- Maker: Zach Timmons
- Genre: Instructions
- Level: Graduate
- Program: Composition, Rhetoric, and Digital Media
- Course: WRIT 5400: Technical Writing
- Instructor: Dr. Eric Mason
- Semester Created: Fall 2025
Description:
This guide includes instructions for setting up NCAA Live Stats and Nevco stat panels for college basketball games, as well as emailing postgame press releases to media contacts. NCAA Live Stats is standard for most NCAA member institutions, whereas some schools use Nevco and others use Daktronics for the scoreboard/clock/stat panels. The process for emailing media releases may vary by institution and email platform. Developing these instructions required live testing to make sure all software equipment was installed correctly pregame, and making sure all embedded links were accurate postgame for the press releases. These instructions should be useful for new graduate assistants trying to learn on the fly, as well as full-time professionals in college athletic departments across the country. For athletic departments that are dealing with constant movement of personnel, these instructions should hopefully provide for a smooth transition.
Reflection:
This project allowed me to write down and conceptualize what I do on an everyday basis at my assistantship, while also serving as a resource to other professionals in the industry. All graduate assistants are asked to do a lot, but this project allowed me to truly see the scope of my work while also relating back to the concepts from TW101 and build on the constructive feedback I got on Project One.
In TW101, O’Keefe explains that “More and more technical writing departments are implementing structured authoring, a publishing workflow that defines and enforces consistent organization of content.” (Pringle et al. 2009, p. 42). This was crucial to writing my instructions, as I was able to focus more on what I was writing rather than how it looked. The bullet format will also allow others to add on or strip from the list as needed.
The ability to break down multi-step processes into bite-size pieces for readers of any background takes time and practice, and Project 5 is another step in the right direction. I sincerely believe that these instructions will be helpful to future graduate assistants in athletic communications and can be modified as necessary.
