I was recently at the Ticketing Professionals Conference in Birmingham, England, and sat on an international industry leadership and entertainment ticketing trends panel called “My Two Cents.” One of the moderated questions was about “the death of …” Fill in the blank. The death of the ticket, the death of the theater, the death of the subscriber, the death of the ticket office. The theater has been dying for a millennium; the ticket is no longer needed because we have mobile wallets; there are no subscriber or package markets anymore because no one buys them; we don’t need ticket offices as we have the internet and automated kiosks. Really? These statements, statements of absolutes, kind of make you want to laugh a bit or at best to guffaw out loud at the real absurdity of it all. Sweeping black-and-white pronouncements, while provocative, are usually bandied about by those who want to argue that what ever they are “selling” is somehow elevated by the magnitude of the “death” of something else. As if there is not room in the world for a ticket, a barcode and a mobile wallet to all co-exist peacefully and in service to our customers, fans and patrons. The point is, that we do, or should, provide choice for the fan and the customer to have the experience that they want in the way they want it and communicated in the manner of their choosing.
All this leads me to another absolute that has been bandied about for years as a definition or description to define the ticket or box office. “Oh, it’s JUST the box office.” “You work where? Oh, JUST the box office.” By that mere statement, by the implication of the word “just,” the entire role and this vital and integral industry world has been diminished and defined as “only,” “merely,” “nothing but” or “no more than.” Just the box office? Just? Really? This collection of overachievers, type A, aggressive, organized, smart, funny, didactic, nimble, complex, talented, educated professionals are so not “just” anything. It has been clearly demonstrated that most entertainment ticketing professionals certainly didn’t primarily choose this career. However, once we we’re in it, we were converted, and we stayed! The very nature of this work and the attraction is the challenge, the complexity, the taming of the chaos for us big-brained folks. It takes brains, courage, heart and a few wizards, witches and flying monkeys to tame this job. Think about it for a minute. This tribe of professionals are magicians who with a wave of their wands turn into publicists, marketers, promoters, accountants, business owners, lawyers, psychiatrists, writers, technologists and purveyors of hospitality that ignite success. OK, so if we are going to be “just” something, let’s change the meaning to be the adverb definition and own it! We are the profession that is “precisely,” “absolutely,” “completely,” “perfectly” or, in the just and right definition of “honorable,” “decent,” “virtuous.” To my colleagues, the next time someone asks what you do, put these words into your elevator speech ... “I’m a magician! I’m the magic behind the button.” That should about do it, don’t you think?
INTIX is owning our magic. We are the oldest entertainment ticketing organization and we’ll turn 40 in 2019 with a Texas-sized celebration, y’all. Our tribe of professionals has a big voice and we want to share it. For your ticket to industry intelligence, including leadership, technology, revenue, management, and marketing news and content, check out our fresh content hub, Access, at https://access.intix.org. Consume it and share it with your colleagues freely! After all, we are at your service!
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LETTER FROM MAUREEN ANDERSEN, President and CEO, International Ticketing Association
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