are the drunks there, but the commentators dont have to add to it. I refer specifically to during the mudrun in 06. Young kids dont need to hear every crude joke under the sun.

It was shitloads better at 07.

And no, Im not a wowser, I enjoy a good joke as much as anyone else, but there is a time and a place.

Just so you know, we were completely dry. No alcohol at all. Last year I had 3 bourbons all weekend. The year before was the same. The problem in 06 was not just one of the announcers (not me or Tapper) letting drunken sponsers near the mic. Has never since, and as long as I am co ordinating the announcing, will never happen again.
I do my very best to run it professionally, and i think we did that this year.
Bringing up stuff from 2 years ago that has clearly been addressed really serves no purpose here.

Rick.

[j-top paj]

I already made a comment in the other thread but thought I could add some positives in this thread to go with the negatives.

- for the most part commentators conducted themselves professionally.
- mix of three people was good especially having some on the ground and one up high for an overall perspective.
- the sponsors were given plenty of recognition.
- mentioning the other activities that were going on like kids events and competitions were informative and let people know where and when things were happening if they were interested.
- description of what was happening on other tracks was good.
- interviews with competitors to break up commentary was good also.

My biggest gripe was the non stop noise, more so on the Saturday than Sunday. As some-one has already speculated, it was like you were afraid to have silence. It is not radio so it is ok to have dead spots, in fact I think it improves commentary. If there is constant talk, and much of it is idle chatter, people will tune out and listen less. If there are breaks in the talking you will find people will pay attention and listen to what you say more as they will assume it is something informative or important, hence my suggestion in the other thread that less is more.

Overall, I think you guys did a good job and with some of the suggestions already offered in this thread implemented will be a valuable contribution to TT 09.

Cheers, Rob

x2 me and nelso were talking about the non stop talking it was rather annoying towards the end of the weekend,

X3 + 1 kim and i said the same