Over the last couple of weeks we’ve been touring the country talking to arts centre and theatre managers all about how they can drive efficiency. It’s been a fascinating exercise with some great speakers challenging us to think about the issues from lots of different angles
Stef Woznarowycz from After Digital started us of through their approach to digital strategy. It was clear that the focus has to be on the end-user, not forgetting that the end-user might be within your own in-house team.
Andrew Thomas, many hatted consultant and ticketing beast, recycled his provocation that we should be “more like airlines”. He referenced Uber Eats and vegan sausage rolls from Greggs, which probably shows he was getting hungry when he was writing the presentation! But there are lots of things we can learn from the ways that airlines conduct business. They are the kings of the up-sell, whether it’s parking, lounge access, hotel bookings or a raft of other services. And there are already lots of similarities to the way we transact.
Rachael Easton and Ellie Griffiths from Tessitura Network led us through their journeys that led them to understand the value of being a data driven organisation. They perfectly represent the two sides of the hugely-powerful Tessitura system; Rachel with a raft of experience in ticketing data for marketing segmentation and intelligent pricing, Ellie with a strong background in the fundraising world - always balancing “intuition” with “insight”.
“I appreciated the high quality of speakers and content. I left with loads of ideas to bring back to our theatre” - Visitor Norwich seminar
Rob Macpherson, from Impakt, challenged us to think about brand and how this runs to the very heart of every organisation, affecting the way we interact with every customer. He demonstrated how big name brands are stealing the very way that arts and culture organisations think and feel and are applying this approach to some pretty mundane products. It’s surely time to rise up and and boldly meet this challenge!
As an industry veteran, Roger Tomlinson delivered the “long view”, taking account of changing demographics and continuing reductions in funding, he challenged us to think about how we would deal with these issues.
We enjoyed success stories delivered by Daniel Buckroyd from Exeter Northcott, Peta Swindall from Little Angel Theatre and Damien Vincent from the Midlands Arts Centre. They all brought a great wealth of experience to the events and gave practical examples of approaches that could help in these challenging times.
Each of the seminars was rounded off with a lively interactive panel discussion, elaborating on topics discussed and sharing new insights on how to drive efficiency in theatres and arts centres.
We would like to say a very big “Thank You” to all of our speakers and attendees for making the seminar series such a success.
“I found the panel discussion at the end very interesting. It was insightful to hear from those in other venues” - Visitor Perth seminar
