Social Distancing: Modeling Venue with Social Distancing Requirements

Hi Everyone -

I'm curious about two aspects of this that I'd love to hear from the community about: 

1. Have you done any financial modeling to see what the revenue impact would be of social distance seating, and is it seen as something that would be financially viable?

2. How does this tie into other asapects of the patron experience such as ingress/egress to the facility, concession and restroom lines, etc.? What plans are starting to take shape about how to handle social distancing at the venue beyond the seating?

Thank you for any feedback you have!

Chris Szalaj

Tessitura Network

Hi Chris, 

Had a discussion just this morning with a colleague and he has done some extensive financial modeling with 5 varying degrees of social distancing and for us, it is not at all financially viable. We would be looking at anywhere from 1M to 3M in lost ticket revenue across all products. So the impact would obviously be devastating.

We have also started the discussion with our building managers and front-of-house staff about the guest experience from entry to exit in regard to safety screenings, concessions, box office and ticket scanning operations and also changing the way we do our pre-concert talks to prevent the need for cleaning in between. The below are some of the notes from our discussions. 

1. Plexiglass dividers are being considered at the box office counter
2. Safety/Cleaning
   
   1. Hand sanitizer stations at all touchpoints in our facility
   2. Codified cleaning schedule and a potential video that can be shared with guests for updates and transparency
   3. Safety screening setups
      1. Bag checks were discussed during this meeting as a safety screen that would be hard to make contactless
         1. Requiring clear bags, bag size, no bags permitted was discussed as options that may need to implemented 
         2. Keys and metal could be held over their heads when passing through metal detectors to eliminate contact
3. Staff
   1. No contact thermometers 
   2. Reduction of ushers at performances to keep less people around the entrances
   3. Self-serve programs stations in order to prevent contact among ushers and guests
      1. Discussed digitizing all programs for smartphone use
   2. Social distancing in the auditorium 
      
      1. Late seating would need to be a part of these discussions as guests would have to climb over others to get to their seats

Best,

Michelle Lewandowski

Thanks Michelle, I appreciate the info. 

Thanks Michelle, I appreciate the info.