FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

massive. But here we are and as strong as ever. And although the recent years have been really amazing then I still have a strong feeling that this one is going to be a bit special.

What made you decide to go indoors after having the Session event outdoors for the first couple of years?
Risto: For quite simple reasons. We wanted to step it up and that was one opportunity. The indoor venue did fit more spectators than our outdoor skatepark. Outdoors we would have had to build huge tribunes to fit as many people. We also wanted to start building totally new parks for the event. It was a big challenge and going one level up in all imaginable ways. We were able to start doing live webcasts and all those things. And although we were quite blessed with the weather in our past outdoor events then the rain was always an option to ruin everything. So eliminating that uncertainty factor was really tempting. We also wanted to move the event to Tallinn as there's a bit more people there and that's where I had moved at the time. So a lot of practical and obvious reasons. Moving the event to winter-time wasn't that conscious of a choice at the beginning, but it became a tradition and I think actually helped the event in some ways. But we haven't abandoned the summer events either. This August we did a pretty big outdoor contest Simpel Summer Session in the center of Tallinn. Was a real fun one!

It is amazing to see who all made it over to Tallinn for the Simpel Session. What is the secret?
Risto: In the beginning it was a lot of emails, phone calls and some meetings. Nowadays we don't really need to do too much promotion, the word and promo gets around by itself. I guess the secret that gets people hyped about it is the whole package in itself. There’s always huge and really good new course (the last 3 years by Nate Wessel), the audience is really into it and riders like it. And then there are the good parties, extra happenings around the contest etc. We're really making an effort to make the event good in all ways we can and I guess it must show and riders want to be part of it.

No doubt the event requires lots of work from volunteers. How many people are working at/on the event every year?
Risto: Yes, we use some volunteers as well. Mostly they are guys and girls who have been helping us out for a long time already. There's about 5-10 volunteers in the event. Not so many actually.

With the Saku Suurhall sold out most of the time it may look like you guys are high rollin' by now. But can you explain how hard it is to pull off the event every year without making a loss?
Risto: We sold it out entirely actually only in 2007. But yeah, other years have been pretty close. But financially it's still very hard, especially in the current economic situation. Estonia is also a very small country (just 1.3 million people and Tallinn just 400k!) and still in developing stage, so the economy here is super small. Not so much money going around. We have been going out of our way to make the event the best it could be and spending nearly every penny we can get. So we're not getting rich from it, though. But we have been fortunate enough to have some long-time sponsors and partners that believe in us, and have been on board for a long time.

You have the right people involved. On the Mic, to design the course, the right media, judges, top riders, good party places, are you proud of what you have been able to pull off in Tallinn?
Risto: Of course and we couldn't have done it without all the help. Thanks Bart, Zack, Nate, Dave, Taivo, Siim, Mihkel, Marko, Peeter, Achim, Andy, Paul, Niels, Liina, Piret, Siim, Timo, Mario, Tanel, Marta … and all the rest. You know who you are.

More and more riders want to come over to the Simpel Session. This causes one problem, there is a limited number of riders who can ride. Was it a problem this year again to tell people no?
Risto: Yes, that's the real difficult part of it. It's very hard to turn riders down. And most of the guys are really good riders. But it's just how it is. We cannot fit 200 riders in the schedule or in the park for a two day indoor contest. And we're also doing skateboard jam. There's the same problem there. More skaters want to take part than we can fit. We'd need to make the event twice as long to fit everyone but that would not work and we also don't have the budget for it. We highly appreciate all the people from all over the World wanting to ride the comp! We try our best to fit as many riders as we can. And each year we give many guys the chance to ride that are not really that known but still rip. We're also giving chance for local Estonians and riders from near-by countries. Our summer comp in August was a qualification round to get to Simpel Session for riders in Baltic States and Finland. But yeah, for now Simpel Session still is partly an invitational contest.

With so many people interested in the event, it is important to have a good website with all information on it. Where can people go to learn more about the Simpel Session?
Risto: simpelsession.com and Facebook are the best places to get informed about everything. You can also follow our tweets on Twitter.

Simpel Session is a skateboard & BMX event but it doesn't seem there has ever been a problem with the two together in one place at the same time. Do you feel any differences as an organizer between the two?
Risto: Of course the scenes are a bit different but the vibes have been good and it's been working out great. Some people mix, some people keep more by themselves but the general vibe has been very positive and people are used to this at Simpel Session. It's been the concept from the beginning.

The live broadcast is something that you guys started a few years ago, and again it will happen this year for the whole World to follow the event from their home computer. How hard was that to pull off?
Risto: We do all the video production here locally and we have a great team for it. The first two years we also broadcast it by ourselves, but then in 2008 we got Freecaster on it, and in 2009 Mpora spread the feed. It was great working with them and both of the companies did a real good job getting the feed out there. It was so popular and high quality stream that it needed a really big server farm and host to support it. It's been working out great. It broke both Freecaster's and Mpora's live feed's record and it was also nominated for "Best Large Live Webcast" Award at the International Webcasting Accociation (IWA). The other nominee was MTV Europe Music Awards. So quite big stuff. We actually confirmed just recently that we're doing the live feed again for 2010. This year we're working again with Freecaster and it should be as good as ever. Check our website or Freecaster.tv for the schedule soon.

With 9 years of Simpel Session experience in the bag, does it get any easier putting things together for the event?
Risto: For sure. It's still tons of work but it's a lot less stress than it used to be. Experience has helped a great deal.

Thanks Risto and we'll see you in a few weeks.
Risto: Thanks Bart! See you soon!