TICKETS.COM BEST OF 2017

“Creativity breeds value and experience. These words encompassed our message for 2017. Our world is changing; technology is changing, the way we work is changing but most importantly how we, where we, and when we engage our patrons is changing. I challenged my team to embrace creativity and innovation, and together we are transforming this industry. For Tickets.com, 2017 was an extraordinary year. We’d like to share with you some of our greatest highlights.” – Joe Choti, Tickets.com CEO & President

Alfred – Tickets.com Native Access Control Solution with NFC Enabled Tickets via Apple Wallet

Tickets.com became the first technology company to bring the convenience of Near Field Communication (NFC) via Apple Wallet to the ticketing market with the debut of its innovative new platform, Alfred Access Control. Near Field Communication support for event entry is just the beginning of Alfred Access Control. This one-of-a-kind platform was built to both leverage present technologies and adapt and evolve to the future of live event technology.

The Official Ticketing Provider of Minor League Baseball

We were thrilled to sign a long-term partnership with Minor League Baseball® (MiLB™), the governing body for all 160 affiliated professional baseball teams, making Tickets.com the organization’s first-ever Official Ticketing Provider. Tickets.com is committed to the Minor Leagues™ by providing fans with a great customer experience, powered by Tickets.com’s ProVenue® platform technology on the devices fans use most.

Bettering Our World Through the T.Cares Program

Since its launch in 2016, the T.Cares initiative has created over 150 experiences for families, individuals, and communities facing various obstacles.  From providing VIP experiences for families at MLB games to getting our hands dirty in the UK volunteering at a local community garden, Tickets.com team members have stepped up as social impact leaders in 2017.  Tickets.com couldn’t be prouder of our accomplishments so far and we are confident that our movement towards creating a better world has only just begun.

Registered Developer Program Membership Growth

The Tickets.com Registered Developer Program allows for clients and third parties to develop their own applications utilizing Tickets.com data services. The program grew significantly over the course of 2017 with a 41% growth in membership. Each one of our Registered Developers can bring tremendous value to venues and their patrons’ experience.

ProVenue Exchange 2017

ProVenue Exchange 2017 was held at the Vinoy Renaissance Resort in St. Petersburg, Florida from June 11-14. The Tickets.com vision for the 6th annual conference focused on transforming the way we experience networking, technology, client services and live events. Derek Argobright, Chief Technology Officer at Tickets.com, highlighted that to meet the demands of the widely influential millennial audience, the ticketing industry must transform itself, bringing the digital age and self-service not just to the online purchase experience but to the Box Office.

Significant Client Growth

From multiple league-wide deals to independent venues, Tickets.com experienced tremendous growth in the number of clients using Tickets.com technology. We were honored to add each venue and organization to the Tickets.com Family, and we look forward to additional signings coming up in 2018.

Our accomplishments of 2017 are going to be the foundation of an exciting and successful 2018. Tickets.com is committed to disrupting and revolutionizing the live events industry through innovative technology, and we are excited for what this New Year will bring.

Christmas Support Hours

The Tickets.com UK Office will be operating outside of normal support hours over the Christmas holidays:

22nd Dec – Normal office hours
23rd Dec – 24th Dec (Christmas Eve) – Emergency support only
25th Dec (Christmas Day) – Closed
26th Dec (Boxing Day) – Emergency support only
27th – 29th Dec – Normal Office Hours
30th Dec – 1st Jan (New Year’s Day) – Emergency support only
2nd Jan 2018 – Normal office hours

Any request for support during this period must be called through on 0333 2 406010 using the following ticketing product extensions:

ProVenueDatabox® – Option 5
ProVenueMax™ – Option 6
ProVenue® – Option 7

Please note that during this period, support for online page edits and performance acceptances is not available.

T.Cares 2017 highlights

Tickets.com strives to make a difference not only in the ticketing industry, but also within the community.

And in recognition of this, Tickets.com launched its T.Cares programme in 2016, a global initiative that sees Tickets.com supporting local community efforts to better the areas where its employees work and live.

In the UK alone, the team has had a busy 2017, from charity fundraising, to taking time away from the office to support local community initiatives. Here’s just some of the projects that the UK team have been involved in over the last 12 months…

Young Carers MK, a charity which supports over 650 children and young people aged 8-19 years old, sets out to helps those who care for a family member with a physical or mental illness, and provides young carers with one-to-one support, information, guidance, and someone to talk to who understands. In October, Tickets.com teamed up with MK Dons & Young Carers MK to give a couple of young carers a memorable experience.

Ben and Valmik, two extraordinary members of Young Carers MK, embarked on a VIP experience at League One side and Tickets.com client MK Dons which included a stadium tour, signed memorabilia and matchday hospitality, plus an opportunity to visit the home changing room to meet the team ahead of their match against Northampton Town – all of which was arranged by Tickets.com in partnership with MK Dons FC.

Speaking after the event, Ben said; “Valmik and I were over the moon when we found out about the hospitality experience at MK Dons, and wow, what an experience! I would like to thank everyone at Tickets.com and MK Dons for providing us with this opportunity.”

Earlier in the year, Tickets.com supported the Milton Keynes Christian Foundation’s Growing People project; a horticultural social enterprise which works with disengaged young people to grow organic seasonal fresh fruit, veg, and flowers for the local community at their Urb Farm based in Wolverton.

The Tickets.com team spent the afternoon gardening, tidying, and providing general maintenance work to support the staff who run the project. Lisa Hodgson, special educational needs coordinator at Urb Farm said: “I just wanted to say a huge thank you for all the work that the lovely team at Tickets.com carried out at the farm.

                Everyone involved has made a big difference! We hope the team enjoyed it and that no one was too stiff and achy the next day!”

Tickets.com’s Richard Baldwin also celebrated turning 50 in style earlier this year by completing the Land’s End to John O’Groats cycle challenge and raising over £1300 for mental health charity MIND.

Not forgetting the Comic Relief bake sale that got the team in the kitchen and colleagues – and neighbouring offices – putting their hands in their pockets to donate to the very worthy cause.

For more information about T.Cares and to find out how your charity or project could get involved, visit https://provenue.tickets.com/uk/t-cares/.

Tickets.com welcomes new ProVenue® signings in 2017

2017 has been a busy year for Tickets.com UK and the roll-out of its most advanced system, ProVenue®.

A fully customisable ticketing solution, ProVenue® not only provides industry-leading technology, but also enables venues to capture, retrieve and own their customer data.

Most recently, Wigan Little Theatre, Watersmeet in Rickmansworth and Chipping Norton Theatre have all introduced the new system, having migrated across from ProVenueDatabox®.

Earlier in May, the Harlequin Theatre and the Roald Dahl Museum & Story Centre also moved onto ProVenue®. Since the Harlequin Theatre’s move across from ProVenueMax™, the new platform is being used to support its digital strategy as Ian Orrick, Front of House Manager, explains: “One of our aims at the Harlequin is to drive more sales through our website and the move across to ProVenue® is central to this.”

The award-winning Roald Dahl Museum & Story Centre has already benefitted from the flexibility of the ProVenue® platform, as Anita Richardson, Retail and Visitor Experience Manager, confirmed: “ProVenue’s more efficient process for both visitors and the museum’s staff has already increased online bookings which is a very promising sign.”

One of Tickets.com’s longstanding UK clients, Trinity Arts Centre, who has been a customer for over 15 years, moved across from ProVenueDatabox® this year as part of its strategy to drive online ticket sales.

ProVenue’s flexibility was one of the main reasons for the switch and Trinity Arts Centre are already reaping the benefits, as Lisa Weller, centre manager said: “Our customers’ buying behaviours have changed, and so have our technology requirements, so the move to ProVenue® was a natural migration for us.

“We’ve experienced almost three times the number of online bookings over the last couple of months, which is fantastic and exactly what we wanted to achieve with the switch to the new system”.

For more information about ProVenue® and to discuss how the system can benefit your venue, contact the Tickets.com team at uksales@tickets.com or on +44 (0) 1908 232 404.

Introducing Alfred

Tickets.com became the first technology company to bring the convenience of Near Field Communication (NFC) via Apple Wallet to the ticketing market with the debut of its innovative new platform, Alfred. The Oakland Athletics, in collaboration with Apple and Infinite Peripherals, were the first Tickets.com partner to publicly utilize the technology during a six-game pilot in September that provided fans the opportunity to enter the Oakland Coliseum by tapping their iPhone or Apple Watch to an Alfred-powered scanner. With the subsequent release of the iPhone X, Alfred will also be able to utilize the device’s revolutionary facial recognition to enable a fan’s ticket for entry into an Alfred-supported venue. The Athletics pilot was an important step forward for secure mobile ticketing as it marked the first time a professional sports event supported contactless tickets in Apple Wallet.

SPA Houston, the largest nonprofit Performing Arts organization of its kind in the entire southwest, has also gone live with Alfred. The organization chose Alfred because it is both cost-effective and easy to use.

Lee Strickland, General Manager of SPA Houston quotes, “We work in venues and parks in various locations throughout the city, and Alfred gave us the complete coverage we needed. The ease of use and the reliability of the system has been an amazing upgrade to what we had before.”

“Tickets.com remains focused on technological innovation for our partners’ customers,” says Joe Choti, President and Chief Executive Officer of Tickets.com. “Alfred has evolved digital ticketing and Access Control to new levels, making it frictionless, fun, engaging, and flawless.”

Teaming up with partners Infinite Peripherals and Apple, Alfred was built to be lightweight, user-friendly, and adaptable to future technologies. NFC is more secure than traditional Access Control systems, allowing patrons a smooth and stress-free entry into their favorite live events.

Tickets.com Chief Technology Officer, Derek Argobright states, “With Alfred, no barcodes are needed. We simply have the patron come to the venue entryway and authenticate from their personal device. Alfred instantly reads the NFC enabled pass and provides verified access for entry, making the process seamless and easy for both the patron and venue personnel.”

Argobright continued, “We have the ability to build out Alfred to be an entire end-to-end ticketing system. Whether it be reporting, ticket sales, or ticket services, all will be possible with the future of Alfred.”

Near Field Communication support for event entry is just the beginning for Alfred. This one-of-a-kind platform was built to both leverage present technologies and adapt and evolve to the future of live event technology with additional features and functionalities coming soon.

Buyer Type Capacity Control With ProVenue®

Within ProVenue® there is the functionality to allow venues to apply a cap on the number of tickets that are sold against any buyer type.

This is useful if a limited number of tickets can be sold at a reduced rate as part of an early bird or promotional offer. Once the desired number of tickets are sold then the system will no longer offer the price to the customer in the ticket office or online.

The limit on the number of tickets is set at an event level in the Event Administration part of the system. To access this, the user will need to go to the particular event that they would like the limit on.

In the Event Administration screen, select the Capacity Control tab:

In the Capacity Control screen you can then choose which buyer type you need to set the limit on:

From here – with the Buyer Type selected – you will then need to select the number of tickets and what the limit type is:

A Soft Limit means that when the sales get towards the limit it will only stop sales on the transaction that takes it over the pre-set limit. In the above example, if 49 tickets are sold at the offer price and a customer wants to purchase 2 more to take the total sold to 51, they will be able to make the purchase. At this point the system will no longer offer the promotion buyer type.

A Hard Limit means that the system will not allow the quantity sold to exceed the limit. In the above example, if 49 tickets are sold and a customer tries to purchase 2 further tickets, it will advise that the system cannot grant the customer the tickets. If the customer selects 1 then it will allow the transaction to go through, taking the final number of tickets sold to 50 and stopping the promotional buyer type offer.

Once the limit has been applied the system will keep track of the number of tickets sold against the promotional buyer type. At any point a system administrator can either increase or decrease the limit.

For further information about this feature please do not hesitate to contact the support team:

Tickets.com Support Team
1-800-899-1036  |  support@tickets.com

Tickets.com, the MK Dons, and Young Carers MK Give Two ‘Young Carers’ an Unforgettable Fan Experience

Tickets.com has partnered with Young Carers MK to give two special MK Dons fans the perfect fan day experience.

The project was part of the T.Cares program, a global initiative launched by Tickets.com to support local community efforts by arranging remarkable experiences for deserving individuals.

The subject of this latest campaign was Young Carers MK, a charity local to the Tickets.com UK offices in Milton Keynes which supports over 650 children and young people aged 8-19 years old. The initiative helps those who care for a family member with a physical or mental illness, disability or drug and alcohol dependency, and provides young carers with one-to-one support, specialist group work, targeted activities, information, advice and guidance, school support, and someone to talk to who understands.

After researching the charity, Tickets.com became aware of a story about Ben and Valmik, two young individuals who arranged a dog walk and school fancy dress day to raise money for Young Carers MK and Willen Hospice, a local charity that looks after patients with a terminal illness.

“We were inspired by Ben and Valmik’s generosity and passion for supporting the charities,” said Natalie Jones, internal sales manager at Tickets.com.

“Like so many other young carers, Ben and Valmik have a lot more to deal with than most people their age, and we felt that they were very deserving of a break from their day-to-day responsibilities. When we found out they were both big MK Dons fans, we couldn’t wait to speak to the club and arrange a day that we knew they wouldn’t forget!”

In partnership with longstanding client MK Dons Football Club, the Tickets.com team set about arranging a VIP experience for Ben and Valmik.

The two young fans were invited to attend last month’s match against Northampton Town and, before kick-off, were taken on a stadium tour by Izale McLeod, MK Dons’ all-time leading goal scorer.

As the stadium filled, the boys enjoyed a three-course meal in the Dons’ hospitality suite before visiting the home changing room to wish the team good luck. They then headed out pitch-side for photos with the team captains and referees.

Speaking after the event, Young Carers MK Team Coordinator Debbie Norton said, “We would like to say a huge thank you to Tickets.com for offering Ben and Valmik the opportunity to spend the afternoon as VIPs, and also a massive thank you to the MK Dons team.

“It means so much to young carers to be able to get out and enjoy themselves, as often they are reluctant to leave the person they care for. Young carers can become isolated and miss out on valuable childhood experiences, so this was a wonderful opportunity.”

Valmik said: “This was a fantastic experience that will stay with me forever. From seeing the club’s all-time scorer Izale Mcleod to sitting just a few seats away from chairman Pete Winkelman, it was a truly memorable day.”

Ben also said: “Valmik and I were over the moon when we found out about the hospitality experience at MK Dons, and wow, what an experience! I would like to thank everyone at Tickets.com and MK Dons for providing us with this opportunity.”

Speaking for all Tickets.com employees and the T.Cares program, Natalie Jones concluded: “The work that Young Carers MK does for young people like Ben and Valmik is fantastic and we were honored to work with them on this project. The boys had a great day, and we’d like to extend our gratitude to MK Dons for their hospitality and support in making the experience so special.”

For more information about Young Carers MK, visit www.youngcarersmk.org.

For more information about T.Cares and to find out how your charity or project could get involved, visit https://provenue.tickets.com/t-cares/.

University of Delaware’s Resident Ensemble Players Migrate to ProVenue

Tickets.com is proud to announce its extended partnership with the University of Delaware’s Resident Ensemble Players (REP). The theater has signed a multi-year renewal which will see Tickets.com continue as the official ticketing provider, which will be migrating from ProVenueMax to the ProVenue platform.

Resident Ensemble Players is located at the University of Delaware’s Roselle Center for the Arts, an outstanding educational facility which serves as a focal point of the University’s performing arts community. Two theaters, the Wilhelmina Press Thompson Theatre & the Studio Theatre, provide opportunities to attend exhilarating theatre for the local community, which, over the years, has included productions of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird and William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

The migration to ProVenue will see Resident Ensemble Players utilizing a number of advanced features including Access Control, which will allow the theatre to digitally scan patrons’ tickets for faster entry, and MyProVenue, Tickets.com’s next-generation web application which optimizes customers’ mobile ticketing experience.

Commenting on the contract renewal with Tickets.com, REP’s Nadine Howatt,

Director of Marketing and Communications said: “ProVenue allows us not only to sell tickets in a simple and quick way but also helps us to monitor sales and attendances of our performances more accurately than we ever have done before.”

 

For more information on Resident Ensemble Players, please visit http://www.rep.udel.edu/Pages/default.aspx

To learn more about the Tickets.com ProVenue platform, please contact us!

Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival / Merry-Go-Round Playhouse Renews Contract with Tickets.com

The Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival / Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, Inc. has renewed its partnership with Tickets.com which will see the venue migrate across to the ProVenue ticketing platform.

Headquartered in Auburn, NY, the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival is a dynamic arts organization committed to creating theatrical experiences at the highest levels of artistic integrity. It leverages the power of the arts as a tool for entertainment, education, social awareness and cultural development in its community and the region. The Festival is situated in the picturesque Finger Lakes wine region of Central New York. The Festival will celebrate its 60th Anniversary with a knockout 2018 Season that includes Mamma Mia!, Anne of Green Gables, Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn, Murder For Two, Beehive and The PiTCH.

As a part of its renewal, the Festival will migrate across from ProVenueMax to the ProVenue ticketing platform. This allows the venue to utilize Tickets.com’s most advanced technology, including subscription and package flexibility, mobile tools, and MyTickets, the account management platform where visitors can manage all aspects of their bookings within the user-friendly ProVenue interface.

Lynnette Lee, Managing Director of the Festival, said of the transition, “We’re excited to extend our partnership with Tickets.com, and we’re looking forward to implementing some of the more advanced features offered by ProVenue, which will provide a more seamless ticketing process for our patrons.  Next year we will see a number of fantastic productions grace our stage, so having this new system in place will support us in managing the anticipated demand for tickets and deliver an improved overall experience for our patrons.” 

For more information about the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival’s 60th Anniversary Season, please visit https://fingerlakesmtf.com/home/.

To learn more about the Tickets.com ProVenue platform, please contact us!

Tickets.com teams up with MK Dons & Young Carers MK to give two young carers an unforgettable fan experience

Tickets.com has partnered with Young Carers MK to give two special MK Dons fans the perfect fan day experience.

The project was part of the T.Cares programme, Tickets.com’s global initiative which seeks to support local community efforts by arranging remarkable experiences for deserving individuals.

The subject of this latest campaign was Young Carers MK, a charity local to the Tickets.com UK offices in Milton Keynes which supports over 650 children and young people aged 8-19 years old. The initiative helps those who care for a family member with a physical or mental illness, disability or drug and alcohol dependency, and provides young carers with one-to-one support, specialist group work, targeted activities, information, advice and guidance, school support, and someone to talk to who understands.

After researching the charity, Tickets.com learnt of a story about Ben and Valmik, who arranged a dog walk and school fancy dress day to raise money for Young Carers MK and Willen Hospice, a local charity that looks after patients with a terminal illness.

“We were really inspired by Ben and Valmik’s generosity and passion for supporting the charities,” said Natalie Jones, Tickets.com’s internal sales manager.

“Like so many other young carers, Ben and Valmik have a lot more to deal with than most people their age and we felt that they were very deserving of a break from their day-to-day responsibilities. When we found out they were both big MK Dons fans, we couldn’t wait to speak to the club and arrange a day that we knew they wouldn’t forget!”

In partnership with longstanding client MK Dons FC, the Tickets.com team set about arranging a VIP experience for Ben and Valmik.

They were invited to attend last month’s match against Northampton Town and before kick-off, were taken on a stadium tour by MK Dons’ all-time leading goal scorer Izale McLeod.

As the stadium filled, the boys enjoyed a three-course meal in the Dons’ hospitality suite before visiting the home changing room to wish the team good luck. They then headed out pitch-side for photos with the team captains and referees.

As the match ended in a tense 0-0 draw, the day was far from over for Ben and Valmik. They were taken behind the scenes to attend the Man of the Match presentation, won by Dons defender George Williams, where they also received memorabilia including a home shirt signed by the pair’s favourite player, Chuks Aneke.

Speaking after the event, Young Carers MK Team Co-ordinator Debbie Norton said; “We would like to say a huge thank you to Tickets.com for offering Ben and Valmik the opportunity to spend the afternoon as VIPs, and also a massive thank you to the MK Dons team.

“It means so much to young carers to be able to get out and enjoy themselves, as often they are reluctant to leave the person they care for. Young carers can become isolated and miss out on valuable childhood experiences so this was a wonderful opportunity.”

Valmik said: “This was a fantastic experience that will stay with me forever. From seeing the club’s all-time scorer Izale Mcleod, to sitting just a few seats away from chairman Pete Winkelman, it was a truly memorable day.”

Ben also said: “Valmik and I were over the moon when we found out about the hospitality experience at MK Dons, and wow, what an experience! I would like to thank everyone at Tickets.com and MK Dons for providing us with this opportunity.”

Natalie Jones concluded: “The work that Young Carers MK does for young people like Ben and Valmik is fantastic and we were honoured to work with them on this project. The boys had a great day and we’d like to extend our gratitude to MK Dons for their hospitality and support in making the experience so special.”

For more information about Young Carers MK, visit www.youngcarersmk.org.

For more information about T.Cares and to find out how your charity or project could get involved, visit https://provenue.tickets.com/uk/t-cares/.

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