Thursday’s video of that day’s informational meeting for athletic directors and coaches with two representatives of MaxPreps and a presentation by Kevin Ray of aia365.com is ready to be viewed.

You can see the video here. 

About 20 of the state’s coaches and administrators were able to attend the meeting on a school day at the Arizona Interscholastic Association's Phoenix office. Coaches attended the one-hour meeting to learn more about the formula MaxPreps uses to rank and seed the AIA’s postseason teams.

But other important topics were also discussed during the meeting, including the role media, including MaxPreps and aia365.com, plays in promoting high school programs. More than 50 percent of the Arizona’s high school teams are posting rosters and stats on MaxPreps.

It was also pointed out how aspiring broadcast journalists are using aia365.com to gain experience and promote their schools. Students at Red Mountain High School and the Peoria Unified School District have produced several videos so far.

During the meeting, Dale Hellestrae, a 16-year NFL veteran player and local high school broadcast football analyst, also gave a presentation. Hellestrae talked about the importance of providing as much information as possible to television broadcast crews to help promote students and schools during a telecast.

After the presentations, a question-and-answer session was held. One of the first questions asked was why forfeits aren’t included in the formula.

Chuck Schmidt of the AIA explained that teams aren’t losing “points” if an opponent forfeits a game. Schmidt also said that in April the AIA’s executive board will take a closer look at forfeits.

Mike Wilkes, the director of business development for MaxPreps, and MaxPreps’ Arizona rep Gerry Valerio attended Thursday’s meeting.

“We are willing to work in the direction you want to go,” Wilkes told the coaches and administrators about whether forfeits should be included in the formula.

Georgia, New Mexico and Colorado are the other states using MaxPreps’ ranking formula.

Wilkes also said that teams with a weak schedule should schedule freedom games against tough teams to have a better chance at reaching the postseason.

Here are some other questions that were asked and answered by Wilkes:

Can a team gain an advantage by playing more regular season games than other teams?: “No. Teams can’t gain a mathematical advantage by playing more games.”

Can playing a team twice negatively or positively affect the ranking of a team?: “No.”