photo credit: josemanuelerre via photopin cc
IAVM’s Arena Management Conference is a must-attend event for many arena managers. Along with networking in an amazing location – Toronto, Canada, attendees will have access to great educational sessions. One session many are looking forward to will cover the latest trends and technologies in the ticketing industry. We spoke with the session’s co-moderators Scott Mullen, CFE and Executive Director, at the iWireless Center, and Jim Wynkoop, CFE and General Manager at Chaifetz Arena about their session titled, Ticketing Trends and Innovations 2013 #ugottaseethis, scheduled for the morning on Monday, Sept. 9.
The 6 session panelists bringing a broad range ticketing industry experience include:
- Lynne King Smith, Chief Executive Officer, TicketForce
- Jane Kleinberger, Founder, Paciolan
- Blaine LeGere, Senior Vice President, AXS Digital
- Doug Lyons, Vice President-Marketing and Communications, Tickets.com
- Don Orris, Vice President and General Manager-Western US, etix
- Patti-Anne Tarlton, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Ticketmaster Canada
Jim Wynkoop opened the conversation by reminding me of the rapidly changing ticketing landscape. “Where once the industry was dominated by large ticketing company, in recent years, smaller ticketing companies and brokers have raised the bar offering a better customer experience. Some of the major players are now investing large amounts of time and money to improve their experience to keep up with the industry. We are excited to hear what these changes will be,” said Wynkoop.
“The arena managers attending the session will hear what’s out there and what companies are doing to improve their products,” Mullen added. “Ticketing of course, is all about helping artists and venues sell tickets, but it’s also becoming more about adding to the experience for the fan and improving customer service.”
Social media trends in the ticketing industry currently revolve around fans using Facebook and Twitter to tell their friends about a concert they will be attending. For example if they indicate that they “Like” a concert once they’ve bought their tickets, their friends can see what concert they are going to, and even where they are sitting, and that in turn sells more tickets to their friends.
“Getting ‘Likes’ on Facebook means a lot more coming from your friend than from the venue’s social media outreach.” added Wynkoop. Social media mentions also mean a lot more to ticketing companies. A 2012 marketing study from Ticketmaster found that through social media outlets like Facebook, ticket sellers can increase the revenue of one seat sold with additional ticket sales driven by social media exposure.
Technology trends include a new feature that gives customers the option to purchase an upgrade on the spot if they are in a venue and see an empty seat in a lower section. “They’ll be able to use their mobile devise to upgrade themselves to those seats on the spot. Another innovation involves incorporating secondary ticketing options into the primary ticketing site. We are all looking forward to hearing what all the new features and upgrades that our panelist’s companies have to offer,” said Mullen.
We look forward to hearing the entire session and encourage you to register for the conference as well. The hotel cut-off for the conference is August 15 and the conference runs Sept. 8-10. Don’t miss out!
