Conference Round Up - @udiences.com2

270 delegates from arts organisations across the country attended the second one-day seminar on internet ticketing held at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London on Monday 26^th July.

 

Organised by Don Keller on behalf of the TMA and part-funded by ACE, interest in the hugely over-subscribed event showed the importance of this issue to arts organisations trying to keep up with constantly changing technology and audience demands for new and better customer service.

 

The tone of the debate was set by Bill Thompson, until recently editor of Dispatches and self-confessed ‘recovering computer programmer’.  He believes the time for debating internet ticketing is past.  Online selling is here, it’s happening now and will only grow in importance.  “We should never underestimate the speed with which a genuinely useful technology can take off – look at mobile phones, digital television or email.”

 

Bill’s view is that the current situation is less about how new technology can be used and more about power.  Who has the power in the ticketing world?  Who gives arts organisations ‘permission’ as well as ‘means’ to sell tickets online?  At the moment the suppliers are in control – and they’re very keen to stay that way. 

 

Presentations from some of the leading online ticketing suppliers followed – Ticketlinks, Ticketmaster Online Citysearch, Beat the Q, Synchro Systems, Ticketing Solutions, tickets.com and Galathea all taking part.  The presentations, each lasting only 10 minutes, did not offer in-depth explanations of the services supplied and the question and answer session that followed was equally slight, leaving delegates to debate key issues during the afternoon breakout sessions.

 

Before this, Richard Shaw from the Royal Opera House gave a cautionary address about the issues to consider before deciding to ‘go it alone’ and develop internet selling independently of existing ticketing system suppliers. 

 

He advises undertaking a thorough cost/benefit analysis before starting but always remembering that web pages are under your control and should reflect core company values/quality.  A sloppy, unattractive design or a bad customer experience can wreck your whole image and ruin a budding relationship!

 

So, after the breakout sessions, what did the seminar conclude was the way forward for arts organisations?

 

1. Basically, we need to share information – particularly of who has tried what and would advise other organisations of pitfalls and good practice.

 

2. The industry needs protocols and guidance for collection and ownership of data.

 

3. The issue of whether an organisation should offer online ticketing was one of choice for the customer – not something anyone can afford to ignore!

 

4. There should be a benchmark study that looks at the costs of selling a ticket so that benefit analyses can be more easily undertaken.

 

5. Leisure and travel industries have already looked at these issues – can we approach them for commentaries/best practice?

 

6. There should be no booking fees – at least at the point of delivery where the organisation/venue controls all the sales.

 

7. Promoters and Producers must join this debate as they operate under a complex fee system.

 

8. There MUST BE INDUSTRY STANDARDS and a funded, advisory body was needed to facilitate the process of moving towards them.  This body must be independent and representative of the whole industry.

 

In the first instance the committee members who organised the conference were asked to approach ACE for money to pursue these aims.  Kim Evans from ACE offered a venue for the discussion with vendors to continue.  We’ll keep you posted…

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