PROGRAM

National Arts Marketing, Development & Ticketing Conference, New York

03.21.19 - 03.22.19

KEYNOTE

So Now What? How Will You Reach Audiences in The Post-Social Media World?

Coverage of the arts is all but gone in your local newspaper. Digital ads are less and less effective on the web. But as long as we have social media, we're still reaching audiences, right? Maybe not. In the past year, 42 percent of Facebook users have taken a break from the site, and for the first time the platform lost users. Pew reports that only 9 percent of teens say Facebook is their preferred social media. So Snapchat? After a couple of years of spectacular growth it lost users in the second quarter of 2018, and its stock price cratered in mid-September. Instagram? It's still adding users, but there are signs of slowing. Amidst privacy concerns, fake news, a growing tech backlash, and more and more studies documenting the numbing effect of social media, the bloom is off the social media rose.

So now what? How will you reach audiences in a post-social media world? This session will show you how big media companies are pivoting, and explore strategies for what comes next in a post-social media world.

Douglas McLennan
Editor ArtsJournal

PLENARY

Their Journey, Your Story: The Digital Path to Ticket Purchase

In the United States, 93% of people report that entertainment is vital to their happiness, but 56% of people reported that they are rarely entertained. These casual fans, overwhelmed by all the options, find themselves spending more time choosing how to be entertained than actually engaging with the art forms that give them joy.

In Google's new Ticketing Path to Purchase Research, we understand that performing arts fans spend a lot of time online considering their entertainment options, but not buying live event tickets to the same degree that they are researching. How can we move them to take action? In this session, learn which digital touch points along the path to ticket purchase are most meaningful for performing arts patrons and how we can unlock the innate stories we have as arts organizations and cultural institutions to connect with these patrons in a meaningful way.

Mike Lorenc
Head of Industry - Ticketing, Sports & Live Events Google

AFTERNOON INTENSIVE

Attracting and Keeping the Right Audiences for Your Organization

Successful audience building means more than getting people through the door, but creating enduring relationships. Like any relationship, a lot has to happen to make it work. First, we need to identify what target audience is a good fit, because organizations will need to accommodate these newcomers, and hopefully feel comfortable embracing them and be able to weather any growing pains. Finding that right fit and preparing the organization to receive new audiences are often overlooked considerations, but research suggests several guiding principles. Examples drawn from successful audience-building initiatives will be used to illustrate these principles, with exercises to help participants identify what audience makes a good fit for their organizations and how to prepare those organizations for success.

Bob Harlow
Marketing and Research Consultant Sponsored by The Wallace Foundation

BREAKOUTS AND PANELS

Messaging for a New Era

Aligning the language you use with the realities of the world we are now living in is critical for your company’s continued success.

This workshop will explore how marketing and development professionals can better approach audiences and donors as new shifts in the marketplace take hold. For example, there are many predictions and known implications related to the New Tax Laws, in terms of estate planning, itemization and deductions. Understand how these changes could impact how you approach prospects to support your organization. Similarly, shifts in how people do their work and earn a living (e.g., the gig economy) directly impact approaches to marketing and development campaigns. We will find language, timing, and strategies to help you meet audiences where they are. You will leave this session with the beginnings of an action plan in hand.

Jennifer Edwards
Principal better_

Random Acts of Ticketing

Sometimes a successful ticketing campaign calls for an extra touch of creativity, but we all know that can be hard to find when time to brainstorm and budgets are limited. This session will provide both inspiration and a list of tools you can use at your organization to boost engagement and ticket revenue. From tips for capturing customer data when you have a hit show to ways to win back lapsed attendees, we’ll be looking at case studies of fun and unexpected approaches organizations have taken with a proven return on investment. You can expect to walk away with concrete strategies you can implement at your own organization.

Kenneth Foster
Account Executive Spektrix

Development for Marketing People in a Hurry

Arts marketers have a great deal on their plate at any given moment and Development is yet another domain to be conquered. Leave your pre-conceived notions on fundraising at the door as we learn the strategies and tactics of working hand-in-hand with your development team on new ways to collaborate and drive revenue growth for your organization through uncertain times.

Sean King
Principal Aspire Arts Consulting

Marketing to Multiple Audiences: Secrets to Success

Keeping up with today’s global communities demands more than a one-size-fits-all marketing plan. Katie Sword, Vice President of Marketing and Communications for NJPAC, New Jersey’s largest and most diverse performing arts center, shows how to connect to rapidly changing audiences by fine-tuning product selling points, recruiting social influencers, and using up-to-the-minute research to target customers.

Katie Sword
Vice President of Marketing New Jersey Performing Arts Center

The Road to Optimal Pricing: Where Do You Go From Here?

Everyone is at a different point in the evolution of their pricing strategies. Hear from these seasoned marketing professionals about where they’ve been and where they’re headed in their quest for the perfect pricing strategy. What have been their successes and what obstacles do they still face? Then chime in with your own plans and questions about where to go from here.

Jack McAuliffe
President Engaged Audiences

Dan DeMato
President FutureTix

Moderator: Melissa Klein
Director of Sales & Marketing Blue Man Group

Cultural Facilities as Fundraising and Audience Development Tools

Historically, cultural facilities have been viewed by management as simply the place where the art meets the audience, and also as a drain on scarce human and financial resources. This session will explore the idea that cultural facilities can and should be important tools for audience development and fundraising, based on recent case studies in the sector and specific examples of organizations that are getting much more value out of their facilities.

On the audience development side, we will show examples of cultural organizations that use their facilities as a way to build and strengthen customer relations, building a sense of community and loyalty to the organization through programming and special events. We will also demonstrate how facilities can themselves be used to deploy a range of effective marketing messages and programs.

For fundraising purposes, we start with the idea that every event is a fundraising event and show examples of how cultural facilities can drive annual and capital funding. Then we will explore trends in event and facility sponsorship as a means to improve financial sustainability.

Audience 360: Broadening Audience Reach Within A Performing Arts Collective

In just under 5 years, with 45 performing arts groups and cultural institutions, sharing a collective database of over 6.5million unique households and growing, Audience 360 is becoming a vital coalition for NYC’s Performing Arts Marketers. A marketing, research and advocacy tool, its goals are to cost-effectively identify targeted and qualified arts consumers; to simplify cultural list exchanges between participating non-profit arts organizations, reducing list exchange fees; and examine consumer behavior through market analysis and aggregated research. Come learn about the many benefits of such a collective from Andrew Block of TDF and Audience 360 Steering Committee Co-Chairs, Phil Haas of Classic Stage Company and Dustin Brauneck of New York City Ballet.

Moderator: Andrew Block
Manager of Off and Off-Off Broadway Services Theatre Development Fund

Dustin Brauneck
Director, Relationship Marketing New York City Ballet

Phil Haas
Director of Marketing and Communications Classic Stage Company

Veronica Shea
Marketing Manager Primary Stages

Arts Funding is Dead: Strategies to Breathe Life Back into Your Development Plan

Patron apathy and atrophy, societal changes, foundation recalibration, media overload and more have all put arts funding on life support. Join us for this session exploring the challenges we face and new strategies to take back to the office to help your organization and development department reimagine it's role in the community. It's time for a new story and we'll give you some helpful building blocks to write your winning narrative.

Sean King
Principal Aspire Arts Consulting

Part of the Digital Marketing Track - Content: The Currency of Digital Marketing

Content is the Currency of Digital Marketing. But as arts marketers, we must wear a lot of hats. Our to-do lists are a mile long and we rarely have an opportunity to brainstorm creative and inspiring content ideas. Yet, the pressure is on. With a constant stream of social content fighting for people’s attention, how well are you reaching your audience online? This session will give you some of the tools you need to help you create more compelling content. This session will also include tips for creating great social advertising content so you can put your content to work for you.

Rachel Purcell
Consultant Capacity Interactive

From First to Loyal: Converting Your Newest Patrons to Returning Visitors and Beyond!

Congratulations! You have new patrons in your doors! But how do you engage and retain them? Learn fail-proof ways to bring back your newest audiences and convert them to lifetime patrons and donors.

Gina DiRado
Director of Development Orphaned Starfish Foundation

John Issendorf
Owner Issendorf Projects

Part of the Digital Marketing Track - Find Out Who the Other 67% of Your Audience Is: How In-Venue Technology is Uncovering “Ghost Audiences”

Imagine if you could capture and sell to everyone who is coming to your shows but hasn’t bought a ticket yet because they are coming with someone who purchased the tickets for them. This hidden audience is a prime market for buying your tickets, you just need to find out who they are!

Most theatres only know one-third of the audience members sitting in their seats. The other two-thirds -- or the non-ticket buyers -- remain a mystery. New in-venue engagement technologies are changing the house map by de-anonymizing audience members and providing a full, 360-degree view of who sits in your seats on any given night. By linking ticket transaction data with on-site patron data – acquired via wifi, social check-ins, pixels and native apps – your venue can employ applications in audience mining, local cross-promotion, and ancillary data monetization that lead to richer patron data, deeper relationships, and more effective marketing opportunities.

THREE KEY LEARNINGS:

Know more than a patron’s zip code – demographic breakdowns combined with social preference and interest data is essential for audience mining and lucrative data-based revenue streams.
Think outside the seat – concessions, parking, Instagram pics… every piece of information helps you learn more about your audience and their preferences.
Sharing is caring: and it pays the bills –Your clients and fellow luxury brands want and need robust data and behavioral information -- become your industry’s supplier.

Sarah Hutton
Director of Sales Choice Entertainment Technologies

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.
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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.
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Schedule

March 21, 2019:
Morning Intensive (Program starts at 9:00 a.m.)
Lunch on Your Own
Plenary
Panel
Opening Reception with one-on-ones

March 22, 2019:
Breakouts
Networking Reception with one-on-ones
Lunch with the Experts
Afternoon Intensive
Breakouts (Conference ends at 5:00 p.m.)

Program and speakers subject to change.

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