Digital & Dirt
00:22:53 · Ian Dallimore
[00:22:53] S0: Yeah. And that's such a brilliant mindset and thought. Right? Having worked for two Major League Baseball teams and minor league baseball, the fact that you can figure out like what's the best, you know, what's the best line to go in? What's the best gate to go in? Like, that's insights that make the experience better. We we actually... And I believe you met him as well, but Cody from AT and T, he was on a couple of weeks back, and we talked about that, like the importance of connectivity on their end, obviously. Yeah. That... That's a massive moment for them. But you guys go into a step further using that connectivity to then have the ultimate fan experience in these venues is equally as important. So we're gonna shift to US Open fan experience. But before we do that, do you have a favorite tennis player? Are you allowed to have a favorite tennis player? One of those, like, favorite child things that people ask me, who's my favorite kid? And I say, depends on the
00:23:43 · Monica Ellingson, Ian Dallimore
[00:23:43] S1: Well, I I have... I mean, I'm focused on the American players, but, you know, Jessica Bew... Pegula is one of my favorite players. And, you know, we have did a lot of work at IBM with her, you know, especially looking at, you know, some of the serve quality stats, etcetera. You know, it's actually really great when you're on-site, you know, because a lot of times I'm under the stadium and we'll see the players go by and what have you. You see them using our app. So it's really pretty incredible that and then you see your people using it on the subway, you know, going out to the event and what have you. So I mean, it's it's it's really rewarding seeing that, especially at the US Open, you see it all the time, you know, because you're in New York. [00:24:23] S0: Yeah. What... Have you met some of the players at the Open? Were you able to... [00:24:26] S1: Yes. Especially some of the former players. So, you know, just doing doing some work with with them and talking about, you know, for example, Maria Sharapova and I were on a panel in finals weekend and, you know, really just talking to them about, you know, some of the new stats, the new features that we... That we're that we're putting out there and, you know, what do they think about them? You know? I mean, like, their former number one players in the world, you know, do they find them valuable? Where do they see that these features or these stats could potentially go in the future? So, yeah, it was it was great. [00:25:01] S0: Have you read the book Open by Andre Agassi?
00:25:01 · Ian Dallimore, Monica Ellingson
[00:25:01] S0: Have you read the book Open by Andre Agassi? [00:25:04] S1: I have not, but I have met Andre Agassi. Just haven't [00:25:08] S0: read the [00:25:08] S1: book, though. I have to be honest. [00:25:10] S0: You have to get the book. It is. And I'm I'm new to the tennis world, new, probably about fifteen years new. I wish I would have started much younger. It's such a beautiful sport. Sounds like you could probably destroy me six six six zero six zero pretty quickly, but it's such a great book. And I guess building upon that, what getting feedback from these former players and getting feedback from coaches, is that something that you guys do where you're working with IBM's, working with different players beyond just the venues, but also coaches and others that are helping you figure out, hey, what are what are good stats? What is important to display? What are what is important to the announcers?
00:25:48 · Monica Ellingson, Ian Dallimore
[00:25:48] S1: It's extremely important that we involve the subject matter experts in the evaluation of our work. And, you know, for example, in, you know, developing the new served quality stat that we rolled out at the US Open, I mean, we wouldn't have even known, you know, how to evaluate that and how to even present it to the end user if we didn't involve subject matter experts into that. So that's absolutely key. And for example, you mentioned storytelling earlier, you know, thinking about the nuances about how people talk about a sport, the the jargon associated with it, how the USTA describes in their storytelling style versus Wimbledon, for example. These nuances are really, really important. And, you know, a lot of this expertise actually comes from our partners. So from Wimbledon, from the USTA. I mean, USTA has, you know, a massive coaching facility in Florida and, you know, they are the experts. So fortunately, we have them to tap into, and they'll certainly let us know if we're off the mark. [00:26:53] S0: Yeah. And I think that was the question I asked you right after your panel was, you know, this is amazing that it's being used for the fan and the experience and app. But I also asked you the question, like, are you guys also partnering with these coaches to hone in on a specific player to where that coach can then take that data after a match and and really deeply analyze it? Is that... Does that happen as well?
00:26:53 · Ian Dallimore, Monica Ellingson
[00:26:53] S0: Yeah. And I think that was the question I asked you right after your panel was, you know, this is amazing that it's being used for the fan and the experience and app. But I also asked you the question, like, are you guys also partnering with these coaches to hone in on a specific player to where that coach can then take that data after a match and and really deeply analyze it? Is that... Does that happen as well? [00:27:15] S1: It's not something that we're we're doing right now. What we have done in the past and and the data that we're using, you know, at the US Open, for example, the USTA owns that data. That's that's their proprietary data. So that is something that they would certainly provide to their coaches as well as players. I mean, it's their data. They can decide how to use it. And we're there to help analyze and pull insights from that data you know, as their technology partner. [00:27:44] S0: Yeah. So what is... So you guys arrive at the US Open. You said you were there for three weeks. Yeah. You know, for most tennis fans, you're like, gosh, you're so lucky. But I would imagine it's it's a lot of work. It's like, hey, I need you to go to work for three weeks and and be in the most high stress environment ever. How how many people show up? How many people are behind the scenes? I know that's something a lot of our listeners are probably curious about. Like, it's not just Monica and a handful of people just like bunch of numbers. Like, there is years of of buildup to this. But what does that look like for you guys and the team?
00:28:15 · Monica Ellingson
[00:28:15] S1: It really varies year to year. We usually bring around, you know, 15 to 20 people. We brought a pretty big team this year because we had a a large scope. And, you know, it's extremely important that we're there on-site, you know, with... Well, alongside with our clients, with our partners, with USTA. You never know. There are things that happen at a live event that, it's extremely important that you're there in person to triage. I know that we have so many so many ways right now where we can collaborate virtually, but it's, extremely important that we're that we're there alongside them. I mean, this is... They have three weeks of the year to nail these events, and they work all year round to make sure that it's success... It's a it's a success, so we need to be there with them. But, you know, although on-site, it's only about 15 to 20 people, I have a very large team working remotely who are, you know, monitoring the apps in terms of performance. They are, you know, certainly addressing, any issues that come up. And more importantly, just looking at the scale, we go from a very low volume of users up to where we have over 14,000,000 users. And this is a huge spike that we see as soon as things start going live during fan week on day one and ensuring that the infrastructure that we have in place can handle that volume of traffic and that the digital platforms remain secure. So looking at the overall cybersecurity behind that and, you know, ensuring that, you know, the fan experience always stays stable and the data... The USTA's data stays secure.