PROGRAM

National Arts Marketing, Development & Ticketing Conference, Los Angeles

10.17.17 - 10.18.17

DANCING WITH THE STARS

Ouija Boards, Magic 8 Balls & More Ways to Tell if Your Marketing Is Working

“Ask again later” ... is that what you get when trying to figure out if your latest marketing campaign boosted ticket sales? How about a new method, one that gets you a definitive “yes”? We’re taking a look at the real ways to track your marketing efforts to determine what’s working and what’s not. No more asking the spirits if that billboard or Facebook ad sold tickets -- it’s time for a better way!

Arie Levine
Senior Marketing Manager Ahmanson Theatre and Mark Taper Forum

Michael Betts
Box Office Manager Musical Theatre West

INNOVATIVE IDEA INCUBATOR

Tap the Hive Mind

Pitch Your Idea/Project/Challenge in front of our audience of national arts marketers, development and ticketing specialists.

Arts Reach is renowned for its national conferences featuring speakers in arts management sharing their experience and expertise. But our greatest resource is the marketing, development and ticketing professionals from arts organizations all over the country who attend our conferences to learn, network and share.

This year we'd like tap this expertise in a more formal way AND give an opportunity for two organizations to pitch their own idea, project or challenge in front of all our attendees.

Do you have a project or idea or challenge you'd like to try out or get help on from a group of industry experts? Maybe a fundraising challenge, a radical new way of thinking about ticketing, or a fresh approach for reaching a hard-to-get audience. Pitch your proposal to us and we'll choose two projects as the subject of a session at the Los Angeles conference.

Maybe you're about to launch a new audience engagement initiative, or try out a new dynamic pricing ticket project or social media campaign. Maybe you've got a particularly gnarly challenge you've trying to surmount but are running low on ideas. Here's your chance to shine. Pitch it to the conference and get valuable feedback and advice - maybe even recruit some help. The session will be moderated and led by Douglas McLennan, editor of ArtsJournal.com and a national consultant on strategic audience development.

If there's one thing we've learned in recent years, it's that the collective wisdom of a network is a powerful thing. Working together and focusing our collective experience can be an amazing learning experience - for all of us.

So pitch us your best idea by September 15. In less than 500 words, describe your project, idea or challenge and tell us why your idea should be chosen. We'll announce winners by October 1. Winners will receive complimentary registration for your entire team to a subsequent National Arts Marketing, Development and Ticketing Conference of your choice!

Send submissions by September 15 to admin@artsreach.com

BREAKOUTS AND PANELS

Apps and Gamification

Options for interacting with patrons, donors and visitors are changing what seems daily. We’ll go over the technology and show samples that can benefit your digital presence and bottom-line.

Putting Butts in Seats with Words

Create brochures that are worthy of your season and marketing copy that does justice to your shows. Throughout the 50-minute interactive session, this award-winning copywriter will challenge you to craft a compelling headline, be aggressively clever in your wordplay and – above all - make every character matter in our world of ever-shrinking copy blocks.

Larry Dean Harris
Principal WORDS

We Need to Talk…About Your Website

Your programming, your venue, and your marketing are all beautiful, so why does your website still look like it was designed using Microsoft Paint? Your website is often the first touchpoint audiences have with your organization and understanding their journey across the site and their path to checkout is critically important to making sure they have a positive experience. This session helps you focus on the purpose of your website and offers tips to help ensure your customer experience online is smooth, enjoyable and profitable.

Ethan Joseph
Account Manager Spektrix

Reaching Beyond The Comfort Zone: Finding, Enticing And Keeping Diverse Audiences

Artistic Directors and arts and culture organizations are speaking specifically about equity and producing works with an eye to equitable representation. Great! But what does that mean for arts marketing and development departments? How should your tactics change when reaching out to audiences with which you may not be familiar? How do you market not only to your target audience, but to other audiences as well? And once you’ve successfully brought new audiences to your doors…how do you make them stay for the next show or exhibition?! We’ll talk practical tactics for how to reach out past your comfort zone, and bring people to your organization – which may not be in their comfort zone!

Moderator: Eddie Cota
Founder Champion City

Julia Diamond
Interim Director, Grand Park The Music Center

Traci Takahara Slacum
Education Griffith Observatory

Turning Yours and Mine Into Ours: Developing Effective Partnerships with Host Venues

"The seats are fantastic, the proscenium is the perfect size, the box office is well-staffed, the ushers are standing by, the bar is stocked....” thing is, none of this stuff belongs to your company.

Many theater companies must rent space or partner with host venues to get productions in front of audiences, often having no direct control over box office practices, customer service, or venue restrictions. How can we effectively work with host or rental venues to market our shows and produce the experiences that we want for our patrons?"

Issues addressed in this session include:

How do you sell tickets when you cannot sell your own tickets?
The venue staff are not as invested in your work as you are.
You are removed from your subscribers and clients by at least one degree.
Your company is constantly being confused with the venue - or vice versa.
What happens when the venue staff receives feedback regarding your company or your production?

Tom Mitze
Interim Programming Director Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts

Michael Betts
Box Office Manager Musical Theatre West

BT McNICHOLL
Producing Artistic Director La Mirada Theatre

Focus on Loyalty to Increase Your Revenue in the Most Cost-Effective Way

Join us for a discussion on how branding and design can play a major part in how your patrons engage with your venue’s ticketing site. Learn simple strategies for increasing online conversions, from core branding principles to up-sell and cross-sell opportunities that step your patrons into increasing levels of loyalty. We’ll also talk about mobile optimization and where the guest digital journey is going. We'll look at all the ways to increase your revenue in the most cost-effective way.

First impressions are everything. For theatres and performing arts organizations, the ticket purchase is often the first touchpoint you have with your patrons, so it’s important to create an engaging and seamless experience. After all, every loyal patron was once a first-time visitor!

Wendi Yanez
Sales Director accesso ShoWare

Joe Wettstead
Director of Client Success accesso ShoWare

Suzy Silvestre
Recreation Program Coordinator Lancaster Performing Arts Center

Our Sponsors

Dream Warrior Group provides graceful yet technologically savvy solutions for Arts organizations. The goal-driven services focus on audience and action. As your technology advocate, we will be your ally and can manage and fully implement your online presence. Our services (à la carte or contracted) include: Web site design and development, e-marketing, e-promotion, social media management and optimization. We implement your message in a digital environment.
More Info
InstantEncore powers over one million patron experiences every year. helps arts and culture organizations thrive. Our two innovative mobile services – Appscension and InsideGuide - breakdown barriers to attendance, increase convenience for patrons, and drive ROI for you.
More Info
BroadwayWorld is the largest theatre site on the internet, covering Broadway, the West End and beyond to 100 US cities, 45 countries and in 12 languages worldwide. With over six million monthly visitors, BroadwayWorld delivers complete up-to-the-minute Broadway, off-Broadway, and regional theatre news, in-depth interviews, extraordinary photo coverage, entertaining video features, lively message boards, ticket discounts, reviews, and more.
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Spektrix is a ticketing, marketing and fundraising solution made specifically for the performing arts. With cloud-based technology and world-class support, Spektrix helps 400+ organizations across the U.S., Canada and the U.K. grow their revenue and deepen patron relationships. We do this through providing a system with frequent and seamless upgrades, sophisticated reporting, and free strategic consultation from experienced arts professionals.
More Info

Schedule

October 17, 2017:
Morning Intensive (Program starts at 9:00 a.m.)
Lunch on Your Own
Plenary
Panel
Opening Reception with one-on-ones

October 18, 2017:
Breakouts
Networking Reception with one-on-ones
Lunch with the Experts
Afternoon Intensive
Breakouts

Program and speakers subject to change.

Among other benefits, Arts Reach Members receive significant discounts on conference registration. Join NOW!