Blog from the Back Row

I remember reading a study not too long ago that said multi-tasking was, contrary to popular belief, inefficient. I didn't believe it then but I do now.

In theory, tonight I was moderating the blog and "back rowing" the show. "Back Rowing" can include:

• previewing the upcoming copy Anderson is about to read
• making sure all guests are in the chair and checked in (w/microphone & ifb working)
• helping call video elements during guest segments
• keeping an eye on prompter to make sure it's on the page Anderson reads next
• timing out the blocks for show replay

In practice, my control room contribution was reduced to hitting the clock. (I do think I timed out the blocks correctly!)

Fortunately, things rolled out pretty smoothly with little assistance from me. Everyone else was on their game and our wonderful director, Renee Cullen, is back from the road (where she has been directing the live debate coverage for the past several months). So the chaos was kept to a minimum, which was nice since we had a guest in the control room watching the show from behind the scenes, Miss Teen USA Katie Blair.

This live blogging is really great and thanks for your participation (the sheer volume of responses is amazing) but I think I'm going to have to choose between being blog moderator and back row guy ... I've reached my multi-tasking limit!

Maybe I'm just a single-tasker!

– Sean Yates, Sr. Producer, AC360