Today was another slow day. I worked with Ellie (executive assistant -- contracts & administration) and she taught me about how once all contracts are signed and the event is confirmed, you must review the rider immediately. Some requests won’t take long to complete, and some may take a while to find. For example, some people might want Pepsi or access to a washing machine while others want roses and a certain meal that’s hard to find in the area. She said that if you don’t fulfill all of the artist’s/band’s requests, then they will remember you (because you didn’t buy something that they wanted) and they won’t want to work with you. Although it seems like a small detail to everyone else, artist’s and band’s take their requests very seriously. If they’re unhappy, then the venue will have an unpleasant reputation because other artists and bands won’t want to work with you either.
After today, I realized that after our first event, I’d have to uphold my organization’s reputation. Otherwise, people won’t want to work with us.
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It was a different kind of day at the Stranahan. First, I met with Rhonda (catering and concessions manager) to talk about riders, which are lists of the artist’s/band’s requests for necessities upon their arrival.
All riders have “interesting” requests such as four pairs of black socks, three pairs of new underwear, and/or a certain room temperature (I promise, these are actual requests, I promise), but sometimes artists/bands will throw in items such as cinderblocks (yes this too is an actual request) in order to make sure that the venue is reading the rider thoroughly and carefully. Although the venue must acquire all these items, the promoter (hired by the talent) of the event pays for these requests. The promoter also pays for the runner, the person who runs out to buy something that the artist has run out or requires (such as more alcohol or Advil). Later, I sat down with Sarah in a meeting with someone from The Blade to discuss advertisements for future events at The Stranahan. The two discussed ad placement and layout that would show how many singers, bands, and theater productions will be performing at The Stranahan this year. In addition, Sarah and I worked on creating slogans for the advertisement. We wanted to stress how the Stranahan will have a diverse group of events at their classic and timeless theater. Today I shadowed Sarah again and I learned a lot about negotiations with sponsors and advertising. She taught me how to trade with sponsors and radio stations. Depending on how much money a sponsor gives, they receive a certain number of tickets to the event. For example, the biggest sponsor of the event usually receives 10 of the best -- and most expensive -- tickets available, and they also have their logo on all advertising material as well as on the event website.. A smaller donor, for example, receives 2 of the lowest priced tickets to the event, as well as their logo on the event website. Some of the reasons that sponsors should help put on events is because it will change/reinforce the company's image, drive sales, showcase community responsibility, and display brand attributes.
For advertising, The Stranahan assemble a "Street Team" to go out and hang up flyers and posters. If the team wants to hang up posters in a Starbucks or Panera, for example, they will give the manager two tickets to the event in exchange for hanging up the poster for customers to see. In addition to hanging up posters, radio stations will advertise the event for a certain amount of time depending on how much you pay them. Approximately $2,500 can buy fifty-seven 30 second ads, or $500 and 10 tickets will buy 24 live on-air mentions (4x per day for 6 days). I also learned that for some companies, such as Great Lakes Sound, Inc., the fee will decrease if you are a nonprofit company. I feel as though I'm learning a lot more than I thought I would during this intensive. The more I learn, the more confident I feel about putting on an event. I think that I understand the industry enough that I would be able to put on a small, successful show. I understand how to get sponsors, I understand how to advertise, and I understand how to price tickets. I met with Sarah again in the morning and she told me all about how venues have to negotiate with sponsors, donors, radio stations, and newspapers by exchanging tickets for advertising and/or donations. These tickets give the theater a bit of leverage when it comes to future events; Sarah said that if she gave a radio station (for example) tickets to see Seinfeld, then she could utilize the fact that she gave the station tickets as a way of getting the station to advertise the next event more frequently.
After meeting with Sarah, I then spent the rest of the day shadowing Dave, the assistant box office manager and multi media manager. I learned about how each event has facility fees that are paid with each ticket (approx. $3) that are put towards benefitting the venue (ex. helping repair theater seats after much wear-and-tear). I also learned that it’s more expensive to order tickets online and by phone due to convenience costs. Convenience costs enable The Stranahan to receive approximately $4.00 - $7.00 extra (depending on the event) for every ticket sold through phone calls or online, and Etix receives about $0.65 per ticket sold online. I was told that by using Etix rather than Ticketmaster, The Stranahan is able to save money because Ticketmaster charges a much larger amount per ticket sold. Unfortunately, because Etix is not as well-known as Ticketmaster, The Stranahan must make it very clear in their advertisements what where tickets will be sold. A lot of research goes into ticket pricing as well; theaters must research how popular the artist/band/comedian is and estimate how many people they think will attend the event. Then, they divide the available seats into different sections, each with a different price. I learned that this entire industry is based on strategy; you have to be strategic when developing relationships with others, and you have to be strategic in order to make a profit. My mentor, Steve Hyman (executive director: theater bookings & administration), and I decided that each day I would shadow somebody different (ex. box office, stagehand, etc.). That way I could learn more about each aspect of event management. Today, I shadowed the sales manager (advertising & marketing, corporate & ALL-ACCESS Seating), Sarah, to learn more about what she does. She started off by telling me about how the Stranahan and other theaters (such as the Valentine) are working together to "popularize" Toledo by promoting each other's events. These theaters want to make Toledo a city that's as popular as Detroit and Cleveland and Columbus.
Sarah then told me about how she publicizes events at the Stranahan. Once an event or show is booked, she plans the publicity based on the specific type of audience that would attend these shows and events. After doing much research, she narrows down specific times for commercials to air and what radio stations will advertise the event (based on certain programs that the attending audience watches and certain stations that the audience might listen to). In addition, she tries to help the event gain more interest from a wider audience by helping to brainstorm more things to see and do at the event. And when they notice that they have some gaps to fill in their schedule, they reach out to Live Nation to see if they have any acts that have some days to fill between concerts. Later in the day, Sarah told me about the Ohio Spring Fest that they hosted earlier this year. She told me about how they booked bands (such as Sponge), carnival rides, and even monster truck rides. After telling her about my organization, Bands4Change, she told me that next year I might be able talk to the bands managers about booking shows to raise money for charity. By doing so, I would further my organization and be able to make it more well-known. I didn't know that there were so many different factors involved in putting together an event, making it run smoothly, and generating a profit for the venue. I am really interested in learning more about these other factors over the next few weeks. |
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