Tips for Initial System Setup \ Preparing for your first race

[Brian Agee]

For brand new customers I wanted to create a post that shows the top 10 things I would recommend that they do before their first race.

1. Uninstall or disable any kind of anti-virus software to ensure they don't get in the way on race day. I've also seen anti-virus software prevent drivers from installing or prevent communication with the reader.

2. Make it so that closing the lid does not put the laptop to sleep. Sure would hate for the lid to accidentally get closed during the race and it shuts everything down (or puts the computer to sleep).

3. On the Create/Edit Race screen you'll see a "Tips" tab in the "Timers Notes" area. I review this before every race to make sure I'm not forgetting anything.

4. Updating computers after race-day registration is over.

• I'm always surprised when I hear someone say that they are importing data, or entering race-day registrations, on each computer (so they are doing double entry). Before your first race practice entering data on one computer, then copying the database file on that computer to a jump drive, plugging the jump drive into your second computer, then replacing the database file on the second computer with the updated database file on your jump drive. After registration is over it should be fairly quick and easy to update your other computer(s) with an updated database. The database contains everything so any changes you make on the main computer will also show up on the other computer(s) when you copy the database over. The database is a small individual file that is easy to copy to another computer.
  
• If you're using paperless registration then this process is even easier because all you have to do is press "Sync" on both computers and then you're good to go. Once you go paperless and doing dynamic bib # assignments you'll probably never go back to traditional registration because it's so much more efficient and easier on everyone involved.

5. Make sure you're familiar with how the Divisions work.

• Basically the divisions should be entered by priority (by priority I mean if the winners of a division should be excluded from a 'lower' division then it's considered to be a higher priority). Use the blue up/down arrows to move divisions around. The order you setup is the order they will appear on the Division Results. When you selected an "Excluded Division" in one of the lower divisions - this simply means that the winners in the higher divisions will not appear in this division. Practice setting up Overall, Masters, and standard Age Group divisions. Here is a video where I explain it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loqlf1SDLv4

6. Get familiar with printing off the Roster and the Bib # capture sheet (use the slider at the top to indicate how many 'slots' you need, click Refresh). I print these off the day before the race.

7. Practice doing manual timing. 

• I would invite friends over and practice doing manual timing (starting the race, adjusting the start time, capturing finishers, adjusting finishers times, timing two or more races with different start times, swapping people from one race to another, deleting and disqualifying athletes, and minimizing the clock and making edits to athlete records during the race. The customers that started off with the Manual version of the software and later upgraded to the RFID version typically say they are grateful that they learned how to handle any situation manually before letting the chip timing system take over and do the timing work for them.

8. If you're a one-man crew like I am (for most of my races anyway):

• For the first race I would recommend showing up ridiculously early - even as much as 3 hours before race-day registration starts. It's definitely better to find that you shows up too early than to realize you showed up too late. As you get comfortable setting everything up your setup time will decrease, but there is nothing worse than scrambling to get everything setup before registration starts. You don't want to be in a position where you hope to have time after the race starts to get the finish line ready. If you're not finished setting up the finish line, train a volunteer on how to enter race-day registrations so that you can continue working on the finish line. Basically tell them that everything in the dark gray box at the top of the screen MUST be correct, everything else is optional (but go ahead and enter the email address if they have time). For most races, race-day registration starts about an hour before the race, but it typically doesn't get terribly busy until about 30 minutes before the race. Hopefully you'll be able to take back over registration before it gets busy.

9. No matter your price, you wont get hired if they don't enjoy working with you. Obviously you want to be friendly and somewhat flexible to their needs, but also be prepared to be firm or to step in and take over parts of the race if you don't feel comfortable with how something is being done. If results are messed up because of something crazy the race tried to do, you may turn into the scapegoat even though it wasn't your fault. Nearly every race director will respect that you have been to a lot of races and know what works and what doesn't, so don't feel that you have to do everything they want and hope it works out.

10. Software Intro: https://youtu.be/9D3rw06IZqY

[Brian Agee]

A lot of people have races tomorrow, or this weekend. I'd encourage everyone (especially new users) to check out this list - specifically #4 to make sure they have everything ready to go. Eliminate as many variables on race day as possible.

Happy Thanksgiving!

[Brian Brian.S.Agee]

I created this video for new customers to learn the basics of the software, basics of preparing for a race, and what steps to take to help ensure things go smooth on race day.

This will help ensure you know how the software works and how everything flows.

https://youtu.be/9D3rw06IZqY

[Brian Agee]

For those that use the Results Kiosk feature I wanted to point out a feature that you should be aware of.

The results kiosk pulls the database from the main timing computer and then it updates itself. It does this many times during the race. So the smaller the database size - the faster the update.

At the top right of the Settings screen you'll see a "Shrink Database" link label you can click on. This simply frees up any unused space it will typically drop your database size down to about half if you've never used it before.