Covering the other table in "invisible" mode

[mrdct]

For two of the segments of a vugraph presentation I recently ran, I had a second operator in the closed room covering the action in "invisible" mode. The procedure I followed was (and thanks to Uday for his last minute advice on how to do this):

 

1. Load the .dup file in the usual way in the open room, but specifiy that coverage is only for the open room ("O").

 

2. Login to BBO as a vugraph operator in the open room and start the presentation.

 

3. Once the open room coverage has commenced, have the second vugraph operator login in "invisible" mode and go into the vugraph theatre and click on the open room presentation that has just started. The second operator will then be prompted to commence coverage of the closed room.

 

Doing the coverage in this way had the following advantages:

 

1. The second operator (who was a trainee) could practice without the presure of people watching, with the initial focus mainly on getting the auction, lead and claim right.

 

2. Closed room comparisons automatically came through to the open room without the open room operator needing to manually enter any closed room data.

 

3. Reduced load on the BBO servers as spectators wont be going back and forth between the two rooms.

 

4. Reduced commentator requirements as only one room needs commentators, but commentators are still able to review what has happened in the closed room through "Movie" and make comments as to why a contract failed or succeeded in the closed room.

 

5. The LIN files at the end of the match have a complete record of everything that happened in both rooms in a single file for each segment, completely eliminating the need for manual recorders in either room where required by the convening NCBO.