Civic Center PA System

I will admit that my hearing is not the best in the world ( as I'm a BMW rider you know I'm old), however "WHAT LANGUAGE WERE THEY SPEAKING SATURDAY NIGHT" ????
This was my first National as I just joined MOA 3 years ago, I have heard that in the past the sound systems have been bad. How could they make the same mistake again? Someone should have tied it out before hand. Luckily they were calling out ticket numbers for the drawings, that was about all I could understand.
I would have enjoyed the closing ceremonies if I could have heard what was going on. It wasn't the volume it was the clearity!

I completely agree, the users (Ray Z etc) should have been instructed/tested out before ceremonies began. As any of you who have played with PAs before know, high pitched voices are less prone to echo/reverb & are easier to understand. There is also a pausing between words that can help, something a couple of users were doing. Safe to say, the PA of the building is less than current tech offers....

I was sitting on the right side (looking towards the Team Xtreme setup) and I could understand everything fine, and everyone around me said the same thing. I thought the heckling was ridiculous, annoying and obnoxious and I would've expected such behavior from a group of children, not supposed grownups. Maybe the stadium had speaker problems on your side of the room, but I do think they were doing the best they could with what they had to work with. Some voices did carry better than others over the mics also. I also heard another person from waayyy up top yelling out that they couldn't even see there ticket. Well duh, the lights weren't on up top, so don't sit there. Maybe they did test out the sound system ahead of time, and maybe it worked fine when no one was in the room, who knows. But the people who won that were there heard well enough, and I wasn't one of them, so I'm happy for their good fortune.

Each year I believe the rally volunteers work very hard to make things run as smoothly as possible. So many people (not necessarily you) complain but offer no help. I hope you all can make it to Spokane next year, when it's back to the "traditional" all in one place rally setting. It's much more "rally" like instead of "convention" like. Above all, enjoy the ride.

The PA was difficult. We were using the house PA system and apparently they were having difficulty with one of the amplifiers.

Dave

PA system

I was sitting on the second level on the left side of the Coliseum and was only able to understand about 10% of what was said during the closing ceremony. All those around me had the same problem and that is what brought on the "rowdy" behavior. We all were concentrating on what was being said and it was very frustrating to not understand any of it--especially the MC. I am sure it was frustrating for him as well to see the nasty reaction many in the crowd were exhibiting--is two little temper tantrums didn't help.

vickielman said:

I was sitting on the right side (looking towards the Team Xtreme setup) and I could understand everything fine, and everyone around me said the same thing. I thought the heckling was ridiculous, annoying and obnoxious and I would've expected such behavior from a group of children, not supposed grownups. Maybe the stadium had speaker problems on your side of the room, but I do think they were doing the best they could with what they had to work with. Some voices did carry better than others over the mics also. I also heard another person from waayyy up top yelling out that they couldn't even see there ticket. Well duh, the lights weren't on up top, so don't sit there. Maybe they did test out the sound system ahead of time, and maybe it worked fine when no one was in the room, who knows. But the people who won that were there heard well enough, and I wasn't one of them, so I'm happy for their good fortune.

Each year I believe the rally volunteers work very hard to make things run as smoothly as possible. So many people (not necessarily you) complain but offer no help.

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ditto

Greetings,

As you may imagine I am having a difficult time reconciling my recent experience in Charleston with how I use my vacation time.

As the MC of the closing I accept full responsibility for the problems with the show. We rehearsed it, we practiced with the microphones and we had a professional staff in charge of lights and sound. Unfortunately it did not work out the way we hoped.

Without going into all the details of the moment here is what I could hear on the floor.

This sucks!
You suck!
What a clusterfuck!
**** you!
This rally SUCKS ASS!
Booooo!

This coupled with being the knife catcher for everything that happened at the University campus had me right at the very end of what is usually a very long rope.

Regardless, my response was inappropriate and for this I sincerely apologize to each and every member of the organization.

With many regrets,

Rob,
While I was frustrated at the inability to understand a lot of what was said I also realize that sometimes things get overlooked in setup.

You all did a great job in planning a very difficult rally format. I may not have liked the multi site arrangement but I could appreciate the work that went into it. The only thing that I can say bugged me about it was the lack of signage around town to easily get from one place to another when I wasn't on a bus.

Again, I really understand your frustration at being heckled, on a positive note when you came back from backstage after taking a deep breath you slowed down your talking and I could understand you completely. If you guys could make all closing ceremonies 59 minutes long it could be the start of something incredible, thanks for all of your hard work.

JB

Rob Nye said:

Greetings,

As you may imagine I am having a difficult time reconciling my recent experience in Charleston with how I use my vacation time.

As the MC of the closing I accept full responsibility for the problems with the show. We rehearsed it, we practiced with the microphones and we had a professional staff in charge of lights and sound. Unfortunately it did not work out the way we hoped.

Without going into all the details of the moment here is what I could hear on the floor.

This sucks!
You suck!
What a clusterfuck!
**** you!
This rally SUCKS ASS!
Booooo!

This coupled with being the knife catcher for everything that happened at the University campus had me right at the very end of what is usually a very long rope.

Regardless, my response was inappropriate and for this I sincerely apologize to each and every member of the organization.

With many regrets,

Click to expand...

Civic center PA system

Must have been an amplifer. Started out behind
the audio mixing crew. Could not understand
anything that was being said. moved around to the
other side of the arena and the sound improved
100%.

Bill

Closing Ceremonies PA System

I couldn't hear much of anything being said at the closing ceremonies. I moved from the upper level to the lower level. It didn't help. I asked the guys at the PA mixing board what was going on. One of them said "We're having technical problems." None of them were doing anything, so I guess they figured there was nothing that could be done to help the situation. When my band has a problem with sound reinforcment for vocals in a "boomy" room, we can usually EQ most of it out by backing off all of the bass, & cranking the treble way up. Most of the time, this fixes the problem. I wonder if this would have fixed the problem Saturday night. The guys at the sound mixing board didn't seem keen to try some fixes, so I just sat back down. I didn't yell, but I didn't think most of the yelling was rude. People were just saying "We can't hear you!"

Other than the closing ceremonies being a complete train wreck, I thought the rally was great. I appreciate all of the volunteer time that went into making the rally such a success. Thank you, volunteers and event organizers, for a fun four days.

We were on the right side of the venue and heard well. I felt bad for Voni, Paul, and Rob while being heckled. You could tell that they had prepared and were trying to make the awards ceremony click and not drag. Rob's response would have come a lot quicker from me. It's not an easy job to put on a rally. The logistic alone are a nightmare. Some do not realize the attention to detail that has to be made in order to get something like this off the ground. I thank all, chairs, volunteers, and vendors who made this a enjoyable rally. Yes, it was different. If you don't try something new then you won't know if you'll like it or not.

My wife was sitting in the area that could not hear...and there was a problem. A problem beyond BMWMOA control. It's called a blown amplifier. About a week before our event the amplifier blew and it was not repaired. Of course it was show time when the problem became evident. So, those sitting on the right side could hear and those on the left could not. We're all aware of Murphy's Law, so you do the best you can and move forward. A BIG THANKS to all the VOLUNTEERS who helped with this year's event.

Ride safe and see you down the road...


Chuck Manley #12106
Director, BMWMOA
Chairman, Rally Site Search Team
Director, Dinky Dozen BMW Riders, Inc #84
2002 K1200RS

I was sitting dead center and during the ceremony. I also had the privilage of being on the floor for a few minutes. I can tell you without a doubt something was completely wrong the PA system. I couldn't hear where I sitting. I'm surprised I even heard my name being called out. I was even more surprised at how clear the PA system was on the floor when I got down there. When off stage, I did let many people know that half the of the speakers were not working and that no one on side of the area could hear anything.

Believe me -- WE WEREN'T HECKLING -- We simply couldn't hear, no one said there was a problem or admitted there was a problem. Heck, we would have rathered they stopped for five to fix the problem.

If there is anyone to blame for the PA system, it was the sound guys for not doing something about it. I just hope the MOA staff renegotiated a lower rate since they couldn't do the job they were paid to do.

Rob;


My wife and I were sitting about 8'clock at the top of the lower level. We couldn't hear a thing! However, I didn't hear any of the heckling of the sort you indicate. Some clown sitting near us did holler something about speaking slowly, that sounded a bit sarcastic, but otherwise "I" didn't hear the 'FU' comments you refer to hearing.

I am embarrased (sic?) FOR the team up front, I felt bad for them, as obviously, something had gone wrong.

There were a number of things that I'll discuss w/ someone who can relay this info to you and others that can actually do something about it rather than just rant here.

Good luck, sorry for the unfortunate occurrances

I didn't really get to hear any of the names of the people on the microphones. There was one person who "got it," though, and spoke slowly and clearly and despite the LOUSY sound system, he was understandable. He was the ONLY one. Every one else either held the microphone too close, or spoke as though they were talking to someone standing right next to them. In either case, it sounded just like Charlie Brown's teacher in all of those "Peanuts" television specials. We moved around a bit but couldn't find any place that sounded any clearer. We were originally up in the upper seats and it was absolutely frustrating. At one point, one of the people dropped the mike to his side and we could hear his normal, spoken voice more clearly than his amplified voice on the mike. They were yelling "Stop using the mike!!" but I don't think it was heard down on the auditorium floor.

The hosts were: Rob Nye, Paul and Voni Glaves and me and Tina.

It was extraordinarily frustrating on both parts.



We spent a good portion of the afternoon practicing and rehearsing. We even had people sitting in the stands on the right side when we were wrapping up rehearsal.

If someone would have said "Hey, we need everyone to move to ______ side of the auditorium so you can hear, we'd have all moved. I'm even more frustrated now to know that it was known that some areas of the stadium weren't going to be able to hear and nobody bothered to pause the presentation for 5 minutes so we could move to where we could. That is quite unfair.

I'm also somewhat disappointed that nobody said "hey, we blew one of the amplifiers, and we're working on figuring out how to work around it". Hasn't anyone ever thought we were grown up enough to deal with it. We all put up with wind, rain, hail, etc., and if there had been some "honest communication" about what was being done, I think it would have been a bad situation made tolerable, but more importantly, it wouldn't have become such an issue for so many people.

And yes, there were a lot of good things to be said about the closing ceremonies. The Team Xtreme was incredible. There were honestly a lot of good things to say about the entire rally. I'm glad we did the city rally for a change. I'd go to another "city rally", because I think we all learned a lot from it.

Closing Ceremonies

Nobody regrets the poor sound system more than I do. I volunteered to produce the ceremonies because I had a conviction that we could do better than the previous 'hostage' ceremonies. We started with great enthusiasm, and I think we did what we could. We were well into the program before any of us (including me, backstage, on a headset with the sound and light guys) knew anything was wrong with the sound.

I am embarassed for the abuse our people on stage took for something that wasn't their fault. They were using the mocrophones as they had been instructed, and as professionals do. They never lost their enthusiasm for spirit and timing, as they changed from the past 2-1/2 hour 'Awards Ceremony' to this year's planned 60 minute Closing Ceremony.

I got my volunteer job as producer by promising Michael Friedle that I could do it in 60 minutes. I am very sure he didn't believe me, but agreed anyway. I had an additional agenda: that the newly named Closing Ceremonies would be planned and executed for the sake of the audience, not the awardees and the good old boys. If I had thought that all that would be remembered of this year's programs was of angry cat-callers, or unintelligible sound, I would have shot myself three months ago, and been done with it.

To keep things moving quickly, it was my notion to enlist Dave and Tina Swider and Paul and Voni Glaves, some of the brightest bulbs in MOA, to present awards and prizes. Rob Nye, as emcee, was to be the 'glue' that joined things together. As three teams, they would have time offstage to get ready for their next chore, so things would go quickly. We called down awardees early, so they were standing in the wings, ready to walk right on, instead of waiting for them to trudge down from the stands. Tickets were drawn as the prize was described, and we didn't have to wait long for multiple winners to get down.

Rob, Voni, Paul, Dave, and Tine approached their tasks with incredible enthusiasm. The came prepared to work, and they rehearsed most of Saturday afternoon. Paul narrowly missed picking up a surprise MVP award from the MOA Foundation, because he was working with us. They busted their asses for you, and for MOA.

We used the PA system throughout the rehearsal, and everybody thought it was fine. In fact, we had early-comers sitting in the areas where we later heard sound complaints, but knew nothing was wrong. When some of the audience started chanting 'we can't hear,' I asked the sound guys what was wrong. They said they had a blown amplifier, and some of the speakers in the overhead cluster weren't working. They asked that the people on stage talk closer to the microphones, speak slower, and enunciate more carefully. About then, some of the audience started shouting regrettable things at the folks on stage, who still hadn't any idea something was wrong. By that time, Rob had stepped in to defend Paul and Voni from the cat-callers, and the rest is history.

If you were there, and you were centered in the seats with direct speaker sound, you perhaps saw a tightly knit group of nifty, well rehearsed people putting out the full ceremony in 59 minutes. You saw the American flag ridden on in David Hough's side car with editor Sandy Cohen carrying it. You saw three motorcycles given away, instead of the planned two. You saw the previous 2-1/2 hour dirge condensed into 59 minutes. You saw things going click, click, like they were supposed to.

If you sat far to one side or the other, or up on top, you heard mumbling and could not understand how our people couldn't speak loudly or clearly. Some of you tried to move to solve the problem, but I think most of the good seats were taken. If you were one of the unruly ones, you shouted cat-calls or expletives that you should maybe regret, and I wish we could have solved the problem. This is permanently installed, professional sound equipment, and should work properly. The hall has a capacity of 12,500, and it could be expected that all could hear.

This year, for the first time in recent memory, we had a professionally run Coliseum, with a professional, union staff running the lights and sound. Who'd a thunk the sound would be a problem? Everything seemed fine during rehearsal.

All of this is NOT by way of an excuse. I just want you to know that we really tried this year, and any Closing Ceremony problem had little to do with anyone in MOA. No one is more disappointed than I am - becasue I was planning for a show that would have about 5,000 people walking out of the auditorium saying "helluva show." Instead, the negativity seems to have become contagious. Please give Dave, Tina, Paul, Voni, and Rob the great credit they are due for doing all they could to bring you something other than the 'hostage ceremony' of prior times.

I wish whoever puts together next year's ceremony good luck. MOA is one tough audience.

Jim Shaw
Producer/Director 2003 Closing Ceremonies

Re: Closing Ceremonies

Jim Shaw said:

I wish whoever puts together next year's ceremony good luck. MOA is one tough audience.

Jim Shaw
Producer/Director 2003 Closing Ceremonies

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Jim, you aren't doing it next year? That is a great shame, because if I was in the audience, I would love to have you back. The show really moved....

Is Washington a right to work state?

I'll ship my audio tools just in case. Not kidding; volunteering.