We joined the Ticketsolve User Forum last week at Project Arts Centre in Dublin to find out what is going on in the theatre world over in Ireland.
We learned quite a few new things in Dublin, that we like to share with you here.
With name badges and goody bags in hand, we headed up to find a cafe bar packed with Ticketsolve users and more of their enthusiastic staff. It was hard to prize us away from the coffee and conversation but hey, the show must go on…
First off was an introduction to the day from Ticketsolve MD, Paul Fadden, in which he teased the audience by showing the data they had collected about us and our bookings for the forum itself, thereby demonstrating exactly what you can uncover about your audience with their system.
Next, it was off at a rip-roaring pace with John Concannon taking us through the thinking and strategy behind marketing Ireland on a global scale and how each business has been able to get involved, with a platform provided by central government. A pivotal part of this “big thinking” is the role that Irish culture plays in the Irish identity.
It was back down to earth to take a look at how they are working to deliver Customer Success and how unlocking venue data with BI tools and a full analysis report can really stimulate better use of resources. There was some great feedback from organisations who have already been through this process and it demonstrates a team who are really going the extra mile to help their customers.
A session by Andrew Hetheringtom from Business to Arts illustrated how they can help kick-start fundraising in arts organisations with special grants to support fundraising posts and how their experience is that these roles lead to permanent positions
After a delicious lunch, it was back to the auditorium to hear from Niall O’Connell, Operations Manager at Pavilion Theatre showing us how far you can go to promote a greener working environment. He’s making lots of small steps to make a truly impressive impact.
Next up, Conor and Nick took us through some lovely new functionality in Ticketsolve along with some tips and tricks about new features available in connected systems like Mailchimp and then an in-depth look at persona marketing and mapping. Then on to Scott to take us through future developments and then a mind-blowing moment when they announced their approach to integration with third-party systems using Zapier - probably a game-changer for arts ticketing.
Last up was Alison Gordon from the Open House Festival who shared not only the vision for the festival and culture at the heart of the redevelopment of Bangor but the extensive use of data from Ticketsolve to drive their very successful fundraising efforts.
And when you’re in Temple Bar, there has to be a social, right? The conversation continued… into the evening.
