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Social Distancing: Modeling Venue with Social Distancing Requirements

Michelle Lewandowski
$organization

Hello Tessitura Family,

I hope everyone is hanging in there during this difficult time.

We've had some recent conversations that have touched the surface of what social distancing might look like in our venue come the start of our season in September. We're trying to be prepared, so we've looked at a couple of models of how me might re-scale our hall based on passive and aggressive social distancing standards and the projected revenue loss is staggering. We also have a large number of subscribers who have already renewed and we're currently trying to tackle how to have a potential social distancing option, while not displacing our subscribers, and then the timeline for that considering that our tickets go to print mid-June. 

I think we've decided that we will not be re-scaling the hall and re-seating subscribers, but would rather hold some areas behind that are distanced in which guests could opt-in to. This would of course limit the number of subscriptions and single tickets we could sell, so there really is a cascading effect with each decision.

I'm really curious to see if anyone else has broached this conversation and what options your're considering, if any?

Thanks so much!

Be well,

Michelle

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  • $organization

    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

  • $organization in reply to Chris Szalaj

    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
      1. 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

  • $organization in reply to Michelle Lewandowski

    Thanks Michelle, I appreciate the info. 

  • $organization in reply to Michelle Lewandowski

    Hi Michelle, what about the orchestra on stage? And what is your timeline currently for re-opening? Jenn

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