No Shows and Standby Lines

Hi Olivia,

Up until last year our process was utilizing an e-commerce platform hosted by the University that is only accessible by students. Students could reserve their ticket (1 per eligible performance) for $0. Then about a week prior to each performance, we'd download the list of reservations and print out a checklist by name. We'd print up a small number of tickets, at a time, not assigned to anyone in particular. Any time during that week, students could come to the ticket office, show their ID for validation, pick up their ticket, and we'd cross them off the list. On the day of the show, we'd print up a handful more for students to pick up at the window. At that point they wouldn't need a previous reservation unless the show was really tight and we were very limited on student tickets. Although my predecessor would run a standby line we never did that on my watch, we'd just hand out tickets since except in very unusual circumstances we weren't in danger of 'overselling' our allotment of tickets.

While this worked pretty well it was a labor-intensive process and requiring students to pick up tickets in person did not encourage student participation. So, we've moved to an online order model where we can now validate multiple student IDs through TNEW and the students can reserve their own tickets, as well as add additional tickets for other students and non-student guests (which they pay for) in the same order so they can sit together. Since this is brand new we don't know what the no-show rate might be, but since they are active in choosing their seats and can also sit with their friends, we expect more active participation from them. This process took YEARS and a ton of customization from several departments to make work but we're excited about its potential to make things easier for students!

Hi Olivia,

Up until last year our process was utilizing an e-commerce platform hosted by the University that is only accessible by students. Students could reserve their ticket (1 per eligible performance) for $0. Then about a week prior to each performance, we'd download the list of reservations and print out a checklist by name. We'd print up a small number of tickets, at a time, not assigned to anyone in particular. Any time during that week, students could come to the ticket office, show their ID for validation, pick up their ticket, and we'd cross them off the list. On the day of the show, we'd print up a handful more for students to pick up at the window. At that point they wouldn't need a previous reservation unless the show was really tight and we were very limited on student tickets. Although my predecessor would run a standby line we never did that on my watch, we'd just hand out tickets since except in very unusual circumstances we weren't in danger of 'overselling' our allotment of tickets.

While this worked pretty well it was a labor-intensive process and requiring students to pick up tickets in person did not encourage student participation. So, we've moved to an online order model where we can now validate multiple student IDs through TNEW and the students can reserve their own tickets, as well as add additional tickets for other students and non-student guests (which they pay for) in the same order so they can sit together. Since this is brand new we don't know what the no-show rate might be, but since they are active in choosing their seats and can also sit with their friends, we expect more active participation from them. This process took YEARS and a ton of customization from several departments to make work but we're excited about its potential to make things easier for students!