(Notes by Andrew Taylor)

TASK DEFINITION

• What does it take to organize an event in order to put it on sale?
• Assume all players are contracted and committed to doing the event.
• What do you have to do to make the event available for purchase by the public?
• How is the event itself organized for purposes of ticketing?
• How are the performances scheduled?
• How are tickets placed on sale?
• Who is involved at each step of the process?

ASSUMPTIONS FOR CORE CASE

Basic presenting deal (presenter with venue contracting with artist).
Split and other revenue shares already detailed in agreement.
Event will offer tickets for advance sale.

TRIGGER:

• Signed agreement between parties.
• Negotiations with unions (and alignment with related policies, constraints)

TASKS:

• Establish/negotiate event profile (will require all parties agree):
  
  • Determine times and dates of performances, informed by:
    
    • Union rules and restrictions
    • Market expectations (competition)
    • Actor/creative availability
    • Tech/operations availability
    • Facility/venue availability
    • Norms/standards
    • Length of show/intermissions
    • Holidays
  • Determine price of tickets.
  • Determine number of tickets for sale (vs. comps, holds, press, donors, kills, ADA compliance, etc.).
  • Determine on-sale date (some discussion of when this happens (some suggested they do this first and the work out the details later. Others need to confirm dates, times, and prices before they determine this date).
  • Determine group sales
  • Define production team/cast? May or may not be necessary.
  • Determine methods of sale (box office, phone, internet, third-party), with scheduling for each.
• Establish messaging/marketing
  
  • Descriptions
  • Channels
  • Materials
  • Schedule/Milestones
  • Responsible parties
• Determine/define necessary codes related to sale (event codes, barcodes,
• Encode/submit event profile on various systems
  
  • In-house ticketing, sales outlets/channels
• Trigger "Event Update" that initiates all systems to go live (perhaps at different times).

PEOPLE

• Performing entity (including all individuals involved)
• Event management
• Venue management
• House management
• Production/marketing/development/PR for both parties
• Sales outlets/channels outside the organization
• Sales outlets/channels within organizations.

RESOURCES:

• Photos/press releases/media materials
• Ticketing system
• Ticketing supplies/stock
• Sales/fulfillment channels (phone bank, web site, third-party systems).

EDGE/ALTERNATES:

• Whether to extend the run or shorten/cancel the run.
• Rental or co-promote instead of presenting agreement.
• Set on-sale date.