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Your First AthleticLIVE Track & Field Meet

Updated 8 months ago

AthleticLIVE is a powerful software suite that gives you many options for how you'd like to display your live results for a track meet. However, because of the numerous options available, setting up and running your first meet can be daunting! This article is a “getting started” guide designed to teach you exactly what to expect the first time you run a meet with AthleticLIVE.

Create the Meet Listing on AthleticLIVE

The first step to showing live results for any meet with AthleticLIVE is to create the meet listing on AthleticLIVE. This involves making decisions about how your meet will display results, what kinds of add-ons you'd like to use, and what meet management software and FAT software you'll be using. Additionally, you'll provide details about when and where the meet is, divisions within the meet, and how the meet should be scored.

If you're using AthleticRUNMEET as your meet management system, see Integrating AthleticRUNMEET and AthleticLIVE for your meet management system setup. Once you've got AthleticRUNMEET and AthleticLIVE talking to each other, return to this article to integrate your FAT system.

Integrate with Your Meet Management Software

AthleticLIVE integrates tightly with your meet management software. The meet events, athletes, schedule, and results are all displayed on AthleticLIVE via data transmitted from your meet management software. For Track & Field, AthleticLIVE currently supports Hytek's Meet Manager and DirectAthletics MeetPro.

Set up Your Meet

In your meet management software, you'll need to configure the meet much as you normally would, including setting up the events, downloading/importing entries, and seeding the meet.

Several features in AthleticLIVE require the use of competitor numbers. If you don't normally assign competitor numbers, make sure you get in the habit! Just ensure each competitor is assigned a unique number—no specific sequences are necessary. AthleticLIVE's software uses competitor numbers as an internal ID to refer to competitors in various parts of the software, and a lack of competitor numbers can cause unintended behavior.

Upload Meet Information

Once your meet is configured and seeded, you'll need to upload data to AthleticLIVE. For both HyTek's Meet Manager and MeetPro, there are two different connection options. Choose the option that best suits your needs.

RunMeet

AthleticNET RunMeet can greatly simplify the process of preparing for competition. RunMeet integrates with the entry collection functions of an Athletic.net meet on the Manage Meet page so that you can quickly seed the meet, print meet programs, heat sheets, finish line sheets, and field scoring sheets, and enter results for quick publishing to Athletic.net.

HyTek's Meet Manager—Database Connection Option

If you're planning on doing lots of meets with AthleticLIVE, especially if you have an enterprise account, you'll want to use our HyTek Database Connection option. This option requires an initial time investment and some software to be installed on the computer running HyTek, but that investment will pay dividends in ease-of-use at each meet, since the HyTek Database Connection is the "hands-free" method for displaying meet data online. Any changes made to your HyTek database are reflected automatically on the AthleticLIVE site within a minute or two. An additional benefit is for users who operate HyTek on multiple networked computers sharing the same database. Changes to the database can be made on any computer logged into the HyTek database and will be reflected online.

HyTek's Meet Manager—FTP Option

AthleticLIVE can receive data from HyTek's Meet Manager by uploading reports via FTP. This method doesn't require any additional software to be installed on the computer running HyTek, and is ideal for people who will be doing just a few meets per season. Your first step will be to configure HyTek to communicate with the AthleticLIVE servers.

Some T-Mobile hotspot users have reported trouble with FTP connectivity. If you experience difficulty using FTP when using a T-Mobile hotspot, you'll either need to use a different network, or consider using AthleticLIVE Local.
MeetPro—Publish to Disk Option

The preferred method for uploading meet information from MeetPro is the Publish to Disk option, which publishes reports to a local folder on the computer running MeetPro. AthleticLIVE Local, the AthleticLIVE middleware software, watches the local folder for changes and uploads new data to AthleticLIVE. This option is preferred due to its speed, since MeetPro tends to upload large amounts of information for even small changes.

Before uploading meet information, you'll need to manually export a team and roster list from MeetPro and upload it to AthleticLIVE.

Once you do that, you can then visit MeetPro's Publish to Disk interface to upload entries, performance lists, or heat sheets.

Integrate with Your FAT Software (Live Track Scoreboard)

If you selected a Professional Meet, you'll want to integrate AthleticLIVE with your FAT software. Integrating your FAT software allows results to be displayed to viewers as soon as you evaluate the finish in your timing software, rather than once the event has been processed by your meet management software. AthleticLIVE has the capability to display track results directly from FinishLynx, Flash Timing, and Eagle Eye, as soon as each runner's finish time is evaluated. Additionally, you can display the current race time to your viewers if you use FinishLynx or Eagle Eye.

In addition to live track scoreboards, AthleticLIVE offers live field scoreboards as well! Your fans can view jump-by-jump and throw-by-throw results from field events and keep an eye on up-to-the-minute standings in their favorite field event. AthleticLIVE can integrate with FieldLynx or with the new AthleticFIELD officiating app for field events. And as a bonus, you don't ever have to manually enter a field results sheet again! Learn more about AthleticFIELD

During the Meet

Once your meet begins, you'll find that using AthleticLIVE to post results isn't at all disruptive to your normal “timing rhythm.” Depending on how your meet management software is configured, you might not notice any difference at all!

Without a Live Track Scoreboard

Without a live track scoreboard, the flow of data is simple. Once results are entered into your meet management software, you publish the event results using your meet management software's FTP functions.

RunMeet

Once you mark an event complete, results will show up on AthleticLIVE within one minute.'

Hytek's Meet Manager
These instructions are for FTP users only. If you're using the HyTek Database Connection, all information entered into your HyTek database is reflected on AthleticLIVE within one to two minutes. To perform a selective sync of information, see the HyTek Database Connection article.

To publish results for a particular event in Hytek's Meet Manager, access the Run menu, and open the event you'd like to publish. Once the event is open, press the F12 key. The blue status bar in the middle of the screen will display Sending Event Result to Web. When the upload finishes, the message will disappear.

With Hytek's Meet Manager, you also have the option to publish the results heat-by-heat, which can allow you to publish preliminary results during an event that consists of many heats or sections. To publish the results for a particular heat, simply access the Run menu and open the event and particular heat that you'd like to publish. Once you've selected the heat you'd like to publish, press the F11 key. The blue status bar in the middle of the screen will display Sending Heat Result to Web. When the upload finishes, the message will disappear.

MeetPro

To publish results for a particular event in MeetPro, simply score the event or mark it as complete. If you've configured MeetPro according to the instructions in Configure Track Result and Entry Uploads with Meetpro via FTP or Configure Track Result and Entry Uploads with MeetPro's Publish to Disk, the results will be uploaded to AthleticLIVE automatically. You can also press CTRL+U to perform a manual live update as explained in the above articles.

At this time, AthleticLIVE doesn't support heat-by-heat uploads from MeetPro. Uploading a partially completed event from MeetPro may publish inaccurate results, since there will be no indication that the results belong to a particular heat.

With a Live Track Scoreboard

A live track scoreboard will display race results in real-time as you evaluate the finish photos or video. When the event is opened in your FAT software, it will be displayed as “Live” to your viewers. If you've configured a running time display, the clock will start when the race begins. As the race finishes and you begin to evaluate the images, times for each result you evaluate will be displayed.

Always evaluate the winning runner first. The first runner you evaluate will be displayed as the first place time until you evaluate a faster time. You will avoid misleading your viewers by evaluating the winning runner first.

With the exception of heat-by-heat and compiled results from FinishLynx (discussed below), once you close a heat in your FAT software (even if it's not fully evaluated), the heat's results will no longer be displayed on your live track scoreboard.

Once you import the results from each heat into your meet management software, you can upload the full compiled results via FTP as described above. If you're using Hytek's Meet Manager, you also have the option to upload results heat-by-heat using the F11 key.

Any and all results posted heat-by-heat or via a live track scoreboard will be overridden by complete event results uploaded by your meet management software. Corrections, judge's decisions, tiebreakers, etc, will only be applied in the final results uploaded by your meet management software.
Using Heat-by-Heat and Compiled Results From FinishLynx

More information: Show Compiled and Heat-by-Heat Results from FinishLynx

If you're a FinishLynx user, you have the option to display heat-by-heat results (e.g., viewers can see the results from heat 1 of an event while heat 2 is in progress) and compiled results (e.g., viewers can see the overall standings of the event while it is still in progress). This option is available to anybody using a live track scoreboard, and can be enabled on your Edit Meet page when you create the meet. See Live Scoreboard for more information on where to find this setting.

The key difference between this setting and other live track scoreboard configuration is its permanence. Normally, when you move from one heat to the next in your FAT software, the previous heat's results will disappear from AthleticLIVE, and will not be shown again until you upload the results for the entire event from your meet management software. If you allow AthleticLIVE to display heat-by-heat and compiled results from FinishLynx, AthleticLIVE will remember each heat's results, and continue to display them to viewers. Additionally, AthleticLIVE will compile and rank the results from each heat to display a real-time set of rankings as the event progresses.

If you use this option, you should ensure that you fully evaluate each heat in FinishLynx before moving to the next heat. This option will display erroneous event standings if you only evaluate a portion of the heat before moving to the next.

Once the event is complete, a final set of results is uploaded from your meet management software and replaces the results taken from FinishLynx, giving you the opportunity to apply tiebreakers or changes in competitor status.

AthleticLIVE also supports live field event scoreboards! Keep all your field event fans up to date by displaying jump-by-jump and throw-by-throw updates with the AthleticFIELD app!

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