THE LIGHTS IN THE BALLOONS TWIN¬KLING IN THE PLAZA, THE DROP IN TEMPERATURE, the daytime blackness, and the hush of the crowd all made ticketing the total eclipse of the sun memorable for Crystal Clinton, director, Ticketing System Administrator, Opry Entertainment, Nashville.
If you were going to count down the high¬lights of her career, nothing tops ticketing the Grand Ole Opry in seven different venues downtown for five months after floods sidelined their home venue, but that was 2010. An institu¬tion since 1925, the Opry team wasn’t about to be the first to miss a performance on their watch.
This year, Clinton won as a 2018 Venues Today Ticketing Star not only for that solar eclipse event, but for 20¬plus years of exempla¬ry service and can¬do attitude in a job she sought out.
Clinton began working for Opry Entertainment in the IT department in 1985. A year or so in, the Opry organization decided to write its own ticketing system. Clinton’s job was to work in accounting, “but ticketing was more interesting and fun,” she said. “I nudged my way in, working on accounting part time, and eventually I was able to move directly into the ticketing team.”
Her original assignment was ticketing for Opryland Theme Park, which closed in 1997, and the General Jackson showboat. “Eventually, we convinced the Opry that we could do ticketing better with a computer than they could by hand, though they didn’t want to believe it,” she remembered. “They were hard pressed to believe we could possibly do better than they could. It converted to computerized ticketing in 1989.”
In 2006, they moved her out of the IT department into business because they were getting away from in¬house written systems and going to worldwide mobile products with vendors like AudienceView.
Her three person department has a label – Ticketing – but basically they do what every¬one needs them to do in as innovative a way as possible. “Ticketing from my perspective is service oriented,” Clinton said.
That may be why the Total Solar Eclipse was such a kick. Nashville happened to be the biggest city in the direct path of totality, and Opry Entertainment knew it needed to jump on the opportunity.
For ticketing it meant more shows, includ¬ing two on Sunday when the Grand Ole Opry is normally dark, and a Monday morning picnic to view the event from the Opry Plaza. The five shows over three days drew 18,000 fans, many of whom bought the Solar Eclipse “package,” which included a commemorative T¬shirt, poster and special glasses to view the eclipse.
“It was great, but it’s a one time thing. It’s not like the Opry birthday that happens every October so you can enhance it and make it better each time. This is kind of one¬and¬done,” Clinton said.
Opry personnel companywide were with the people on the plaza picking up trash and passing out hot dogs and hamburgers. “You do whatever you need to do. That’s what makes this a fun place to work,” said the 28¬year vet¬eran. Her primary job was to keep up with inventory on the merchandise for the eclipse. No one knew how many guests to expect.
At the time, Aug. 21, the world was wracked by riots and violence. Security was heightened for the event, especially since total darkness was imminent if brief. Clinton was able to stop for a couple of minutes on that 100¬degree day and watch, feeling the temperature drop 15 degrees and seeing the twinkling lights in the balloons they had placed around the plaza so people wouldn’t trip and fall.
Over the four¬day weekend, they held five Opry Shows, hosting over 18,000 guests. Over 5,600 of them took an Opry Backstage Tour, and thousands spent Monday picnicking on the plaza donning their Opry Eclipse T¬shirts, dancing to the live music, playing corn hole and life¬size con¬nect 4, and visiting with newly¬made friends. Kids enjoyed face¬painting, sno-cones and kettle corn.
“It was amazing,” Clinton said.
Clinton has learned a lot from her men-tors, including her former boss Debbie Ballentine, who retired after 43 years with Opry Entertainment, and Maureen Andersen, CEO of INTIX, who showed Clinton the essence of enthusiasm and knowledge. It’s also hard to say no to Andersen, which led to Clinton’s biggest challenge — chairing the INTIX silent auction committee.
Under Clinton’s watch, the silent auction morphed into a live auction and tripled fundrais¬ing, from $5,000 to $15,000 the first year, 2015.
Clinton’s two¬year term on the fundrais¬ing committee is now done, and her leadership style led to the board taking on the project because it is so big now. But guess who’s on site in charge again when INTIX meets in Baltimore in January? Andresen.
“Crystal is just this amazing person of commitment and grace. If she says yes to some¬thing, she follows through at 150 percent,” Andersen said.
“What’s graceful is if she doesn’t some-thing, she has the sense of self that she can say I don’t know and I need help.”