Panning for action shots

I am just trying to find out what settings I should have my camera at when panning for action shots. I recently spent a good amount of time "playing" with my camera's settings to try and get the nice focused subject with blurred background I've seen so often and had pretty dismal success. Basically, I never achieved the blurry background even though I was adjusting the shutter speed in each direction. I may not have gone far enough or maybe I needed to perform another adjustment.

I have an Olympus C-700 which gives me full control over the settings. Problem is, I know only enough about what each one does to be dangerous and not actually take quality shots!

So, could somebody give me the quick rundown on what I need to adjust so that I can begin experimenting further?

Thanks

http://forums.photographyreview.com/sports-photography/panning-question-31.html

I asked a similar question a while back. In my experience it is MUCH easier with flash, and much easier in darker conditions. For shutter speeds I often use somewhere around 1/20 to get lots of blur. It takes a lot of practice, but delivers good results. I used to not like panning shots that much, but now I think panning is the way to go in a lot of situations, mostly wooded sports, because in focus trees can get very distracting.

I am not the person on this site to ask for advice, but thats what I have to say on the topic, here is one I took last night.

http://gallery.consumerreview.com/we...potDJs404s.jpg

While its not entirely clear, its a cool shot. I shot this around sunset at 1/25.