Congratulations INTIX 2013 Award Recipients

The INTIX Awards Program was created to honor and showcase those who have demonstrated professionalism, leadership, service and special achievements through creative, informative and innovative management. 

This year two Tickets.com clients were honored during the Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida.  A HUGE congratulations to Aren Murray, Texas A & M University, on winning the Spirit Award and Tulsa Performing Arts Center, accepted by Terri McGilbra, Ticket Office Manager, for Outstanding Box Office.  The recognition is well-deserved in both cases and we're proud to call you family! 

Congratulations to all of this year's winners!  

Terri McGilbra of the Tulsa Performing Arts Center 2013 Outstanding Box Office, Jack Lucas 2013 Patricia G. Spira Lifetime Achievement Award, Tammy Enright 2013 Young Ticketing Professional, Aren Murray 2013 Spirit Award recipient, Laura Zehe 2013 Outstanding Ticketing Professional.

INTIX is currently accepting nominations for the 2014 Awards.   

Tulsa Performing Arts Center site has tickets going mobile

Tulsa World
By JAMES D. WATTS JR. World Scene Writer

For about a year now, patrons to the Tulsa Performing Arts Center have been able to have their tickets sent to their cell phones. They just haven't been able to order those tickets by using those cell phones.

Until now. The Tulsa PAC is one of the first performing arts center in the country to have a mobile-device access site, from which patrons can order tickets to any show available through the center's ticketing Web site.

"It was one of the odd instances where you would think one technology — the ability to buy the ticket — preceded the other — being able to receive the ticket," said John Scott, PAC director. "In fact, we were the first to approach our partner, Tickets.com, about creating the technology so people could order tickets from their cell phones."

The PAC's mobile access site (TulsaPAC.mobi) reformats the PAC's Web site so that it will be readable on a cell phone screen. Patrons can now order and pay for their tickets via the cell phone.

Tickets purchased through the .mobi site may be picked up at the theater, be mailed to the receipt, printed at home or received as a text message containing a bar code.

This bar code is scanned by a PAC usher, who carries a microprinter that produces a paper ticket. This service, called Tickets@Phone, costs $2 per ticket.

"We know there are people who more or less live through their cell phones," Scott said, "and we've been pleasantly surprised at how quickly some of our patrons have taken to the new technology."

He added that the convenience fees for all these various ways of obtaining tickets for PAC events are "are quite reasonable, especially when compared to some other venues."

For example, the convenience fees for two tickets purchased online for the play "August: Osage County," playing Jan. 26-31 at the PAC, are $9.50. Fees for two tickets to events at the BOK Center can range for $16.75 for a Tulsa Oilers hockey game, $19.05 for the Monster Jam, and $32.35 for the March concert by Eric Clapton.

"Our ticketing fees are true convenience fees," Scott said. "So if someone takes the trouble of coming downtown to our ticket office to buy their tickets, then the only fee they have to pay is the $1 facility fee that was recently instituted. All the other fees are waived."

Hello, Technology Calling

Tulsa Performing Arts Center Newsletter - Dec 2009
Nancy Hermann

Life used to be much simpler, in some ways, before we were all a-Twitter — Facebooking our every move, getting Google alerts galore, texting votes, or timing to the second a strategic buy on eBay. While technology might, on the surface, seem to complicate things, it can make life easier overall, and has certainly revolutionized marketing and customer service.

On the Cutting Edge Then and Now
The Performing Arts Center has been at the forefront of advancing technology for years. Did you know that TulsaPAC.com was among the first 20 performing arts center websites in the country? And when some people suggested that no one would divulge their credit card number to purchase via computer, the PAC was using the magic of the “Ticket Wizard” to sell tix in “real-time.” We are still the only performing arts center in the country running a regional ticketing operation (MyTicketOffice.com), launched in 2006.

Print Your Own — Tickets@Home
Two years ago the PAC added Tickets@Home to its ticketing options. You’ll see it listed when you’re buying tickets online. For an additional $2 per order charge, you can opt to have a link that contains a printout with a barcode e-mailed to your computer. Our ushers scan this printout in the same way they scan traditional tickets.

Website Wherever — TulsaPAC.mobi
Last year we became one of the first performing arts centers to have what is known as .mobi. This means that we have formatted our website so when it is viewed on a cell phone, the information we provide fits the phone’s space parameters. Recently, our ticketing partner, Tickets.com, has given our .mobi visitors the ability to buy tickets on that site. With this enhancement, the PAC will once again be ticketing technology pioneers.

Your Phone is Your Ticket — Tickets@Phone
We hope you’ll try purchasing tickets through your cell phone, especially now that we have Tickets@Phone. If you choose this option during the final phase of buying an online ticket, you will receive a text message that contains ticket information. When the text message is scanned by one of our ushers, a printer on the usher’s belt then creates your ticket. This option also costs $2 per order.

What’s Next? — Text!
Coming right up is our ability to send text messages to your cell phone. In the future, we’ll let you know about special deals, insider news and advance ticket on-sale dates —all through your cell phone. If you are not currently receiving our half-price offers and monthly news bulletin through an e-mail broadcast, please sign up on our homepage at TulsaPAC.com. And if you’d like to provide your cell phone number to receive text messages, please share that with us too. We will safeguard your information and we won’t bombard you either.

If you need anything from the PAC, please e-mail us at tulsapac@cityoftulsa.org. We’ll answer you by the next business day. In addition, sign up to follow the PAC on Facebook and Twitter. We’re here to help you enjoy the many events at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center. We want you to have the best possible experience, from obtaining information, to buying a ticket, to your comfort and enjoyment in our theaters. Just make sure to turn off everything but your enthusiasm once you’re inside!

Nancy Hermann is Director of Marketing for the Tulsa Performing Arts Center.

Tulsa Performing Arts Center Goes Live With ProVenueMobile™ from Tickets.com

ProVenueMobile Now Available for December 7 On-Sale Date for January 2010 Run of Legally Blonde–The Musical.

Tickets.com—a leading global provider of integrated, high-performance ticketing solutions—has added its proprietary mobile platform ProVenueMobile™ to the Tulsa Performing Arts Center (TPAC). TPAC’s decision to offer ProVenueMobile differentiates them by allowing patrons to complete a ticket transaction on any Internet enabled mobile phone with the option of Tickets@Phone® delivery. TPAC patrons can utilize ProVenueMobile to purchase tickets for Legally Blonde—The Musical; on-sale December 7, 2009.

ProVenueMobile™ allows full-circle ticket purchases to be made 24/7 from any Internet-enabled mobile phone, directly through a client’s branded, mobilized website. The mobile platform set a new standard in the ticketing industry in early 2009 by being the first technology to allow real-time ticket transactions from a mobile phone that also offers Tickets@Phone; the delivery of a digital, bar-coded ticket via MMS or picture message.

“Mobile ticketing has arrived and we are delighted to be one of the first organizations to offer the user-friendly ProVenueMobile to our customers,” said John Scott, director, TPAC.

TPAC presents outstanding cultural events and performances spotlighting artists—ranging from international stars to local favorites—touring shows, arts organizations, and community-based programming. In addition to Legally Blonde, other shows on sale include The Nutcracker, performed by the Tulsa Ballet, David Sedaris’ The Santaland Diaries and Tony Award winner August: Osage County.

“We’re thrilled that TPAC has embraced ProVenueMobile,” said Larry Witherspoon, chief executive officer, Tickets.com. “It’s so gratifying to work with clients that integrate new technologies into their ticketing services portfolio.”

Tickets can also be purchased through the venue’s website (http://www.tulsapac.com) or box office.

The national U.S. touring company of Legally Blonde runs January 5 – 10, 2010 at TPAC’s Chapman Music Hall, the largest of the Tulsa, OK-based Center’s four theaters.

Tickets.com Case Study: Access Control Venue Admissions and the Tulsa Performing Arts Center

The Tulsa Performing Arts Center (TPAC) has come to value Access Control as an essential element in delivering outstanding service to its patrons by driving its staff to perform to full potential. Additionally, TPAC can now enable other Tickets.com digital products to enhance overall customer experience, and create targeted marketing campaigns based on information reaped through Access Control’s reporting capabilities. Implementation of Access Control provided TPAC with:

• Faster, smoother gate entry


• Exponentially increased data on patrons, their buying habits, and their customer profiles


• Streamlining of attendance count operations


• Security safeguards against ticket fraud


• Features to provide better customer service

Access Control Venue Admissions: From its immediate impact on event logistics and its capability to data mine for future return, Access Control has exceeded Tulsa Performing Arts Center’s expectations.

Learn more >

Tickets.com Client Taking Email Marketing to the Next Level

The Tulsa Performing Arts Center, a Tickets.com client, is showcasing email marketing best practices by providing their opt-in subscribers with creative and compelling emails to advertise upcoming shows. An email like the Tulsa Performing Arts Center's, with an unusual and unexpected subject line, will definitely catch attention in an overflowing email Inbox. The content of the email, in its juxtaposition of seemingly unrelated shows, provides humor while offering a valuable benefit -- inviting customers to customize their own ticket packages. View the email campaign >

Learn about Campaign Creator, Tickets.com's email marketing tool.

Campaign Creator™ and the Tulsa Performing Arts Center

Implementation of Tickets.com’s Campaign Creator e-Communications platform opened broader, more measurable interactive marketing capabilities to the Tulsa Performing Arts Center including:

• Email marketing announcements of on-sales for major events and access to password protected pre-sales
  
• Promotions for slower-selling events and last-minute ticket offers and sales
  
• Advanced venue visit planning, including parking or local merchant day-of-show promotions
  
• Blog creation and management
  
• Collection of email subscriber information via survey distribution

read more