Hi folks,
Wanted to drop a line to see how you are doing in these crazy times.
There is a naturally lot of uncertainty and anxiety both in our organisations and personally especially as the rules are still shifting out there. Some people are adjusting to work at home - some are scoping out the situation - others are adjusting in other ways. This can put little strain on relationships with friends and family.
I'm interested in how you are managing this ...
For me it's important to have my support network on speed dial / Skype / Zoom / Crystal-Ball. Also good for me to list what support network I have. So if you feel the need to reach out at anytime please do so (I'm pretty easy to find on most networks as heathwilder). Stay safe out there and remember to be proud of all the great work you are doing.
Heath
Thank you for creating this thread Heath! It's nice to have a place where people just get what you're going through!
So far, my biggest struggle is dealing with higher ups in my organization who are just focusing on rescheduling concerts, but not necessarily thinking about all the other implications. Like, if we have to cancel the rescheduled concerts, are we just going to reschedule them again? At what point do we just "give up" and not keep our patrons hanging on (and having to do the dreaded R word ~refunds~)?
Additionally, at least here, the general attitude is that things will immediately go back to normal, so of course we'll be able to have 2000+ concerts indoors! I don't want to be the Debbie Downer of the organization, but sometimes it seems like people aren't thinking idealistically, rather than realistically, and then it falls to the lower-down folks to scramble and figure it out.
I've also tried to implement "new" things, like a simple WordFly page to collect responses and feedback, but have been shot down a few times, so it's tiring to want to implement things that will make our lives easier in the long run, but being met with opposition.
I love all the ideas for still connecting with your teams here though! So far, we're just having daily staff calls with updates, nothing more than that.
It's really tricky. I've been in organisations that wouldn't listen. I found it best when I translated it into labour $. eg: instead of calling 500K patrons a wordfly survey and event cancellation utility will do the same at 10x the speed and we can tack on a donation ask on the end as well. Factoring in the hours of labour and calculating the savings = $X. That usually gets notice. The same with too many comps, too many holds, too many sightline issues etc. Hard bottom line budget $ will usually get a producer on your side, The COVID will blow over in a month BS is also hard to tackle. Thing is that Credit (Gift)Vouchers vs Reseats can be handled in the same way. You can lift people into Gift Vouchers and those same people can reseat themselves online saving box office labour and many recalls. So what do you do with all that boxoffice labour on your hands. Donation calls, Customer Service calls - you name it. When they reply to your WordFly survey with feedback (ALWAYS have a feedback box) you can respond personally and build loyalty for when you DO return to business. You might also earn Donation money from it.Stay safe and hope it gets a bit easier.