After the last RUSH Challenge ended at FF Uptown, all teams were informed that they all qualify for the Grand Finals, and that each team will be required to put up a 5 mins performance. Well most teams have not expected to qualify for the finals because the number of final teams were not being informed before hand, but I guess we were lucky because we have starting practising for the performance, very very early :P
Team Performance
Like any other year, during the Miracle event, the group performances is something that everyone waits in great anticipation - members showcasing their talent, creativity and hardwork - the highlight of any Miracle event :)
During the final week leading to the Grand Finals, we were having our practise for 3 consecutive nights (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night) before taking a day off to celebrate the birthday of one of our close RATTs supporter, Patrick on Thursday before a group meeting and light practice on Friday night with the entire gang and our close supporters.
The Thorns with their outfits in the locker room before the full dress rehearsal
We'd like to take this chance to thank the GXC of Uptown, Cheng for allowing us to use the main studio each night after the last class ends to practice our performance. I'm sure that she's heard the Front Desk complain coz we are the last one to leave the gym each night after the team practice! :P
I have to add that the practise was exhausting, the 2 minute hip-hop routine is not easy (at least for me) and the team did practise hard together to get it right. And after the practice and dinner, it's usually nearing 12am++ and there were a couple of times where Jason and me reached the office late... Haha.
One of our practice video. Osmy stood in for KK, and I did a mistake!
We'd also like to take this chance to thank each of our friends who made their way to watch us practice almost each night - Alvin, Kelvin, Patrick, Darryl, Ehsan, Le Roy (Brian - HMMPPHH!). Special thanks to Osman too for helping us with almost everything! Special thanks to the costume consultants - Alvin for the shiny blink blink labuji's and Kelvin for the ultra-cool Jappy vests!
Each of the "The Ratts" blink blink was sewn individually by Alvin!
Thanks guys for coming all the way, some of you after your retail working hours just to see us. Thanks for your constructive feedback and suggestions to help us improve our performance!
For our costume, Osman suggested that we and our friends wear an uncommon bright colour (in order to stand out in the crowd) and hence, in conjunction with my unforgettable "Orange" themed birthday party last month, we all decided to go Orange. Soon Osman reedited a new group poster, featuring all of us in bright digital orange outfits! :D
Soon the posters and information were all put up - at FF Axis and FF The Curve, and soon our blog and Facebook Event Page. And the word got out... Come in Orange! :D
Team Strategy
Osman, having had experience from both Miracle events before, has contributed a lot towards the development of our Team Strategies for the final event day. We were so lucky to have him as part of our team, and his experience proved to be beneficial on the Grand Finale day itself.
First of all, the team collectively decided that having just one box wasn't going to be enough, since on the Grand Finale day there will no 'team voting' mechanism like they did last year. We heard that each team will only be given one collection box, and that won't be enough. Osman suggested that we have multiple boxes for cash donations, so that we can cover more areas. Osman took sometime off the afternoon before the Grand Finale (Friday afternoon) to look for these boxes and the resourceful guy found some transparent plastic boxes which fitted our purpose perfectly!
Osman with his ideas - the transparent collection box and The RATTs supporters' tag!
So altogether... We got 5 separate transparent plastic boxes to be used to collect donations... Our friends and supporters may use the boxes to collect donations, in that way we can cover more grounds, and hopefully that would translate to better cash donations - which will gives us points on the Grand Finals. Coupons or coupons sales will not translate to points, so we had to work out this strategy to maximise cash donations.
Osman's next brilliant idea - besides having our posters up in the clubs in advance and having our friends and supporters coming in orange... Was to prepare the official "The RATTs" supporters tags!
Simon with our proud RATTs supporters - Patrick, Calvin C and Darryl!
I guess the tags, the group posters, combined with the orange tee's and the ultra-cool labuji blink-blink's really made our presence felt that day at the Grand Finals. It was quite easy to spot if you were a RATT or a RATTs supporter!
We were lucky in the sense that we had some cash donations from doners that didn't require the Miracle booklets (they couldn't make it or didn't need it), and since we were unable to use it to vote for ourselves, we decided to convert it into cash by selling off those unused booklets - and the cash collected will be entered into our collection boxes.
We were able to sell off those coupons? Since we heard that there will be competing teams from the second season of The Firm reality tv show (ala The Apprentice) selling coupons that day too... How did we fare on cash donations come Miracle Grand Finale day?
Posted by: Colin
Ideas by: Simon and Osman
Pics by: Jason, Osman, Mike and Eugene
Vids by: Jason
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