I recently spoke over the phone with Guinness World Records® adjudicator Michael Empric, who will be in Indianapolis on Saturday to confirm that the Fever and their fans officially set the Guinness World Record for the Greatest number of people lighting a glowstick simultaneously at a single venue. Empric’s job is a unique one. It has allowed him to travel all over North and South America and meet some fascinating folks along the way. Below is a Q&A with Empric about his job, the experiences he’s had, and what he thinks of the Fever’s record attempt. test

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What is a day in the life like for a GWR Adjudicator?
Empric: It varies pretty widely. Sometimes I’m in New York where I live. Other times I’m on the road going to see record attempts wherever they may be happening. Out of the New York office, we do Canada, United States, Central and South America, so there is a fair amount of travel and my role is really just to serve as the eyes and ears of Guinness World Records on the ground. We have thousands of world record attempts that happen everyday and we can’t go to all of them but if you do bring a judge out to your record attempt, it’s the fastest way to figure out of you’ve set the new world record title.

How do you ensure that a world record actually took place?
We basically do a count before the record attempt starts, whether that’s a count at the door or whether that’s a count by stewards who are in the section. And the stewards are very important because I can’t personally make sure that thousands of people click and activate their glowsticks simultaneously, so what we’ll actually have, is witnesses who are going to be in the stands monitoring the record attempt who will verify their small group of people, and those stewards will come back to me and tell me if there are any deductions; people who did not crack their glowsticks. Basically, we’re looking for people who don’t have a vested interest in seeing the record completed, we just want people to be objective and say “Hey, I had two deductions, two people in my section weren’t able to complete the attempt.” We really just look for people who can be independent and not have an interest in seeing the record attempt be a success.

What other records have you seen with sports fans involved?
One of the most popular record attempts we have at Guinness World Records in the past two years is “loudest crowd roar”, which happens a lot of times at NFL games. You have an audio meter, you have someone who is licensed to operate an audio meter, and we see if they can break the existing crowd roar record.

Have you every been to Indy?
I’ve been to Indianapolis before, a couple of times, I was there for …
Oh, I can’t remember what I was there for. This is the hard part of my job, sometimes, I tend to forget what specifically I was there for. I think I was there for the largest Zumba class which was unsuccessful. I’ve been [to Indianapolis] at least twice, I can tell you that.

Is it ever awkward when the attempts are unsuccessful?
I always have to remind myself that I wouldn’t have a job if all record attempts were successful. It’s never something I look forward to but it is part of doing a record attempt; you can never be guaranteed success. And it does happen a fair amount.

Favorite part of your job?
This job has taken me to places around the world that I never would’ve gone to otherwise. The part that really excites me is that I get to see lots of really fascinating people. It’s not necessarily people who are lifting thousands of pounds or running the fastest marathon, it’s ordinary people doing extraordinary things. And Guinness World Records celebrates that, and I get to be a part of that.

Favorite person or world record you’ve adjudicated?
My favorite person I’ve ever met is Ashrita Furman. Ashrita holds the Guinness World Records title for setting the most Guinness World Records. He has set over 500 Guinness World Record titles. He was in the book when I was little and he’s still in it. He’s done fastest mile on a pogo stick, fastest time in a potato sack up Mount Fuji. He’s a really interesting person. I got to [adjudicate while he] did fastest half-marathon while skipping. He did it in just over 2 hours and 27 minutes, he went through two pairs of shoes and he beat a lot of people who were actually running in the marathon — a fascinating person.

What do you think of the Fever glowstick record attempt?
Records like this I really like because it’s, number one: great because so many people can participate in it. And number two: it’s just a cool thing. it’s an awesome visual and great experience and I’m really looking forward to being in the arena and watching all the glowsticks light up the dark.