The Arena Management Conference (AMC) just wrapped up, and among sessions covering branding lessons from U2 and AC/DC, evacuating 50 guests in wheelchairs, the art of building (and negotiating) a new venue, and handling local civil unrest, attendees also looked at upcoming shifts in POS technology and fraud liability.

Regarding credit card transactions, a major “liability shift” beginning next month is the notable change that venue managers need to understand.

Brandi Kler, senior vice president of product management for Allure Global Solutions, presented to AMC attendees an overview of the upcoming change, which begins in October 2015 and shifts liability for fraudulent credit card charges away from the banks and onto any vendor that swipes a chip card instead of dipping it into a chip reader.

The change, driven by security needs and $8.5 billion of annual credit card fraud in the U.S., requires a close look at current POS systems and potential financial risk, but it also signals (and will likely accelerate) the approaching era of mainstream, mobile payment technology.

The EMV chip cards are slow, require several steps, and as Kler pointed out in her AMC session, introduce a clunky consumer experience that has consumers already asking, “Why can’t I just use my phone?”

And this question is about to be asked by a lot of people.

(Slide: Brandi Kler, Allure Global, 2015 Arena Management Conference)

Not only is the younger population growing, it is growing with mobile technology firmly in-hand. Generation Z (<19 years old, 25.9  percent of the population) has had technology in their hands since birth, and by the end of this year, 33 percent of Millenials (20-37 years old, 24.5 percent of the population) will have an active mobile wallet (increasing the number of mobile payment consumers from 5 percent currently to 18 percent in the coming year).

That means that it will not be long before the majority of your guests will be expecting a mobile payment experience.

As Brian France, CEO of Nascar, states, “Everybody’s ability to manage and figure out the Millennial fan and how that continues to unfold this year and over the long term is the most important issue in sports business.”

For more information on EMV, here is a quick summary.

For more information on mobile payment, learn from the current leader who saw 16 percent of their transactions happen on a mobile phone last year.

Eventbrite U.K. surveyed 1,000 people about their ticket purchasing habits (e.g., last event attended, cost, how far in advance, etc.), and the company came away with some very insightful information.

There are a lot of results, so I’m going to hit some of the highlights. The full results are available on the company’s website.

According to the survey, 45 percent of guests attending a free event will get their tickets on the day of the event. For paid events, 18 percent of people will do this.

“This means if you’re running a paid event, you shouldn’t expect more than 20 percent of your total revenue to come in on the day of the event, including at the door,” wrote Mark Walker, head of content marketing for Eventbrite U.K. “Therefore by the day of your event, you should be at least 80 percent to revenue target.”

Walker wrote that early marketing pushes and long lead times are essential to an event’s success, because inexpensive events follow a pattern closer to free events concerning advance ticket purchases.

“The more expensive your event, the earlier you need it to be live (giving you longer lead times) and the more you need to get that early revenue booked in,” Walker wrote. “For free and cheaper events, while you don’t have to panic should ticket sales be slow until much closer to the event, if you can’t afford that risk, you need to offer compelling incentives to book early. Overall, events need to really focus on incentivising people to register early.”

As I mentioned, there is a lot of information in the report. Let’s bullet point a few takeaways.

• “Men tend to book tickets more last minute while females purchase them much further in advance.”
• “Apart from the very young (16-24 year olds), the older your target audience the earlier they will register for your event.”
• “Those with children are more likely to buy last-minute tickets than those without.”
• “There was trend towards those that are single booking their tickets closer to the time of the event, with 36 percent purchasing them between 1 week and a month before the event (versus 27 percent of those in relationships).”
• “Music festivals and gigs had by far the smallest percentage of people registering last minute. Just 7 percent got a ticket on the door, the same day, or the day before.”

“Know your audience; create a marketing timeline that reflects their purchasing behavior; and find ways to incentive earlier bookings,” Walker wrote. “Do these things and the data suggests you’ll find yourself the proud organizer of a very successful, sold-out event.”

Please visit Eventbrite for the full results and more takeaways.

(Image: Agustín Sánchez Bustos/Creative Commons)

Editor’s note: We used to have an industry news roundup every Friday on this blog; however, it shuffled off, took a nap (because they’re good for you), had a costume change, and reemerged as “News You May Have Missed.”

These are selected news articles that showed up in our inboxes on Monday morning that we want to pass along to you.

Taylor Swift Tickets Outdrawing Some NFL Teams In Their Own Stadiums On Secondary Market (Forbes)
“…her October 24 stop at Atlanta’s Georgia Dome is among her most expensive shows left on her North American stretch.”

Jim and Joyce Faulkner Performing Arts Center Comes to Life (University of Arkansas)
“As many as 200 events a year are expected to be held in the Faulkner Performing Arts Center.”

Daktronics Provides LED Displays for Rugby World Cup Venues (Installation)
“Twickenham stadium, the Home of England Rugby and the host of the opening ceremony, semi-finals and the final has four Daktronics LED video displays.”

Miami Beach Convention Center’s Big Plans (Miami Herald)
“Officials plan to take a price to the City Commission in October, which if approved, would set the stage for the project to begin in late December.”

MLB Studying Increased Fan Safety Measures (WTOP)
“After reaching out to MLB’s head office this week, it appears that the league is considering potentially expanding the safety netting behind home plate to extend further into the field of play.”

With so much great industry news out there, we’re sure we may have missed some articles. If so, please email and share them with us. Thank you.

(Image: Ultra 5280/Creative Commons)

It’s getting close to autumn when, like leaves falling from trees, lists start falling from websites. So, let’s start with one of my favorite lists: the top 10 most-produced plays.

As it has since 1994, American Theatre surveyed Theatre Communications Group member theatres about their upcoming season productions. This year, 386 member theatres self-reported the data, and of the 2,159 productions taking place between Sept. 1, 2015, and Aug. 31, 2016, these are the top 10 that will be most produced (number of productions in parentheses).

Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar (18)
Peter and the Starcatcher, adapted by Rick Elice from Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson (16)
Outside Mullingar by John Patrick Shanley (11)
To Kill a Mockingbird, adapted by Christopher Sergel from Harper Lee (9)
Buyer & Cellar by Jonathan Tolins (9)
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang (8)
Mr. Burns, a post-electric play by Anne Washburn (7)
Fences by August Wilson (7)
Sex with Strangers by Laura Eason (7)
Stupid Fucking Bird by Aaron Posner, inspired by Chekhov (7)

“With Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced slated to be the most-produced play in the country, this marks only the third time that a playwright of color has occupied the coveted No. 1 spot on American Theatre’s list since we began counting,” Diep Tran wrote. “Previously at the top were Lynn Nottage (Intimate Apparel in 2005–06) and Yasmina Reza (Art in 2000–01 and 2001–02).”

Shakespeare plans and some holiday shows were left out of the survey, but if you’re curious, here are those numbers:

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (all adaptations) (40)
The Santaland Diaries, adapted by Joe Mantello from David Sedaris (10)
As You Like It by Shakespeare (8)
Romeo & Juliet by Shakespeare (8)

“Bardophiles, rejoice: Shakespeare will again be the most-produced playwright in America, with 99 productions (including adaptations) in 2015–16,” Train wrote.

America Theatre also surveyed the same group to determine the top 20 most-produced playwrights for 2015-2016 (excluding Shakespeare), and you can check out that list on its website.

Happy play-going season, everyone!

(Image: “Fences” production photo from the Marin Theatre Co./Creative Commons)

With one, successful year in the books, the introduction of dedicated NERF Combat Zones at Gulliver’s Theme Parks in Europe might be proof that a new entertainment trend is on the horizon.

“The huge visitor numbers are testament to the strong relationship between children and big brands such as NERF,” says Julie Dalton, managing director of Gulliver’s Theme Parks. “Parents continue to tell our arena teams that ‘NERF Zone’ are the easiest words to use in order to detach their children from personal game consoles.” (from Blooloop)

Licensing and distribution are handled by Paragon Entertainment, which shared the following highlights in a recent update:

• each arena is 3,875 sq. ft. divided into two areas
• average age range is 6-15 years old
• the three current arenas (at different parks) host an average of 65 birthday parties each weekend
• 2016 goals include doubling the portfolio of arenas in the U.K.

If you’re up for finding stray NERF darts under seats and in forgotten corners for years to come, maybe giant dart battles are the next big thing to bring into your facility?

The IAVM marketing team is ready and waiting to tilt the average age a bit higher.