Just a few thoughts after we worked an event that did not meet our normal expectations.
1) Never give a new customer (event) a discount. Walk away if they demand one. Your prices are fair for the services you provide. Remember that they are not even asking you for a bid unless they are dissatisfied with the prior contractor, or fishing for a bargain. Bargain hunters tend to scrimp on all of the other aspects of the production and you will get caught with substandard working conditions, no help, etc. In fact it may be a very good idea to demand a deposit from a new customer larger than what you would from and existing customer. 80 percent of the contract fee would not be out of line.
2) Know what limitations your equipment and software has and make sure that you cover those limitations yourself and not rely on anyone else. For example we encountered a recent event where the registration was set up to give out participant numbers that were duplicated numerically 3 times. That is there were 3 instances of number 125 out on the course at once. They had 3 different color backgrounds. The organizer responded yes when asked if there were separate numbers for all participants because they thought so. We failed to explain to them that this was not acceptable due to how our data base was structured, and it ended up causing a massive and confusing situation with 1500 athletes basically competing at the same time in 18 different classes. We might have saved ourselves a lot of grief with some broad tipped Sharpies to add a 1000's digit to one overlapping class and a 2000's to the next, etc.
3) Communicate all requirements, special needs, etc prior to signing a contract. It takes time to order numbers, assemble staff etc. Remember the great saying. ASSUME makes an ASS out of you and ME. The event in question had a total of 7 elapsed hours of finish line crossing. Our PCs had enough hard drive space. What if they hadn't?
4) Try to get all of the expectations of the organizer out in the open prior to signing a contract. Is the event a race subject to rules of a sanctioning body or is it a free for all, or a hybrid of both. The event we recently did ended up being looked at as a "prize list" event by our staff and the equivalent of a marathon by the participants and the organizer. Find out what the bottom line is prior to your involvement. Maybe you don't want to get involved. We are still working on resolving order of finish issues with participants in 70th place in their division who just want a time but did not bother to pin their number on correctly. We have now spent almost 14 hours of time AFTER returning to the office dealing with people who want a time and a place.
5) Try to be as active as you can when you realize that there is going to be a melt down. Tell the organizer and the officials that due to the circumstances the results will not be able to be produced as rapidly as you would like. Give them the option of deciding what their priority is. Normally everyone tries to concentrate on the top 3 to 5 places for awards and prizes. Maybe the officials have a different opinion. Better to let them know up front than to announce it too late for them to take alternative actions. Speak up if you see the numbers being pinned on wrong. get the athletes to start changing them before the start.
Of course there are many great ideas our there. Everybody has been burnt at least once. One contractor we know has started producing a check list with time lines that the organizers HAVE to follow if they want them to work their events. The contractor is the pilot. Trust no one. Go walk around the plane yourself or you might end up smacking into the mountain side.
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