Discussions - Recent Threads

Price Type Change for Subscription Renewals

Grace Kapkey — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 16:31:24 GMT

hello All,

I was just wondering how other companies do price type changes for subcription renewals. FOr example, when early bird pricing shuts off. Do you use pricing rules? Do you manually change them all?

Partial View Seating After On-Sale?

Olivia Anderson — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 19:03:55 GMT

Hi all,

For the Virginia Theatre Festival this year, we will be using a facility that we have already created BUT have the possibility that certain seats will be partial view that have not been partial view in the past, due to how the set is built. Of course, we will not know this until after the set is built, which will be several weeks after tickets go on-sale. Have any of you dealt with the predicament before? If so, how do you handle it? From what I know, seat type (partial view) is a seat type which is handled at the facility level, meaning it cannot be changed after tickets have been sold in that facility (I think). Or can the seat type be changed/updated if none have been sold using the Facility Updates utility? If they cannot be changed once on-sale, we could separate these tickets in their own zone and put them on hold until the view is confirmed, but I still do not think that handles marking them as partial view, unless there was a work around to alert customers of this through a pricing rule message, etc. Would love to hear some solutions you all have employed! Thank you in advance for your help!

Best,

Olivia A.

Language for Ticket Delay

Kaila Finch — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 18:47:36 GMT

Hello, my venue will be utilizing the Ticket delay feature in Tessitura and we were wondering if anyone was able to share any language used to communicate this to your patrons? Anything helps, thank you!

Hello and introduction - Paula, Royal Opera House

Paula Patritti — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 08:25:33 GMT

Hello

I hope everyone had a relaxing weekend.

My name is Paula. I am excited to have joined as a one of the Community Chairs for Ticketing & Admissions.

I am Box Office Ticketing Manager at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. We have started the process of upgrading to v16 and are taking the opportunity to look at our process in an effort to streamline Tessitura usage, maximise out of the box functionality and minimise customisation while having a customer first focus. We then hope to be able to share this with others in the Tessitura Network. I am looking forward to learning about how other organisations address problems and opportunities and the decision-making process.

I am a member of the EU Ticketing & Admissions Group we always start each session with three priorities we are working on and/or an update on our last priorities It's a great way to inspire others and prompt discussion.

At the ROH we are working on:

v16 preparation for upgrade
24/25 season launch towards end April
assessing BO operating hours and staffing levels since the roll out of self-service cancellation in July 2023

I am looking forward to being more involved with this group.

TLCC Presentation Idea - Accessible Ticketing??

Chelsea Marti — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 20:44:11 GMT

With all this talk of Pay it Forward or Buy One Give One, would anyone want to tag team a TLCC presentation on ticket sale accessibility in Tessitura? And maybe include the Pay What You Wish people too?

I cross-posted to the Database Managers Community Group as well, but just seeing if anyone here might be interested in that idea.

Buy one give one ticket

Nicole Weber — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 17:07:54 GMT

Hello All!

I have an organization that requested the functionality to "buy your ticket and then buy one for another, the theatre will give it to a patron unable to afford a ticket" with the suggested price being $20 as they have choose your own pricing. So buy one ticket buy another ticket for donation.

Any ideas on how to accomplish this in both Tessitura and TNew?

Thank you for your suggestions!

Nicole Weber, Community Box Office Manager

Best Available Maps and getting granular

Jeffrey Mason — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 14:02:47 GMT

Hello Friends!

I am wondering what strategies folks have for getting really granular with the "Best Available Seats" maps. It seems ours are...not that great, and I would really like to start defining best seat on a seat by seat basis, which is something I have been able to do in other systems where I have created facilties.

Is anyone doing this and how are they accomplishing it?

Our main venue is just over 2600 seats and I would love to be able to rank each seat 1 through 2600 with 1 being the best and 2600 being the worst. I also need to be able to make sure best available seats are kept together in sections/rows and to reject the request if seats together are not available.

Thanks!

Jeff

3rd Party Sellers - Concierge

Samantha Wilson — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 23:47:30 GMT

Hi Ticketing Experts!

We are based in Las Vegas and want to partner with the concierge services at our hotels, and other third party places such a bus tour places where they can sell tickets to our museum. We need to be able to track who sells what so that they can get a commission on these sales. Does anyone do something like this and if so, how?

Thanks!

Samantha Wilson
Senior Database Manager
The Neon Museum, Las Vegas

x-posting in MZA group

Performance Verification Report

Mark Levine — Fri, 01 Mar 2024 17:56:41 GMT

I posted this in a different group here but someone suggested I post it in this discussion group too.

Does anyone out there have a good VERIFICATION report for checking your performances? I've used a variety of ticketing systems in the past and always had to struggle with checking that I got everything just right. I've built this in sql and reporting clients in the past for other systems, but I'm new to being a Tessitura client.

Ticketing & Admissions next Lean Coffee Chat scheduled for Tuesday, May 21st @ 3pm EST

Jeffrey Mason — Fri, 01 Mar 2024 14:47:37 GMT

Happy Friday everyone!

A quick note that I just posted our next Lean Coffee chat under the events section. We hope to do these quarterly and look forward to seeing folks again in May!

And a quick quote in celebration of Women's History Month!

"You don't get to choose how you're going to die, or when. You can only decide how you're going to live now." - Joan Baez

Phone Sales

Misti Winemiller — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 22:03:41 GMT

Could you walk me through the process of how your Box Office Staff handles both in person, internet and phone sales in peak times with a Skelton staff? We are having a hard time keeping up with phone sales during peak times.

Message Only Pricing Rule

Jane Trembley — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 20:28:03 GMT

Has anyone had any luck changing the image size for message only pricing rules? Is this something based on your TNEW site templates? We are stuck with a rectangle that looks awful on mobile. Additional question - has anyone been able to have different image sizes based on mobile or desktop purchase path? For us, we cannot differentiate.

Build Your Ideal Box Office!

Olivia Anderson — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 19:49:46 GMT

Hi all!

I hope this post finds you well! The University of Virginia is in the planning stages for our new performing arts center, and I need help! We are beginning the meetings discussing box office, front of house, etc., and I need to crowd source some ideas. What do you like about your box office space? What do you not like? If you could picture your perfect working space, what would it include? What does your staffing look like? What equipment do you use? To give you an idea, the box office would be supporting:

-A new larger performing hall
-A new smaller performing hall
-Our current Drama Department (three theatres in the drama building which will continue with our current box office space)
-Our current historical music venue (846 seats with a mobile box office)
-Additional venues during the film festival (an additional two venues with a separate seasonal box office)

Thank you all in advance for your help and ideas! I have never built a box office from the ground up and want to make sure I am covering all my bases. I figured you all would be the best people to ask!

Best,

Olivia A.

A quick introduction from your new group co-chair!

Jeffrey Mason — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 16:08:22 GMT

Hello everyone!

I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself to the group. I'm Jeff, i use he/him pronouns, and I am the Guest Services Manage at Opera Philadelphia! I have been working in Ticketing/Box Office for about 27 years, having started my career while still in college selling subscriptions in Ticketmaster for a company called Broadway in Boston. Fast forward to today, Opera Philadelphia is my 3rd Tessitura organization I have had the privilege of being a part of and I am super excited to be a co-chair with Lindsey Whitfield!

I am very passionate around accessibility and working to create equitable paths to purchasing tickets and attending events. I also have very strong opinions about wanting strong anti-scalping protections and transparency on ticket fees.

I love reading the forums and seeing what people need help with or what new trick someone has up their sleeve. It reminds me that I do not know everything (although sometimes I want to feel like I do). My hope is that I learn a lot from all of you!

Some fun facts about me: I consider myself lucky that only one patron has ever attempted to hit me! The night did not end well for that gentleman. While a member of my high school choir, I got to sing at Carnegie Hall and for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican!

In my spare time I enjoy video games, hiking and camping, and visiting breweries with my family. You can also find me on my Peloton bike a few times a week!

Please reach out to me or my co-chair Lindsey if you have any questions or suggestions for our group. We would love to hear from you!

Yours in ticketing,

Jeff

exchanges in discounted packages

Mari Reive — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 15:03:17 GMT

Hi everyone,

I have set up a discounted flex package that obviously has its own source code, and it's working fine, but what I can't do is exchanges in that discounted price point. The system isn't recognising it for the concert being exchanged into.

Steps I've taken:

1. CYO discount exchanges only under price type discount and associated it with CYO subs

2. associated it in price rule sets

3.added it to discounts in ticketing set up and linked it to CYO.

What have I missed?

Mari

Waiting Rooms - Queue It or Crowd Handler

Ashleigh Arrington — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 21:06:31 GMT

Hi everyone! Does anyone currently use Queue It or Crowd Handler for TNEW waiting rooms? We're looking to add a waiting room and would love to hear how other organizations have liked either company!

Many thanks!

- Ashleigh

Manually Inputting Attendance

Rachael Downs — Wed, 03 Jan 2024 20:43:12 GMT

Hi all, Our Education department shares a lot of content on our YouTube channel. We want to be able to notate the views each video receives, so EDU has been creating monthly performances in Tessitura for that specific video and seating line-items to match the view count for the month. They can only enter 999 as the max number on a line item – this takes quite a while, and these videos typically have a higher view count than that, so it’s become rather tedious.

Our team is thinking that we could use a custom field on the performance to hold the attendance/view figure (and then reconfigure our reporting). Before we go that route, though, we were curious if anyone else does something similar or has any ideas?

Thanks so much!

Rachael

Sold Out Monitoring

Samantha Wilson — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 17:33:15 GMT

Hey ticketing experts,

We have timed admission and I am hoping that another org with timed admission can help me. What is the best way that you monitor your ticket sales to see when/if you sell out for certain times and dates. We have admission all day with tours (right now we are using packages), but we have not set up a system to monitor when these sell out so that we can determine if we can open more tours.

If you monitor this, how do you do it? What report do you use or do you use a dashboard.

Thanks for any info you can share!

x-posted in MZA group.

Adding a message promo to Kis Kiosk

Sandy Christie — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 02:31:26 GMT

Hi Team, I am having trouble getting my Message (product only) to pop up when purchasing a ticket on the Kis Kiosks. I have it set up in price rules/sets.

All working well online. Any tips at all please?

Ta.

Could you be a new leader for the Ticketing & Admissions Tessitura Community?

Meredith Woolard (she/her) — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 19:32:47 GMT

Are you looking to develop professionally and personally, and deepen your connection with Tessitura – the technology, the members, and the wider arts and culture industry?

We are seeking 1-2 members to volunteer as Community Chairs and co-lead the Ticketing & Admissions Tessitura Community in 2024. You’ll be surprised by the impact you can have on people’s lives, careers, and institutions!

The Role

Tessitura members come to community groups to expand their networks, share their expertise, and connect with peers around common interests. Community Chairs volunteer their time to build and lead these groups, and host meetups that bring members together to share best practices and build relationships. You'll:

- develop and refine critical leadership skills
- build valuable new networks
- take back tangible ideas and learnings to your work
- access training and professional development opportunities
- be recognized for your contribution internally at Tessitura and in the wider community

… and more!

Each Community Group is led by 2-3 co-chairs. Previous experience in group management or facilitation is not required. Tessitura provides initial onboarding, followed by on-going support and various resources. These include a dedicated Community Manager and invitations to events led by the community team, enabling you to connect with our other 150+ Community Chairs globally.

Pictured above: Community Chairs at TLCC Orlando

Learn More

Please visit our Get Involved page for more information about the Community Chair role. Have questions or want to learn more? Drop us an email at community@tessituranetwork.com.

Apply Here

Are you ready to co-chair the Ticketing & Admissions Tessitura Community? Then please submit your interest. We review each interest form as they are received; a Community Manager will be in touch with you via email to set up the next steps.

Partial Refunds for Changed Format of Performances

Emma Putnam — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 21:23:52 GMT

Hi all,

We are looking to have a contingency plan in the case we are not able to perform a full-scale performance of our productions. The "What" of what we present is up to our producers, but the "How" we arrange the partial refunds is up to me. We are anticipating that we would want to give a 10-25% reduction on the price of the ticket for a performance that sifts formats (full production to concert version for example). We anticipate we would submit the partial refund after the performance and that way the patron would retain their existing seats and tickets already distributed to them but receive a partial refund on the tickets. The way I've thought to do this is:

Return each ticket individually and reseat the ticket adding a "Discount" to the ticket and then enter the ticket manually so that it is "scanned in" to the house.
Alternatively - we could cancel the performance using the cancelation utility and then reseat in a new performance using On Account funds (and discounts) but we'd have to do quite a bit more work to find their original seats and we'd still have to manually "enter" the ticket into the house to keep the scan count accurate

I know that we could do a partial refund manually through the payment screen but that seems like it wouldn't have the necessary back up we'd need for financial audits.

Any thoughts?

Standing Shows Obstructing Guests Using Wheelchairs?

Lindsey Whitfield — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 21:22:41 GMT

Hi, all! We had Sammy Hagar last night and an interesting topic came up and I would LOVE your input.

Background: Classic rock concert. Most everyone in the audience was standing. The exception - guests using wheelchairs or mobility assistance devices who were unable to stand.

Today we received an email from a guest who uses a wheelchair saying that the seats they purchased were not noted as obstructed view (true), but because of everyone standing, they could not see because they were physically unable to stand.

Our accessible seating is fully integrated with traditional orchestra seating in our continental style venue, so we don't have the option to move guests using wheelchairs to another area to improve their line of sight.

With that, do you or your venues have verbiage that you use to address standing and potential obstructions for concerts?

ALSO - Shannon and I are finalizing a new date for our next meeting. I want to thank everyone again for your flexibility and understanding as we worked around a last minute emergency. You're truly the best!

Nonrefundable Deposit for Group Sales

Emma Putnam — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 17:16:39 GMT

Hi folks,
We're trying to add a feature to our group sales process to require a nonrefundable deposit for all of our group sales. I can see two ways of doing this:

Apply the money directly "on account" and track the balance separately - then when the person calls to pay the balance apply the on account deposit and charge the balance.
Apply the money directly to the order meaning that the balance due is exact and easy for reps to assist in taking payments rather than having to go to a tracking document to find the information.

The challenge comes when the group inevitably cancels and we have to return the tickets but not the deposit. My thoughts on how to do this are:

Add a GA "performance" to the season and add the line item to the order to equal the amount "on account"
Add the deposit as an editable "fee" type

All of these have pros and cons so I'm wondering if you all have any best practices, or any advice you'd be able to share here.

Thanks!

Discounts in TRBO?

Rachael Downs — Fri, 13 Oct 2023 14:41:42 GMT

We're using TRBO in an out-of-the-box way next week. As I'm building what we need, I'm curious if we have the ability to utilize Discounts or edit pricing in TRBO? I haven't found anything on the forums, so I'm thinking it's a 'no', but wanted to see if anyone else had needed to do this before.

*Changing the source code won't work in this situation.

v16 Access Control - Is there a way to alert VS Associates of Specific Price Types?

Chelsea Marti — Fri, 13 Oct 2023 13:56:20 GMT

Cross Posted from Ticketing & Customer Service Forum

I would love to offer more of our free ticket options via TNEW instead of just as walk-up sales. However, the problem with that is we've gotten abuse of it in the past where people who register for those tickets just because they were free, and the front end associates did not check to make sure the patron qualified for those tickets. It was a lot worse in our old system, but I noticed it in Tessitura as well, which is why really early on we took most of the free ones off line.

I am wondering if v16 has any sort of set up where the screen will blink a certain color or make a certain noise on the scanner to alert the associates. Like something to tell the front end "Hey, this person bought a Bank of America ticket, please check to see if they have a Bank of America card."

We aren't going live with v16 until January, but I'm just curious if that is a current option or something they are considering. It would make my VSAs lives a lot easier if the scanner told them when to check for certain requirements based on ticket type.