Hello - we are looking for ideas on how to present a live seat-map with available seats to patrons who are in person at our Box Office wickets. We had thought to place iPads mounted to the patron side of the counter - but aren't sure this will work. We are trying to get away from the box office staff having to pivot their monitors to show available seats. This is done frequently to show seats relative to the stage.
Also, with Covid protocols we are trying to present a no-touch solution.
What is working for other organizations? Welcome to all ideas, suggestions, what's been tried and didn't really work.
Thanks, Barb
Barb,
I have personally always been a stern opponent of ever turning your screen around to a customer. I have to train staff on what that screen is showing and more times than not, the customer has no idea what they are seeing. It can also be felt as an invasion of privacy for the ticket agent to share their private work screen. Think about it as if a co-worker was looking over your shoulder at your monitor as you worked.
A simple solution is to laminate printouts of your official seating chart and have the agents use a pointer/pen/letter opener, to point out available locations. Alternately, if you have SYOS available on your website for the events, just ask the person to bring up your website on their phone and go through the purchase path to view an up to date seat map of what is available. That version of the map will be much more intuitive to the guest than what they would see on Tessitura's client side.
This is exactly how we proceed. We have also disliked sharing the screen with the patron.
Hi Jeffrey,
Yes, this is an effort to not have to turn a monitor/share a screen, although our box office staff have done this for years (their preference) as they feel it's the quickest way to show the patron. Your point that the patron may not understand the view being shown is a good one. We do have SYOS on our website, but again, we are looking for something quick for times when we have lineups just before a show goes in. The laminated seatmap is something we haven't tried, but I'll see how that's received. It does sound quick and easy. Thanks for the feedback.
I give another vote to laminated seat maps. And with covid you can wipe them down if the patron has touched them. We use just a basic black and white version with no zones or price points, as they are different for every performance. We never turned the screen around. With hold codes, ticketed, reserved, etc patrons will ask questions on "What does that mean".
Good Luck!!