Live-stream your Team Draw, increase pre-race engagement

In past years, the organizer of the Bugsay Mindanao Dragon Boat Race would conduct the start-list lane allocation draw in the evening before race-day. This year, they did the draw via Facebook Live, one week before the race.

People get to know the start list earlier. Teams can start talking about who they will race against in each heat, and strategize the most efficient way to get to finals. Pre-race engagement is enhanced.

With the tedious draw procedure (1 hour!) out of the way, they can save time during the Team Managers meeting. They can focus on explaining safety procedures and race rules.

Live-streaming team draw for dragon boat race — Bugsay Mindanao Paddle for Peace

Increase pre-race engagement

Within minutes after the end of the draw, the organizer uploaded the start list to an mobile app. Teams around the country, and from overseas, can immediately find out who they will be racing against, and start to strategize the most efficient route to the finals.

Within one day, there were close to 300 page views of the Start List. Participants started to contemplate the excitement of the races in a week’s time.

Steps-by-step guide

1. After registration deadline, allocate team codes to each entry in each category. In this example, the organizers used A01, A02 for entries in Category A (Standard, Mixed, 2000m), as shown in the above screen capture.
2. Publish the list of entries, so that viewers can refer to team codes during the draw. Share the entry list on social media and chat groups. See the Entry List of this example here.
3. Get a friend or colleague to do a test run, using your mobile phone. Try with Facebook Live or Youtube Live. Make sure lighting and voice come out nicely. (Facebook Live instructions, YouTube Live instructions)
4. Announce the date and time for the live-streaming on social media. Get people excited, and start to attract likes and follows.
5. Prepare the Start List, leaving the lane allocation for Heats blank, but already put progression descriptions into semi-finals, repechage and finals. Here’s an example:

Source data of progression rules prepared and uploaded to mobile app

On draw day

1. Prepare small pieces of paper, with team codes of each category written on, using a marker pen.
2. Get a couple of officials to help and witness the draw. Go live at the specified time. Briefly explain the process in front of the camera.
3. From a box, draw out the paper for each category, one-by-one, announce it in front of the camera, and allocate the team to the Heats sequentially. Write the results on a board, or just on a large piece of paper.
4. Enter the team code in the Race/Lane in the program. The program automatically converts the team codes into full team names.

Team codes automatically converted into team names.

The completed start list is then uploaded to the mobile app after a couple of clicks.

About Bugsay Mindanao Paddle For Peace

The race takes place at Cortes, in the province of Surigao del Sur, Philippines, has a population of 15,912 people.

Despite the small scale and the rural location, the organizer is very innovative. They understand the importance of user-experience for official, participants and supporters.

They adopted PikaPage, a low cost but versatile dragon boat race processing app, which has been used successfully in large international races in many places.

Download the Dragon Boat Race App on iPhone or Android to get updated start list and results, race-by-race.