I'm still cleaning up from the whirlwind that was Vegas 2011 but I wanted to write a thank you post to everyone who made the last two weeks some of the best in TAR history.
Most important are all of the people who supported us by purchasing the pay per views. All of us involved with TAR are extremely grateful for the tremendous support you showed. The event was a success on all fronts for us and it is because of the viewers. Thank you so much. I know there are some residual PPV issues like multiple payments and I am working on getting everything squared away in the next day or so. Thanks to everyone for their patience and support dealing with the pains of streaming live events.
We had the strongest crew ever in Vegas and they should be proud of all the hard work they put in to bring our production to a new level. Nathan and Dave from Run Out Media, Andrew Cleary, Vincent Rochefort, Raphael Dabreo, and Samm Diep all worked their asses off for no where near what they deserved. I want to thank each of them personally for their hard work, great attitudes and most important their friendship.
One person really was the catalyst for the whole thing as far as TAR is concerned. Mark Griffin wanted to do something special this year with streaming for the pro event. He put his money, time and effort 100% behind it and made it happen. This was not a cheap undertaking. From the two giant projection screens to the in room live feed it all took many weeks of meetings, discussions and more than a few dollars. Most people would have just dropped it after looking at the challenges. Mark pulled the trigger and did the work. He takes the heat when things go wrong and he deserves more credit when things go well. Thank you Mark for all of your support.
There were many more people who made the event from the entire CSI Staff who were making the event run smooth to the people who gave us their time to do commentary, to Ric Jones and crew at Bad Boys who do the hardest work of all. David Vandenbergh at CSI gets nowhere near the recognition he deserves for orchestrating the thousands of details an event like this requires. He is the guy you call when you need something done and he saved my ass on numerous occasions over the years. Thank you David. I know I am missing many people as my brain is still half fried but I want to thank all of the people involved with the event. It was a tremendous group effort to create a memorable event for thousands of people.
This was the best event we have ever done and it has a set a new bar for future TAR events that we will strive to achieve and surpass. It was a long hard two weeks but it because of the people involved it will be something I always remember fondly.
Thank you.
Justin Collett
