Hello!
We are a performing arts facility with three public entrances, and we are exploring different options for how to handle our will call. Our box office/will call is located on the west side of the building, but patrons often enter the south or east entrances looking for their will call tickets.
There are a-frame signs outside of the east and south doors explaining where to go for will call tickets, we insert ticket pickup information in our reminder emails that go out before performances, and our box office staff has been trained to educate patrons about will call location. Inevitably though, there will still be patrons that arrive at the wrong entrances for their will call tickets.
In these situations, we ask patrons to walk around to the west side to pick up their tickets. This is not ideal, especially in inclement weather, and we are looking for a more welcoming solution. Do any of you with multiple entrances/one box office handle things differently? We would love to hear your thoughts!
Warmly,
Robin
Robin,
This is actually an issue with our local performing arts center as well, since there are multiple theatres and multiple entrances within a building that spans a good portion of a city block. We're always having people come in the wrong side of the building for our performances, or coming in on "our" side of the building for performances in a different building.
Because this has been such a recurring issue, the ushers that we work with are pretty well-trained to help direct traffic; that being said, we also have the issue of people being directed to go outside and go all the way around a building to get to their appropriate entrance. Thankfully, our season doesn't coincide with much of the severe weather season here in Tulsa (we don't have much of a winter, but you don't want to be here in March or April), but it's still definitely a point of frustration.
To help combat this, we try as much as possible in our messaging to use the specific entrance to the PAC that corresponds to our performances. Thankfully, this tends to work out in more instances than not.
Just wanted to share our background and also be on this thread in case anyone else has brainstormed something more elegant.
Thank you,
Brian