First, we ought to begin with some terminology:
A venue is a location where activity takes place. This could be a theatre, an amphitheater, a concert hall, a church, an arena - or even a conference room, a foyer, a classroom or a rehearsal space. The options are limitless. The important designator for a "venue" is that it is a physical location. You may or may not even sell tickets to this space. It may be solely used as a gathering space or an ancillary space that supports an activity in a nearby, larger space. It matters less what goes on inside the space, than that the space is used for some kind of purpose.
A Pricing Map is a slightly more esoteric concept at work inside a venue. It is not just a physical layout of seats for a venue, but can also be a different pricing structure for those seats.
Your Organization can have multiple Venues.
Each of these venues may be configured to serve special purposes. For example, you may have one set up for rock concerts and another for stage plays. Each different configuration can have different capacities.
With Threatre Manager, you can manage the different venues and keep track of the different configurations. As a rule, you create one venue for each physical performance space, regardless of how your seating can be changed.
Managing the venue is separate from managing the Pricing Maps. You create your venue first. When you add the venue, you add:
Venues also have Plays, Tasks, Default Resources and G/L Entries attached to them.
If you are building a Festival ("General Admission") venue, then you do not need to add a graphic or Seat Names. Simply add a Pricing Map and its name, capacity and price codes. The following steps are only if you plan to use this Pricing Map as a reserved seating map. |
Next you add the Pricing Map(s). There are four steps to adding a Pricing map to a Venue in Theatre Manager:
Click here to go to Step 1 - Creating the Graphic for the Map.
Click here to go to Step 2 - Placing the Seats on a Pricing Map.
Click here to go to Step 3 - Creating the Logical Seat Order.
The following Quick reference Information is available for Theatres and Maps
Theatres / Venues and Pricing Maps | ||||
Adding a Theatre Map to Theatre Manager Quick Reference Guide | ||||
Editing Tools Cheatsheet | ||||
Changing Theatre Manager's Appearance for Buttons and Labels | ||||
Add a Venue and Step 1 - Creating the Graphic for the Map | ||||
Placing Seats on a Pricing Map - Step 2 | ||||
Creating the Logical Seat Order - Step 3 |
If you have many venues, you can need to search for the required venue. This can be executed quickly using the Venue List window.
To access Venue List Window, you perform the following steps:
Alternatively you can click on the Venues button on the main Theatre Manager toolbar.
The Venue List window opens.
Click the search drop down.
Leaving the Like field blank produces a list of all the venues.
Single click on a venue to select it.
Click here, for more information on creating a new venue.
Alternatively you can click on the Venue button from the main Theatre Manager toolbar.
The Venue List window opens.
Opens the Theatre Manager Online Help. | |
Creates a new Venue. For more information on creating new Venues, click here. | |
Opens the selected venue for editing. For more information on editing venues, click here. | |
Creates a copy of the selected venue. For more information on duplicating venues, click here. | |
Deletes the selected venues. Venues can only be deleted if their are no Pricing Maps attached and the maps have not been used to sell tickets. Click here For more information on Deleteing Venues.Click here For more information on Deleteing Venues. | |
Exports either the Venue List in text or Excel formats, or exports the map in .tmm format for importing to another Theatre Manager database. For more information on exporting maps, click here. | |
Imports a Venue from another Theatre Manager database. For instructions on importing venues, click here. | |
Allows you to merge two or venues together. This should be done if they occupy the same physical space. For instructions on Merging Venues, click here. | |
The fields listed below are the default columns listed for the Venue List window, but the columns can be changed to suit your needs. For more details on changing column preferences, click here. | |
Map # | The unique number assigned to the venue for reference. |
Venue Name (Internal) | Internal name of the venue. |
Venue Name (External) | External name of the venue displayed online. |
Capacity | Seating capacity for the map. |
Price Codes | Letters and numbers assigned to the map for the pricing structure. |
Plug-in | Plug-in assigned to the map. |
Named? | Indicates whether or not the theatre seats have been named. |
Outlet-Owner | Outlet responsible for the map. |
Venue Time Zone | The actual time zone setting for the venue if it is specified. It will be ' |
Time Zone | The time zone abbreviation for all events in the venue. |
Click here, for quick reference information for Venues and Maps
Click here, for quick reference information for Venues and Maps
When you add the venue, you add:
To add a Venue, you perform the following steps:
The Venue List window opens.
The Venue Inserting window opens to the Description tab. Click here for more information on the parts of the Venue window.
Venue # |
Unique number of the map, automaticallly assigned by Theatre Manager |
Internal Venue Name | The internal name used on the sales window |
External Venue Name | The external name for the venue used in web sales and for ticket faces |
Address | The Address information of the venue |
Phone | The telephone and Fax numbers for the Box Office |
Email address of the Box Office | |
Fire Rated Capacity | The capacity of the venue as allowed by your local Emergency Services Department |
Active | If enabled the venue will be shown for selection in reports |
Venue Colour | A colour selected here overides the normal task colour shown on the calendar for this venue. |
You can add a 200 pixel width by 250 pixel height jpeg that represents the branding for the venue. You only need to do this if your organization uses different icons for the venues instead of a generic icon for the Company. If you leave the field blank, TicketTrove will use the company icon for all venues. Click here for more information on adding a Venue image.
Enter any additional notes about the Venue. The notes entered here will appear in the internet for web sales.
Click here, for quick reference information for Venues and Maps
When editing a venue, you can change information on the:
To Edit a pricing Map, you first must be aware:
To change the number of seats, it is first recommended you duplicate an existing pricing map and make your changes to the new map.
To edit a Pricing Map, click here.
To edit a Venue, you perform the following steps:
Alternatively you can click on the Venue button in the Theatre Manager main toolbar / ribbon bar.
The Venue List window opens.
Click here for a detailed description of the Theatre List window and it's functions.
You can filter the list by:
Click here for a detailed description of the Venue window and it's functions.
Click here, for quick reference information for Venues and Maps
You may need to be deleted from the database. To delete a venue, you perform the following steps:
If there are any pricing maps attached to the venue, the following error message opens.
You will need to open the venue and delete the Pricing Map.
If there are no Pricing Maps attached to the venue, the Delete Venue confirmation dialog opens.
The venue is removed from the venue list.
Click here, for quick reference information for Venues and Maps
To duplicate a venue/theatre, you perform the following steps:
Click here to learn how to access the window.
Single click on the venue to select it.
The copied Venue will now appear in the Venue List window. It will also contain the same attached Pricing Maps as the original venue.
Click here, for quick reference information for Venues and Maps
Two or more venues can be merged together. This should be done if they occupy the same physical space and are really just alternate pricing maps for the same place.
The process is to:
When merging venues, the following occurs:
Once two venues have been merged into one, there is no mechanism to separate them at this time.
Click here, for quick reference information for Venues and Maps
The Venue / Theatre Window contains all the information about the venues in your organization. If you have multiple Pricing Maps for your venue, they are contained in the Venue window.
For example, The Civic Theatre sells some events with All Seats the same price (Pricing Map 46), while other events may utilize a Three Tier pricing setup (Center Orchestra, Sides, Balcony) and choose to use Pricing Map 61. For some events, they sell Festival Seating and while a Pricing Map will be used, no map will be displayed.
The parts of the window are:
The Task / Ribbon Bar | Click here for more information on the Bar and its functions. |
The Description Tab - This window is where you enter:
Click here for more information on the Description tab. | |
Event / Plays Tab - Lists all the envets / plays that are currently
using the currently selected theatre or have used this theatre in the
past. Click here for more information on the Event / Plays tab. | |
Tasks Tab - The tasks that are associated with the selected Theatre.
Click here for more information on the Tasks Tab | |
Default Resources Tab - Those resources that are a permanet part of
the venue.
Click here for more information on the Default Resources tab. |
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GL Entries Tab - Shows the GL Entries that have been directly associated with this venue. This allows you to compare the revenues for one venue as compared to another venue. |
The Theatre Map window toolbar / ribbon bar is used by all four tabs:
Click on a link to learn more about the features.
Opens the Help file for Theatre Maps. Click here to view the Help page. | |
Creates a new theatre. Click here for more information on Createing a New Theatre. | |
Saves the information for the currently selected theatre. | |
Duplicates the information for the currently selected theatre. | |
If you change any information, clicking the revvert button returns the information to when it was last saved in the selected theatre. | |
The current theatre will be deleted if no files are currently referenced. | |
Checks the spelling of the information entered into the fields displayed. | |
Exports the currently selected theatre to txt - Tab Delimited, txt - Comma Delimited, xls - Excel 97-2004 or xlsx - Excel 2008 files. Click here for more information on Exporting. |
Contact Information |
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Venue (or "Theatre") Map # | Unique number of the map automatically assigned by Theatre Manager. | ||
Internal Venue Name | The internal name of the venue that is used on the sales window. | ||
External Venue Name | The external name of the venue used in web sales and for ticket faces. | ||
Address | Address of the venue. | ||
City | City in which the venue is located. | ||
Province / State | Province / State where the venue is located. | ||
Country | Country where the venue is located. | ||
Postal Code / Zip Code | Postal code / zip code of the venue. | ||
Phone | Phone number of the venue. | ||
Fax | Fax number of the venue. | ||
E-mail address for the box office. | |||
Fire Rated Capacity | Maximum number of people allowed in the venue by the Fire Marshall. | ||
Time Zone | The default is that all events in this venue all occur in the same time zone as company preferences. If you wish to change that, you can uncheck and then set a different timezone for all events in the venue.
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Active | Indicates if the Theatre is to be shown in reports for selection on reports in the pop-up lists. | ||
Venue Colour | You can override the normal play/task colour displayed on the calendar by selecting a different colour for this venue from the colour palette. |
Venue Icons for the Web |
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Icon | Here you can add a 250x200 pixel jpeg that the iPhone application will use as a thumbnail to identify your venue as a thumbnail. If no Play picture is provided, this will be the default for any play in that venue. Click here, for information on adding a jpeg. |
Removes the mobile app jpeg from the database. | |
Notes |
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Notes | Any additional notes about the venue. These notes will appear on the internet for web sales. |
Pricing Map |
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Venue Image | Displays a Thumbnail of the graphic map. Click the image to Open the Pricing Map window to edit the map. |
Icons to indicate what versions have been saved for each Pricing Map. | |
Opens a New Pricing Map window to enter a new map for the venue. Click here for more information on adding a New Pricing Map. | |
Opens the selected Pricing Map for editing. Click here for more information on editing a Pricing Map. | |
Deletes the selected Pricing Map. |
You can add a 200 pixel width by 250 pixel height jpeg that represents the branding for the venue. You only need to do this if your organization uses different icons for the venues instead of a generic icon for the Company. The default icon (if one is not entered here) is located in Setup >> Company Preferences on the Reports/Misc tab.
If you leave the field blank, TicketTrove will use the company icon for all venues.
To add a jpeg, you perform the following steps:
The file manager for your OS will open, select the file and click the Open button.
Your image will appear in the Theatre Map window.
Alternatively, you can drag and drop from the file manager to the field.
To remove the jpeg from the Theatre Map window, click the delete button.
The Event / Plays tab lists all the events / plays that are currently currently attached to the selected venue.
Note: The term "Play" can be customized in Theatre Manager to more accurately represent your type of performances. It may be called:
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New events / Plays can be added to the venue through this window clicking the New button. Click here, for more information on creating an Event / Play.
Play # | The sequence number of the event / play in the database. |
Event Code | The event code as defined on the Description tab. For more information on the Description tab click here. |
Event Title | The event title as defined on the Description tab. For more information on the Description tab click here. |
Year | The Season Year as defined on the Description tab. For more information on the Description tab click here. |
# Perf. | The number of performances for the event. For more information on the Performances tab click here. |
First Performance | The date of the first performance. For more information on the Performances tab click here. |
Last Performance | The date of the last performance. For more information on the Performances tab click here. |
Tax | The tax structure used for the event (if any), as defined on the Accounting tab. For more information on the Accounting tab click here. |
Time | The runtime of the performances as defined on the Marketing tab. For more information on the Marketing tab click here. |
Pricing Map Name(Internal) | The internal name of the map. |
Opens the template for creating a new event. For more information on creating a new event click here. | |
Opens the selected event setup. | |
Deletes the selected event from the database. Note: you can only delete events with no transactions. |
Tasks are at the heart of the Facility Management module. A task can represent anything you want to have show up on a calendar or appear on an invoice for a client. Because of its flexibility, it is important to understand all the different kinds of information that can be stored in a task so that you can determine which options to use for your particular situation.
When you ask the question "Can I use a task for .....?" the answer is probably Yes.
For more information about the Facility Management module click here. To read more specifically about tasks and their place within Facility Management, click here.
There are a coupe of rules:
A Pricing Map is a slightly more esoteric concept at work inside a venue. It is not just a physical layout of seats for a venue, but can also be a different pricing structure for those seats.
Click here, for quick reference information for Venues and Maps
There are four steps to Creating a new Pricing Map. They are:
Description |
The Description Tab - here you enter or look at:
Click here for more information on the Description tab. |
Shows the graphic image for the map and places each of the seats. On
this window you can:
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Seat Names Tab - determines the name of each seat within the venue.
Click here for more information on the Seat Names Tab | |
Best Seat Search Tab - Here you can create a list of sections for patron's to choose from on your website.
Click here for more information on the Best Seats Tab. | |
Price Code Search Tab - Here you can create a list of sections for patron's to choose from on your website.
Click here for more information on the Best Seats Tab. |
Pricing Map Name and Capacity | |||||
Pricing Map Number | System generated number for the specified graphic map. | ||||
Internal Pricing Map Name | The internal name is only be visible to internal Theatre Manager users. You can use this to designate things like 'venue - 2 price zones' or 'venue - summer season' to distinguish between uses of the price maps | ||||
External Pricing Map Name | External name for the map and visible to patrons on web and ticket faces. | ||||
Active | Indicates if the map can used or not and if it is to be used for reports. | ||||
Physical Seats | This is the maximum number of people that can fit legally into the performance space. For some events, not all seats may be sold to the public. | ||||
Reporting Capacity | The seating capacity of the theatre to be used in reports. The venue may have more seats than are allowed to be sold. The Reporting Capacity allows you to generate reports against what you are able to sell as opposed to what you have in the venue.
To be clear: the reporting capacity is almost always the same as the physical seating capacity. You can make it less than the number of physical seats. If you do this:
When might it be different? The feature is really only intended to be used if you have a scaled house for actor equity purposes and equity lets you sell your venue at a lower size. You would be holding these 'standing room' tickets -- which equity has allowed you to have for overflow crowds only. If you need the extra seats, you then pay actor equity rates for the expanded venue site to use all seats for that performance. Online Availability is affected by this number
If you have a general admission venue where you should only have 300 seats, then you can set the available capacity at 350 and the reporting capacity at 300. This will limit online sales to 300. However, at the box office, you can 'oversell' the event - like airlines - based on your own calculated no-show factor. |
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Price Codes |
Enter the allowable base price zone categories. It is suggested to have no more than 5 or 6 base price zones in any theatre if possible and best if they do not overlap.
Some times you many need to use a two sets of pricing zones in your venue. eg:
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Best Seat Plug-In | The number of the plugin used for searching for seats in this theatre. | ||||
Theatre | The Venue Map to which this Pricing Map is associated. | ||||
Reserved Seating Web Search Options | |||||
Enable seat search by section | A checkbox to allow use of the Best Seat Search tab contents by online patrons. | ||||
Enable seat search by price code | A checkbox to allow use of the Price Code Search tab contents by online patrons. | ||||
Enable pick your own seats | A checkbox to allow use of the Pick-your-own search online. For this to be enabled, you must have:
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Reserved Seating JPEG map size | |||||
Height |
Pricing Maps are created by dropping an SVG file onto the Graphic Map tab. They are converted to a JPEG automatically for display purposes by the TM server.
SVG images, by definition, are scaleable vector graphics. It mans that they can scale up or down to any size you want.
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Width |
This is normally blank if you want the SVG map converted to a JPEG with the same ratio in the X and Y coordinates (eg, if the SVG is converted 150% size in height, the width will be converted by the same ratio.
However if you want the SVG to have a different scale factor for width, you can specify a pixel width in this fields. |
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Other Fields and buttons | |||||
Notes | Notes for the venue. | ||||
SVG ToolTip Format |
You can add tooltips for seats in the online pick-your-own seat process to assist patrons data about their seat selections. You can put any combination of:
The keywords are below and can be in any order in the tooltip format
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Insert PPT File |
Most graphic maps are created using Powerpoint - and you can save the source file as part of the database by either dragging the .PPT document onto the button, or clicking the button to find the map. Once the PPT is in the database, you can export it in the future if you want to make changes to the other graphic maps.
If the button says 'Insert PPT File', then you have not yet imported one. If the button says 'Update PPT File', you will be replacing the original version with the new version. | ||||
Insert SVG File |
Online maps are displayed using SVG graphics. Pick your own seats also uses the same map. This is created from your PPT and merged with seat locations used at the box office so that the online and box office maps look quite similar. However, because they are separated, you have the opportunity to make more stylized maps online.
If the button says 'Insert SVG File', then you have not yet imported one. If the button says 'Update SVG File', you will be replacing the original version with the new version. | ||||
Reserved Seating Map Status | |||||
Seats Placed on Box Office Map | Indicates if all the seats have been placed on the graphic image. This is required for reserved seating sales through the graphic inteface. | ||||
Seats Placed on SVG Map | Indicates if all the seats have been placed on the SVG image. This is required for pick your own reserved seating sales through internet | ||||
All Seats Have Been Named | A flag indicating of the seats have been named for the theatre. This is required for a reserved seating event to take place in the theatre. |
NOTE: In order to see changes to pick-your-seat map online, you must re-create the pick your own seat map following the instructions. This is required for any changes to the main map such as:
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Select your own seats allows patrons to click on specific seats on a map online after an initial set of best seats has been selected by Theatre Manager. The process is designed for speed and flexibility for varying degrees of sales volumes. When the sales volume exceeds hundreds of sales per minute, obtaining seats through a pick-first process would be extremely difficult (can't click fast enough). Refer to What the Patron Sees for more detail.
Making an SVG map for use with pick your own seats can take as little as a few minutes if you have the original PPT Powerpoint file. The general steps are:
Use of pick your own seats can be:
There are some pre-requistes a venue must complete prior to enabling select-your-own-seat. You must
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Pick your own is designed for modern browsers: IE11 and up, Safari, Chrome, Opera, Edge, Firefox running on Windows, OSX, IOS and Android. The few remaining users of IE 10 and earlier represent less than 4% of the marketplace. They:
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To make an SVG map, please find your original Powerpoint document, or if you've imported it into TM for safekeeping, you can export it to get the original file.
You must also have completed the steps to set up the graphic map under the Graphic Map tab for box office sales. |
The best way we have found to create a very useable SVG map will closely match your existing box office maps is to use Open Office (free) and your original PPT document. NOTE: Users must use the older Power Point file format of .ppt. The newer, default format of .pptx, can cause issues when being converted to .SVG.
Note: after you have created an SVG document that is to your liking, you can use OpenOffice to make your PPT map edits from that point forward if you feel comfortable using it as an editing tool as well as a graphics format conversion tool.
After making your final changes to the graphic map, you should save it to the database so that you can retrieve it later on - should you want to alter and aspect of the map or use it to make another pricing map for dynamic pricing.. |
Saving the original file that was used to create the maps:
If you have saved the original source drawing/map in the database as recommended, you can export it out again. Traditionally, we have used Powerpoint to create maps, but it has always been possible to use other drawing tools like OpenOffice.
If you make changes to the location of the background objects while tidying things up or altering the page size, please remember to update the box office sales map:
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This page describes using then for its picture conversion capabilities (eg PPT to SVG).
Before doing this process, you must have created your SVG map and have it available or already have it imported. |
The merging maps process is required before you can enable pick your own seats online. It takes a previously created SVG map and automatically adds in the seat locations, tooltips, and the customized code that will make the maps work online
There are 4 steps:
You can repeat this process as many times as you want. It is usually just a click of a button and you will need to do it:
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To do this:
The example to the right causes the online map to show the {section}/{row}/{seat} and two lines below that, the seat {note} (if one exists).
To edit this field, simply type how you want the seat tip to look and which fields you want. You may use keywords, fixed text, and newlines to make it look as you wish such as:
The diagram below shows how the seat tip fields relate to the columns on the Seat Names tab.
After preparing the SVG map per the previous instructions, you will need to use this wizard to merge the map with the rest of the programming code that will actually make it work. Fortunately, this is automated and is a quick process.
Historically, different vector based image formats for the web use different scaling and origins. This means that X-Y seat locations for the box office maps have to be 'adjusted' slightly to work with the SVG map. This window shows the standard values that have been found to work with almost all powerpoint maps so far (providing that they have been cleaned up of a couple of things). If you are using an SVG exported from Powerpoint, you should not have to change any of these parameters - but in case you find you need to (eg: an export from Adobe Illustrator), the meaning of them are:
After you have placed your seats on the Pricing Map, you can quickly Preview the Map Online by selecting the Preview Map button. This will jump you to the view of what patrons see online, and the preview displays the TM seats placed on the SVG file.
The online select-your-seat process has predefined computer code associated with each seat and it can be turned on in the Description tab of the Pricing Map itself.
You can test the online sales process by previewing the Event online, and running through the sales process. You can test all the Promotions, move from seat to seat, and test on mobile devices to ensure that the Map can be pulled and pinched the way you need it in terms of sizing.
Editing an SVG map to add stylistic flourishes is possible, but Arts Management provides no support for maps changed in this manner. If an edit breaks the 'select-your-seats', you will need to figure out the cause or recreate the SVG map again. |
You must make sure that you do not change any of the SVG id and class markers that identify the seat locations for Theatre Manager. You can change a number of stylistic components, add legends, or do as you wish. Manually editing a map has some steps:
Select your own seats allows patrons to click on specific seats on a map online after an initial set of best seats has been selected by Theatre Manager. The process is designed for speed and flexibility for varying degrees of sales volumes. When the sales volume exceeds hundreds of sales per minute, obtaining seats through a pick-first process would be extremely difficult (can't click fast enough).
To ensure that patrons are satisfied, even in high volume scenarios, Theatre Manager uses the following process:
The images below indicate what the patron will see online:
They then click the Find Best Seats to get a starting set of seats.
The difference is that you would design the order of entry based on minimizing interaction with people (instead of how much the patron paid or how often they came).
Editing Tools Cheatsheet |
Selection arrow. | |
Adds a grid of seats to the map. | |
Adds a single seat to the map. | |
Removes selected seats from the map. | |
Zoom in on a selected section of the map. | |
Zoom out on a selected section of the map. | |
Aligns to the top of the selected seats. | |
Aligns to the bottom of the selected seats. | |
Aligns to the left of the selected seats. | |
Aligns to the right of the selected seats. | |
Evenly distributes selected seats horizontally based on the position of the end seats of the row. | |
Evenly distributes selected seats vertically based on the position of the end seats of the column. | |
Re-grids the seats allowing for adjusting the number of columns and spacing. | |
Duplicate the selected seats. | |
Flip selected seats horizontally. | |
Flip selected seats vertically. | |
Rotate selected seats 90 degrees to the left. | |
Rotate selected seats 90 degrees to the right. | |
Sort selected seats in ascending order. | |
Show / Hide seat numbers on the map. | |
High of the selected seats from 8 - 20. | |
Width of the selected seats from 8 - 20. | |
Set selected seats as squares. When selected prior to placing seats new seats will appear as squares. | |
Set selected seats as circles. When selected prior to placing seats new seats will appear as circles. |
Click here, for quick reference information for Venues and Maps
Theatre map graphics or pictures are not required if the venue is used for festival (General Admission) or Traveling Troupe ticket sales. If the intention is to sell reserved seats visually, a graphic representation of the theatre will need to be drawn in a graphic application and then placed into Theatre Manager. At this time, Arts Management recommends using a PowerPoint slide to draw the graphic image as it allows for small file size, and images can be saved in the correct format for both PC and Mac use.
If you intend to use the Select Your own Seats Online feature, your map will also need to be converted into an SVG file. You will need to have a PowerPoint or .emf file to start with, then convert it to SVG using OpenOffice |
Optimizing Graphic Map Size
Use vector based graphics (lines, squares, circles, letters, colour, etc) on your maps and do not use picture/image files (jpegs, tiffs, bitmaps, etc) or high bit depth (shadings and transparency) in order to minimize the size of the final graphic. Think simple - the graphic map that sits behind the seat squares does not need to be an elaborate representation of the venue. The purpose is to allow Box Office staff and online patrons to easily visualize the sections/zones within the venue. |
You can do a fantastic map with lines circles and colour using vector graphics and the file size will be 50K +/-. Adding a picture can jump the size to a megabyte without trying. Smaller file sizes result in faster performance transferring the maps from the database and building the suggested seat graphics for the web. Theatre Manager limits the graphic map file size to less than 500kb for PC's, less than 200kb for Mac's. Less is more.
Once you have created the graphic in PowerPoint, you can save it - as well as the SVG map - directly within the pricing map setup in Theatre Manager.
As noted earlier in this section, each Venue can contain multiple Pricing Maps.
The Pricing Map opens. Click here for more information on the Pricing Map window.
The "Seats Placed" and "Seats Named" checkboxes will automatically populate when the map is complete. |
You can now add the Graphic Map.
The Graphic Map tab opens. Click here for more information on the graphic map tab.
Click here for information on creating your graphic map in a program outside of Theatre Manager.
You can now add your seats to the map.
All graphic maps start with e PPT document that is exported to an SVG |
When needed, open the PowerPoint image file in OpenOffice to create the SVG file.
The easiest way to place an SVG graphic map file is to simply DRAG the file from the folder it is located in and DROP it in the white space of the tab in Theatre Manager.
Click here to learn how to access the window.
The Pricing Map opens. Click here for more information on the Pricing Map window.
If your organization performs at another venue that also uses Theatre Manager, it may be helpful to import the Pricing Map they use rather than to build a map from scratch. You can edit the Pricing map later to reflect your Price Zones, however the graphic itself along with all the seats and their positioning can be imported into your database using this method. This can save you considerable time over creating a new Pricing Map. Please feel free to contact Arts Management Systems if you need assistance in discussing sharing the file with the other venue.
The map you wish to import must have been exported out of the neighbouring organization's database using the .tmm (TM Map Interchange) format.
To export a map using the .tmm format, perform the following steps:
To import a Theatre Map file, you would perform the following steps.
Click here to learn how to access the window.
The Import Theatre Map window opens.
The Theatre Map window opens.
Price Codes are composed of letters, numbers or characters and - in general - represent geographic regions of the venue. For example, "A" may represent the Orchestra Section, while "B" represents the Balcony. Furthermore, you can have multiple Price Codes on each seat that mean different things. An Orchestra seat may have both "A" and "1" enabled for "Single" (A) and "Subscription" (1) pricing.
When additional Price Codes are required for an event / play they need to be added at the map level. The Price Codes then become accessible in the Pricing tab of Events/Plays setup using the same map.
To add price codes, you perform the following steps:
The Theatre List window opens.
The Venue / Theatre window opens.
For more information on building a new map click here.
Price Code letters, numbers and symbols should be entered side by side without spaces, commas, dashes or other separators. |
For more informaton on the seat names tab click here.
For more information exporting seat names click here. For more information importing seat names click here.
The Price Code(s) have now been added to the Events / Plays using this map number. You may need to review existing Events / Plays to disable the new Price Code. You may also want to review the Disabled Price Codes field of your Sales Promotions to ensure the new Price Code is disabled where required.
For more information on disabling promotions click here.
When you use reserved seating, you need to place those seats on the graphic map in Theatre Manager. Prior to placing seats on the Pricing map, a graphic representation of the venue must be placed into the graphic map window. Click here for more detail. If the venue is non-graphical or will be used for festival seating (General Admission) or traveling troupe ticket sales, placing seats on the map is not required.
One of the keys to being successful in map building is to save your work frequently. |
The Venue List window opens.
The Theatre window opens.
Click here to learn how to create a map if the map you want has not yet been created.The Pricing Map window opens.
Click Here for a detailed description of this window and it's functions.
The graphic map window is displayed. You use the editing tools and the right-click menu tools to add your seats to the map.
Select the appropriate shape button .
Round seats typically indicate "wheelchair" or ADA access seats.
This will open the Add Block of Seats window to add a section of seats. The Add Seat button adds single seats to the map.
Number of Seats | Enter the number of seats to be added. (It will default to the total number of seats remaining to be added to the theatre and will decrease as seats are added). |
Number of Columns | Enter the number of columns (left to right) to place the seats into a grid. |
Spacing Vertical | The number of pixels of vertical spacing (up and down) between the seats. |
Spacing Horizontal | The number of pixels of horizontal spacing (left and right) between the seats. |
This will place a grid (block) of seats in the upper left corner of the theatre map. Click on one of the added seats and drag the grid of seats into the appropriate place on the theatre map. Continue adding seats (grid by grid) until the total number of seats have been placed on the graphic representation.
Save frequently while adding seats. If an errors is made the Revert button can be used to return to the last saved point.
Place the mouse above the upper left corner of the first seat to select, click and hold the mouse button and encircle the seats to align. Release the mouse to highlight the seats. To select multiple seats hold the <SHIFT> key and click on each seat.
Duplicates selected seats. | |
Flips the selected seats vertically. | |
Flips the selected seats horizontally. | |
Rotates the selected seats 90 degrees to the left. | |
Rotates the selected seats 90 degrees to the right . |
Once all the seats have been placed on the graphic representation, use the alignment buttons to ensure seats are straight within each row and column.
Be careful to not align a group of horizontal seats to the left or right (or vertical seats to the top or bottom) as they will "stack" on top of each other, and then need to be deleted and re-added. |
Aligns the selected row with the top most seat in that row. | |
Aligns the selected row with the bottom most seat in that row. | |
Aligns the selected column to the left most seat in the column. | |
Aligns the selected column to the right seat in the column. |
Ensure seats are evenly spaced and distributed using the functions described below.
Evenly distributes the selected seats horizontally. | |
Evenly distributes the selected seats vertically. | |
Opens the Distribute Seats Window allowing the selected seats to be distributed both horizontally and vertically. |
A few handy tricks when placing seats:
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When all seats are placed the next step is to arrange the seats in a logical order so Theatre Manager can connect each seat to its name. Click here for information on reordering logical seats.
In the creation of the graphic map, the image is actually performing many roles which are:
When selling seats, the display color of the seat is determined when the map is created. You can determine the color of the sold seat by either:
If you add/change Map Display Letters on a Sales Promotion, you may want to update the map colours as described below. If you do not, the standard sold color of a yellow background having a text color of black will occur for the new/changed items. |
The setting that determines which parameter the colour will be based on is found in Setup -> System Preferences -> Box Office tab, in the Ticket Reservation Display Preferences area.
Initially, when you show the Pricing Zones on the map, all the seats are displayed as grey
You can use the same process to change the 'unsold' seats from their default gray to another color. Simply click on a gray seat while in 'Pick' mode and set the color to your desired choice.
The actual colors are not visible to the user until the seat is sold, even though it is set in design mode.
Once you have placed all the seats on the map, the next step is to set those seats into a specific order so that the system can assign them the physical seating descriptions.
Each seat has its own number called a logical seat. The logical seats start numbering at 1, and continue through to the physical number of seats in the theatre. This is analogous to having a serial number stamped under each seat.
Since there are no two theatres, arenas, or performance spaces that are exactly alike, it is very difficult for Theatre Manager to automatically know what the seat names will be in the real world. Each seat in the Map is assigned a logical seat number, and those numbers can be arranged as needed. Once they are in a sequence that is easy to predict, each logical seat number is assigned a name. For example:
The "serial numbers" just need to be arranged sequentially, and then named in the same sequence.
This shows each logical seat number, in the order that the seats were laid down. The number might be difficult to see, depending on the resolution of the monitor. Zoom in on the map for a closer view or hold the mouse over a seat to see its logical seat number.
This is done by clicking the mouse outside of a section of seats, holding down the mouse button and dragging a box around the section. Hold the Shift key on the keyboard while dragging a box to select multiple sections.
If there are multiple sections in the space, it may be easier to reorder the sections one at a time. If the space is arranged in rows and columns, and is roughly rectangular, it can be reordered all at once.
The reorder routine works horizontally and vertically, so seats must be in even rows and columns to work correctly. If a seat is above another seat, it will be assigned a non-sequential number based on the direction that is being reordered from.
For venues that have seating on angles, each row may need to be reordered individually to ensure each seat within each row gets the next sequential number.
If reordering the first section, start with seat # 1. If reordering a section, after having already reordered other sections, make sure the seat number is the next sequential number from the last seat in the section previously reordered. This will ensure logical seat numbers are not taken from seats that have already been reordered.
Seats can be reordered starting in one corner, horizontally then vertically, or vertically then horizontally. Select the starting point from the sets of radio buttons surrounding the yellow square. The note inside the yellow square will indicate the direction Theatre Manager will sort the sequence.
Once the seats have been reordered, you are ready to begin naming the seats. For more information of naming seats click here.
A few handy tricks when setting the Logical Seat order:
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Changing holds in this window only affects:
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After selectiong a range of seats, click this icon to remove the seats from the default venue hold . None of the existing performances will be affected. The default holds only affect future events that are created and the 'return to hold' map. | |
Creates a default hold code for the seat in the venue. Any new events created using this venue map can have these seats held automatically. Also, if the performance uses the standard 'return to hold' map for the venue, then any time a ticket is returned that is for one of these default holds, the ticket will be put back on hold. This provides a way of 'protecting' the seat. | |
Clears any default holds from all seats in the pricing map. Use this if you want to start with a clean slate. | |
Zoom in on a selected section of the map. | |
Zoom out on a selected section of the map. |
Pricing zones can also be typed in or imported in the Seat Names tab since they are part of the seat name table. |
To set price zone on some seats:
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This tool lets you change the default display colours of seats when they are sold, depending on the letter in your sales promotion (or price code, depending on setting in system preferences)
To use it:
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Zoom in on a selected section of the map. | |||
Zoom out on a selected section of the map. | |||
Price code selection |
If you wish to see where certain price zones are in the venue:
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Theatre Manager has provided this feature for years (formerly called associated seats) and it can be used for a variety of purposes such as:
Before using the social distance seat function, be sure that you already have set the social distance/associated seat hold letter in System Preferences | |
Social distance seats can be exported as part of the Seat Names tab and imported into other similar pricing maps for tweaking. | |
If you want every seat in the pricing map to have a social distance barrier, then you have to set social distance seats for each and every seat in the venue. | |
If you have permanent house helds (eg for light board), DO NOT set social distance seats for permanent holds. Instead, set the rest of your social distance seating as if those seats are not there. If you want to make those permanent holds look like they are blocked, set the hold letter to 'q'. |
You can mix and match any of these purposes on a single map.
The functions are described in the following:
Click on a seat |
If you click on any seat on the map:
The image to the right show what the user will see when seats are sold online. The seats:
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Select a range of seats |
If you select more than one seat (i.e. a range of seats), they will be displayed with a 'Q' in them.
Use SHIFT click on other seats to make non-rectangular selections. Those seats with:
After seats have been selected CLICK on one of those seats with a 'Q' in it and a menu automatically pops up allowing you to do one of three things (see image below):
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Clears the associated social distance seats from the selected seats. Use this if you want to start over for a range of seats. | |||
Zoom in on a selected section of the map. | |||
Zoom out on a selected section of the map. | |||
Back a seat - you can use this button to go back one seat and see what the associated social distance holds are for that seat.
The seat order is determined by the logical seat order set up in the Draw tab which may not the adjacent seat when you look at things visually. Using this feature, you can quickly scan the seats in a venue to see what is associated, without needing to click on them all. |
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Forward a seat - you can use this button to go forward one seat and see what the associated social distance holds are for that seat.
The seat order is determined by the logical seat order set up in the Draw tab which may not the adjacent seat when you look at things visually. Using this feature, you can quickly scan the seats in a venue to see what is associated, without needing to click on them all. |
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The heat map shows the number of seats that are associated with a particular seat.
For example, a seat with an '8' in it is references by 8 other seats. Selling any one of those 8 other seats would result in this seat being held. Use this to determine if there is an anomaly in how you set things up. For example, if one seat in the middle of a number of '8' seats shows a '3', then there is probably a mistake in how some associated seats were set up to reference that seat. Seats closer to aisles or edges of the theatre seating should have lower usage numbers.
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Holds |
If you click the 'holds' button on the social distance setup, it will show you the default holds for the price map overlaid with the 'Q' holds you are worlking on.
You might have tech holds in the venue, or the first two rows held that will never be sold. If this is the case, you may have a natural social distance barrier that behaves like an aisle. You don't have to include those held seats in the social distance seating. |
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Verify | This goes through all social distance seats and to determine if there is a conflict with any of the holds. Refer to the Verify Social Distance web page. |
It is very important that holds on a venue DO NOT conflict with social distance holds.
In other words held seats for things like lighting boards, ushers, donors, cannot appear as a 'q' hold for a social distance seat. The different types of holds must be mutually exclusive. |
After you have set up all your social distance holds, you need to verify them against the permanent holds (return to holds) that you have set up for the venue and make sure they do not overlap.
In the image to the right, the Holds button was checked and you can see some of the permanent holds added to the venue. In this example, they are 3 aisle seats on the left side of the venue.
To find out if there are any conflicts with these holds, click the verify button. A conflict is defined as
After clicking the Verify button on the left, the system will look at all seats to see if there are issues. if it notices any conflicts, you will see an error message that pops up which looks similar to the one on the right.
The social distance map will change to show a 'heat map' to show:
In the image to the right, you can see:
In all cases you need to fix these conflicts. In the example to the right, I clicked the seat marked 3 on the heatmap.
It show
To fix the seat
This feature may seem familiar to the airline boarding process where an attendant calls Zone 1, then Zone 2 etc.
In a venue practicing social distance, the zones should be built in a way that lets people enter with minimal contact, both in lining up outside the venue and entering in. I.e. it wouldn't be price based |
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You do not need to use zones for managing entry into the venue. However, if you do, the zones will need to be added to the printed ticket faces. | |
Entry zones can also be typed in or imported in the Seat Names tab since they are part of the seat name table. |
Select a range of seats on the map and then click this button. A menu will popup that lets you:
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This will animate the entry zones to show you how people will be seated in the venue. The order of display will be 1-9 then A-Z, with a second between each letter. | |
Clears any default holds from all seats in the pricing map. Use this if you want to start with a clean slate. | |
Zoom in on a selected section of the map. | |
Zoom out on a selected section of the map. |
Making changes to the Seat Names file of existing maps used for events either active or past may affect the tickets sold in terms of placement. If you are concerned about ramifications of making edits to "live" maps, please contact Arts Management Systems support at support@artsman.com prior to making them.
Changes that fixing spelling mistakes to seat names or alter the best seat area, number or seat notes may only affect the sales process and have less downstream consequences. |
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After changing seat names, notes or other values in this table, you waill need to use the Place Seats on the SVG map button to update the pick-your-own map. | |
Refer here ADA seating, if necessary. |
Seat# | Determines the seat on the graphic map that this seat information applies to. This is the Logical Seat Number.
This number:
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Door | Door is completely optional. It can be used for venues that wish to tell the patron which is the easiest way to enter the venue so that can proceed to find where they sit (eg Door 5 or East Gate, etc). |
Section | Section of the venue the seat is in. Examples are:
Do not put any other information into the section (i.e. do not put entrance door, or row number in it. Special case: if this is a Standing Room Only seat or a General Admission Seat in a reserved seat venue, then use the first word only ('Standing' or 'General') for section, the second word for row and the last word for the seat. |
Row | Row name within the venue. (if Standing Room Only or General Admission Seat, use the middle word) |
Seat | Seat number within the row. (if Standing Room Only seat or a General Admission Seat, use the last word) |
Price Zones |
This is the Price Zones available for this specific seat location. Each seat must have at least one Price Code, and can have several Price Codes associated with it.
NOTE: generally there is only 1 price zone per seat, and more than two means you are probably not using sales promotions effectively eg Adult and Child are not price zones, they are two sales promotion discounts applied to the same seat. Refer to setting Price Zones in the venue if you want to do it graphically. |
Seat Code |
Unique seat code representing this seat location. Typically, this is a combination of the Section (often abbreviated), Row and Seat to form a unique code for each seat to be used by the system.
You may need to have some leading zeros in your seat codes to handle a desired sort order when printing tickets. |
Best Seat Priority |
This field is mainly used in conjunction with a database plug-in when making best available choices. It can also be used to select specific seats as a first offering like the aisle seats may be set to {1} as a priority so they would be offered first.
While this column is rarely used, it is designed so you can rank seats across the entire venue for relative equivalency for a plugin. For example all aisle (and companion seats) might be considered very good. Those seats may have equivalency with front row balcony. The a 'best seat' plugin could been used to 'find only seats that are considered xx good or better' for a person who has donated at a certain level or more. Values of this field are between 0 and 255. |
Best Available Area |
A CONTIGUOUS Mini Area within a row or 'box' that the seat is located.
If you need to allow singles at the end of a row (or allow three out or four seats at a table to be sold) refer to the two seat pass system. Otherwise Theatre Manager will NOT sell the seats if it leaves a single. |
Best Seat # | Determines the best available seat within the venue. This number is used for best available seating within the order purchase window. It also determines the order in which seats are available for internet sales. These numbers are always sequential and always unique. |
Use |
Determines if a seat note should be displayed for this seat.
Set 'Use' to '1' if the seat note can be displayed, otherwise leave it blank. |
Seat Note | Allows you to add a note for online sales to specifically notate this seat (such as "Partially Obstructed", or for ADA requirements: "Wheelchair," or "Removable Seat."). This information can appear online to web purchasers. |
Seat View | Allows you to add a URL to an image of the stage from this seat (or range of seats). Adding a jpg or gif to your tmGifs folder and referencing it here can display to your patrons a "view from this seat" image. Generally, you add only a handful of images, rather than a single image for each individual seat. For more information click here. |
Associated Seats / Social Distance |
This specified the other seats associated with this seat. If a seat is associated to one or more other seats, those other seats will be held if possible during a sale online - and taken out of use. This could be useful for:
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Entry Zone | The entry zone is a way for you to specify the order in which you want patrons to enter the venue. It can be considered like the approach airlines use. Eg 'everybody in zone x, please now enter the theatre' (except you would do it for social distance purposes to manage how people get in - not based on price or status). Refer to Entry Zones to see how to do it graphically. |
Calculates value of a field based on Theatre Manager defined equations. | |
Renumbers the logical seat number in numeric order to assist with locating potential duplicate logical seat numbers. | |
Loads the seat names previously entered in the database for the venue. |
Making changes to the Seat Names file of existing maps used for events either active or past may affect the tickets sold in terms of placement. Prior to making edits to "live" maps, please contact Arts Management Systems support at support@artsman.com . | |
Seat codes and seat numbers are also discussed on other pages. |
For purposes of discussing the following pages, you need to be aware of how computers sort alphabetic information. In some columns (door, section, row, seat), we likely do not care and can simply call the seats what they are. For most other columns, you need to be aware how computers sort things (Seat Code and Best Available Area). You will need to remember this when building a strategy for assigning best seats automatically
Door, Section, Row, Seat |
Every seat must be given a physical location that the patrons understand. Theatre Manager provides a four level naming convention of door, section, row and seat (entrance door is optional). Each of these fields is alpha-numeric, so directions to the seat can be provided that represent the venues current naming conventions. Examples:
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Seat Code |
Seat codes need to be created in a mannder so that they sort properly using alphabetic sort. For example: computers sort alpha-numeric values like:
This way, when you print the tickets out for an order, they will print in the proper numeric sequence by seat code. If the highest seat number in your venue is three digits such as 115, then be sure to use three digits throughout (001, 002, 003, etc.) A good example of seat codes for Orchestra Left, AA 1 through 101 would be OLAA001, OLAA002 etc through OLAA101 |
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Best Available Area |
Generally, Best area is very similar to the Seat Code, but without the actual seat number on it. If the seat code for Orchestra Left, AA 101 is OLAA101, then the Best Area might be OLAA.
You many need some additional characters on the best area if you need to separate left side and right side of a vomitorium or aisle and its the same row. But in general, the Best Area defines a unique row, or pert of a row where if seats are purchased in that area, they are considered to be together.
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Best Seat Number |
These should be in sequential order within a Best Available Area so that Theatre Manager knows which seats are together.
For example: if your Orch Left, Row AA is Best Area is OLAA as per the above discussion on Best Area, then you would want seats to be in increasing order from the Aisle to the edge of the venue. Number the seats like 1 (for seats 109), 2 (for seat 108), 3 (for seats 107) etc up to 9 (for seat 101) then start the next row at seat 10 (in other words, do not duplicate the best seat numbers). |
In order to determine the Best Seats, Theatre Manager can use a two-pass system. This two-pass system can protect seats for a second pass. This is particularly helpful in a dinner theatre setting where two seats to each table want to be sold before additional seats to the table are sold. Please click the link above for more information on this advanced topic. |
Click the Yes button.
The Seat Names window will populate.
a) Export the data out of Theatre Manager to a file and open the data in a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel, edit and save the document in a tab-delimited format and import them back into Theatre Manager.
b) Click into each field in Theatre Manager and enter the data manually. Theatre Manager will assist in populating some of the data using predefined equations.
Using Excel is, by far, the easiest method of naming the seats. |
Change the values of these fields to something meaningful to the theatre.
If the seat is in the front row, then a balcony price code would not be valid.
Theatre Manager will use the area and number to create a sequential order from which to decide what the best available seats are. Have the best seats (or the seats to sell first) in a higher (ie. A-D) alphabetical area. The seat numbers are used for the system to decide on how many seats are available in an area.
If entering names manually in Theatre Manager, the Auto-Fill button can be used to assign the best seating area, best seat number and the seat code.
All seats must be named before the data can be saved.
Return to the Graphic map tab and hold the mouse over seats at random. Double check the seat location is correct and that each seat is named properly.
A few handy tricks when naming seats:
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If you change a venue map, when there are events already on sale, you MUST verify the seats on each performance to re-index the new name to the seat in the event. Click here, for more information on verifying seats. |
You can export Seat Names to a text file for easy editing in most spreadsheet programs.
Click here to learn how to edit Pricing Maps.
The Seat Names window opens.
The Export Seat Names window opens.
The seats are exported to the selected directory in a text file in tab delimited format. The file can then be opened in most spreadsheet programs for editing.
Click here to learn how to Import the seat names file.
When importing seat names the file must be in tab delimited format ie. after each entry there is a tab space and a carriage return at the end. Most spreadsheet programs should be able to save in this formation.
Click here to learn how to open Pricing Maps.
The Seat Names window opens.
The Import Seat Name window opens.
The following file formats are supported:
The file will be imported into Seat Names window.
The seat names have now been imported into Theatre Manager.
If your spreadsheet has empty lines at the end, which are hard to see for find, you might see a message line the one below.
Theatre Manager is asking if you want lines with a logical seat number of zero and no Door/Section/Row/Seat data to be ignored. |
Making changes to the Seat Names file of existing maps used for events either active or past may affect the tickets sold in terms of placement. Prior to making edits to "live" maps, please contact Arts Management Systems support at support@artsman.com . |
Click here to learn how to access the window.
This is similar to adding seat names.
If any plays/events have been created using this map the seats for each performance will need to be verified. This will update the tickets with the new seat information. Click here to learn how to verify seats.
In an effort to keep patrons who purchase multiple seats together, Theatre Manager will keep an order from crossing an aisle. In addition, the "Best Seat Algorithm" will also keep a single seat from remaining in a row. This means that if a party of 4 is looking for seats in a row that has only 5 seats, Theatre Manager will move on to the next row that has 6 or more seats so that an empty "single" isn't left. It is difficult to fill single seats, so they can be detrimental to maximizing your revenue.
To prevent Theatre Manager from assigning seats that span aisles, you need to set them up properly on the Seat Names tab.
In this example, the venue has three seats in the left and right sections and six in the center section. When you set up the seat names, you want to ensure when four seats are selected, they do not go across the aisle, but are selected together. In this case, that means any groups of four or more will always be seated in the center section. The exception is if they choose the option online to have their seats separated.
Seats in a theatre are typically numbered from aisle to wall, or, in the case of the center sections, from left to right. Seat numbering is also typically Odd numbers on the left, Even numbers on the Right, and sequentially in the 100's in the center. The Rows are lettered front to back A - Z.
Seats in an arena are often simply numbered sequentially across the row, which is also numbered, but may be lettered. Theatre Manager accommodates all numbering and lettering schemes.
The example below is for the small theatre above.
In the Seat Names tab of the pricing map, check the Section, and Best Available columns.
Seat Numbers |
The seats numbers are names as you would naturally use them:
5, 3, 1, aisle 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, aisle, 2, 4, 6 |
Best Available Area |
The Best AVAILABLE AREA column takes into account the alpha sort order and should read
The the next row would be: |
Best Seat Number |
For each seat in the Best Available Area above, you must identify the best seat number -- the order in which the seats are offered to the customer.
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This way, Theatre Manager knows where there are natural breaks and how to suggest seats to people.
For online sales, we have implemented a mechanism that tries to prevent leaving single seats and maximize your revenue. This web page is geared towards online sales only because Box Office personnel can do anything they wish to dress the house accordingly.
If you have the Seat Names file designed correctly for your venue, you can use web sales to accomplish a lot and fill your house. As humans, we have a great deal more perception abilities to make allowances for subtle changes in situations - but online, computers need to deal with hard parameters of sales rules.
For the vast majority of a venue, assigning the Best Available Area to go straight across a row, and then thread up and down through the venue makes a lot of sense. After all, most people want front and center, middle and center, or balcony front. It starts to breakdown in fringe seats at the edges of venues or the loges, or those odd little corners in venues that are usually in the least desirable seat areas. It also tends to breakdown in Dinner Theatre settings where you have lots of tables, but they only hold two or four patrons each (although we've seen six, eight or even ten seats at a table).
Therefore, Theatre Manager uses a 'two-pass' mechanism which can handle leftover seats for online sales in case the good seats have been taken.
This gives you:
Dinner Theatre and Cabaret Seating
Naming of seats on a Graphic Map for a Dining Room or Cabaret setting may need some adjustments in order to enable the booking of tables, specifically online booking where selecting best available is the default option. Consider a dining room setup of a series of tables of four where you will seat a party of two, three or four at a table. With no adjustments to the seat name chart of your Theatre Map the following could happen:
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To achieve a favorable result we introduce the use of # ('pound'), and apply it to the Best Available Area code of the Seat Names in your Theatre Map setup.
You will need to edit the Best Available Area code on the seats as follows: The seat name of Table 1 may look like this.
By applying the # to two of the four seats as shown in the next image will result in the following.
Patron A requests two of four, or all four seats, and this table will be offered. Because when the # is applied to the Best Available Area code, the remaining two of four unsold seats will not be offered to the next Patron. Theatre Manager will then offer Table 2 - or the next table with seats available. Note that the use of the pound on a seat causes Theatre Manager to overlook that seat.
Now this scenario presents a problem for a patron seeking three seats. If you use # for two of the four seats at tables of four, there won't be a successful request for three seats as Theatre Manager will never leave one remaining seat.
If parties of three are a frequent booking for your venue, then what you need to do is to consider a selection of tables where you edit the Best Available Area code to utilize the two-pass system for only one of the four seats at the table as in the following image.
So the rule to follow when using the # to overlook seating is this:
Small Venue Seating
The same two-pass system can be applied when venues have sections with only three seats in a single row (typically on the sides of smaller venues, or the corners of 'Theatre in the Round').
For example, let's say you only have three seats on the Left side of Row A. We will assume that the seats are all empty and you did not use the '#' in the Best Seat Area.
If a patron asks online for one or three seats, they would get them. They would not get them if they asked for two. Theatre Manager would move the patron back a little bit in the venue until it could find two seats PLUS at least two left over.
Seats that are in the front row on the side are likely to be nearer to the tail end of desirable - probably in the last quartile. They are certainly not the absolute best seats in the house, which are generally more towards the center. So now you have a bit of flexibility to decide what to do with them if they are not going to be the first offered to patrons or the first that are snapped up in the Box Office.
If we use the best seat area and name them as follows:
Then this invokes the two-pass strategy for those seats. If all seats are open (in the entire venue), then if a patron asks for:
So patrons wanting one or three seats will be moved back a couple of rows. Remember that this front-side area is low on the desired scale.
Now, suppose you have a full house and there are very few seats left to sell. But these three in the front-side, Row A, are all still available. If a patron asks for:
Since we can't disappoint patrons wanting one or three seats, and if Theatre Manager cannot find any other seats in the venue, it will remember that it bypassed these ones and go back to them for a second pass. So, Theatre Manager will say:
Thus, the search process is designed so that:
In the example below, the left image shows part of a venue that has not had sales yet. Some of the tables contain associated seats.
In the patron ticket window, the seats will show up as holds with the word Associated Seats in the icon column. These seats can easily be sold to the patron at a later date, if desired.
The short answer - everywhere a ticket is sold. Examples are:
When making seats associated:
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You cannot use associated holds until an associated hold letter is specified in System Preferences |
Normally you would use the Social Distance Map feature to create these graphically within Theatre Manager.
However, if you like excel formulas and want to create an initial social distance map for later tweaking, you can also set the associated social distance seats an import them. |
Associated seats can also be shown in the tab on the Seat Names tab on the Theatre Pricing Map window in the last column called Associated Seats. In the example, you can see that seats 1, 2 and 3 are associated with each other in some way.
There are 2 ways to set an clear associated seats. You can:
The simplest way to set associated seats when there are only a few of them is to:
If you wish, you can edit the seat map in Excel to create the associated seats. This allows you to created custom uni-directional associations in any way you want.
To do so
For example, the image below shows some more complex associated seat setup that were edited in the seat names file:
Normally you would use the Social Distance Map feature to create these graphically within Theatre Manager.
However, if you like excel formulas and want to create an initial social distance map for later tweaking, you can also set the associated social distance seats an import them. |
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You will need to decide how many seats you want to hold around the one being sold. It could be that:
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It is possible to create a social distancing sales map using associated seats with purpose of:
The following is a recommended process for setting up social distance seating:
Using the seats you have defined, the patrons find the best seats in their preferred section. This is particularly practical when there is tiered pricing. Patrons do not have to keep looking for seats to find ones in the pricing section they desire.
This is useful for venues where people like certain places within the venue. The search limits for only seats in that area. | |
Searching by area may have limited usefulness if you have enabled pick your own seating. If that is the case, you can turn this feature of on the description tab. |
The Search String is what is used in the Seat Names tab to associate the seat with a section.
For example, for every seat you want in the "Right Centre" section, the Best Available Area column for the seats must contain the search string "RC".
The Search Description is what is displayed online for the section.
Search strings can be added by pressing the button, or by pressing the tab key on the keyboard while the cursor is in the previous line.
Search strings can be removed by pressing the button next to the corresponding line.
Search strings can be reordered for online display by highlighting the corresponding line and clicking the buttons. This allows you to list the preferred sections first, followed by the less desirable sections towards the end of the list.
The example to the right shows what it searching in a section looks on the web site and the image below contains the price codes and names that are used for online searching. If you make a change in the pricing map, it will reflect on the web site.
This is particularly useful when there is tiered pricing. Patrons only need to specify to look for seats in the price that they desire. | |
Conversely, searching by price may have limited usefulness if you have enabled pick your own seating. If that is the case, you can turn this feature of on the description tab. |
The Price Code is what is used in the Seat Names tab to associate the seat with a section.
For example, for every seat you want that has Price Code 1, the Price Code column for the seats must contain the search string "1".
The Search Description is what is displayed online for the section.
Search strings can be added by pressing the button, or by pressing the tab key on the keyboard while the cursor is in the previous line.
Search strings can be removed by pressing the button next to the corresponding line.
Search strings can be reordered for online display by highlighting the corresponding linen and clicking the buttons.
On the right side of the venue information, is a list of price zone map configurations that can be used in that venue. You need to find the one that you want to export by:
Now, all the other outlet or company need to do is import those two files.
To do that
Alternatively you can click on the Venue button in the Theatre Manager toolbar / ribbon bar.
The Venue List window opens.
Click here, for more information on the Venue List window.
The Venue window opens.
The Pricing Map window opens for the selected map.
Edit the description tab for changes in map details, the graphic map tab for seating placement and the seat names tab for changes in the name of a seat.
To change the number of seats, it is first recommended you duplicate an existing pricing map and make your changes to the new map.
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To correct changes before saving click the Revert button to revert back to the last saved point.
The changes made to the map are saved.
For a fast way to change the scaling of a price map and its sections, you can select seats on the map and set or change the price codes on those selected seats.
To dynamically change the seat codes, you perform the following steps:
The Add Block of Seats dialog opens.
The dialog displays the available codes for the map in the top portion.
The confirmation message displays your changes.
When increasing the number of seats, in a pricing map, it is important to take into consideration two things:
or
To change the number of seats, it is first recommended you map a backup of the database. Once the backup is complete, duplicate an existing pricing map and make your changes to the new map.
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To add movable seats to a map, you first Duplicate the existing price map:
Click here to learn how to edit a pricing map.
The Pricing Map description window opens.
The selected Map is duplicated and stored with the Name Copy ##.
The changes made to the map have now been saved.
If you are permanently increasing the number of seats and all future events will have these seats available, you can add them directly to the existing map.
A deployed map cannot have the number of seats decreased. Adding seats to an existing map affects current and future sales. ALL existing events for that venue are taken offline until the you have verified the seats for the event. You will need to follow up on each performance to verify the seats and turn them on for the performances. |
By increasing this number Theatre Manager will allow extra seats to be added to the graphic map and will increase the number of seats in the Seat Names tab.
The reporting capacity indicates the number of seats sold within the venue. Often it is the same value as the Physical Seats. However, some venues have seats they only sell when the rest of the seats are completely sold. These seats may be standing room or
In this example, the seats are being added in front of the stage and the graphic has been updated to accommodate the additional premium seats.
In the Graphic Map tab, add the new seats to the appropriate locations.
The Add a Block of Seats dialog opens.
Click here, for more information on placing seats.
If you make any errors, you can use the button to return to your last save point.
You now need to incorporate the new seats into the existing Logical Seat Numbers. Click here, for more information on logical seat numbers.
Notice the seats have been appended to the logical seat numbers.
The Reorder Selected Seats dialog opens.
When you are finished reordering the seats, click the button.
a) Export the data out of Theatre Manager to a file and open the data in a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel, edit and save the document in a tab-delimited format and import them back into Theatre Manager.
b) Click into each field in Theatre Manager and enter the data manually. Theatre Manager will assist in populating some of the data using predefined equations.
Change the values of these fields to something meaningful to the theatre.
If the seat is in the front row, then a balcony price code would not be valid.
Theatre Manager will use the area and number to create a sequential order from which to decide what the best available seats are. Have the best seats (or the seats to sell first) in a higher (ie. A-D) alphabetical area. The seat numbers are used for the system to decide on how many seats are available in an area.
If entering names manually in Theatre Manager, the button can be used to assign the best seating area, best seat number and the seat code.
All seats must be named before the data can be saved.
Return to the Graphic map tab and hold the mouse over seats at random. Double check the seat location is correct and that each seat is named properly.
To change the number of seats, it is first recommended you duplicate an existing pricing map and make your changes to the new map.
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You have duplicated the pricing map for your venue and you are editing the Copy.
Highlight the seats you no longer want on the map ad then click the eraser icon at the top left of the screen. it is in the second icon row and is the right most icon on that row,
Note the seats have been removed from the seating map. If you want to remove items from the underlying graphic, you may need to export the map and edit in an external graphic software.
You can now go on and update the seating.
You may want to export a graphic file that has already been imported in Theatre Manager for editing.
Alternatively you can click on the theatre maps button on the main Theatre Manager toolbar / ribbon bar.
The Theatre Map List window opens.
Click here, for more information on the Theatre Map List window.
The Theatre Map window opens.
A dialogue window will open allowing the option of exporting the Map as an SVG, PPT or JPG. The JPEG export will contain a picture of the entire map including the seats. The SVG will be only the graphical map without the seats. The size (in kb) is also listed with each file format.
After selecting an export format, the Save File for your OS window opens.
The file will be saved in the format specified and will be exported to the location specified and you can now change it as required.
You may want to export a graphic file that has already been imported in Theatre Manager for editing.
Alternatively you can click on the theatre maps button from the Theatre Manager main toolbar / ribbon bar.
The Theatre Map List window opens.
Click here, for more information on the Theatre Map List window.
The Theatre Map window opens.
The Pricing Map Window for the selected Pricing Map opens.
A dialogue window will open allowing the option of exporting the Map as a JPEG file or SVG. The JPEG export will contain a picture of the entire map including the seats. The SVG will be only the graphical map without the seats.
After selecting an export format, the Save File for your OS window opens.
You have a number of different options. To resize the image, you can use the resizing tools available. To change elements in the image, choose Ungroup.
If you are upgrading from an earlier version of Theatre Manager where the map does not match the seats, increase the height and width by 33% Do this by multiplying the page size parameters for height and width by 1.333.
The image in the background will update and save to the database. If a mistake is made click the Revert to Save button at the top of the screen to undo the change before Saving or Closing the window.
Your venue is running a special event. One evening performance is to only have two Price Codes. All the seats on the main floor of the theatre are to be sold at the Adult Price only (your price code A) and all the raised seats are to be sold at a different Price Code, Price Code B. Or you want to implement Demand Pricing for the event.
Your standard seating map contains six codes ABC123.
Here are the steps you take to set up your venue to accomodate this new event, quickly and easily.
The Venue listing opens, chose the correct venue by double-clicking.
The selected pricing map opens.
A Duplicate of your pricing map opens. Notice the differences:
A data entry dialog opens.
Enter the code you want the section to be.
If it is a code that is not in the map you copied from, it will NOT be available to add. Also, If you are replacing the pricing map for one or more performances, you must ensure all maps being used have the same price codes. Your pricing map can have unused price codes in its description. |
If you click on the Seat Names tab, you see the Price Codes column contains the new Code.
Continue until all the seats have the correct Price Code.
You now have a duplicate map for your event and can now:
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To change the number of seats, it is first recommended you duplicate an existing pricing map and make your changes to the new map.
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To duplicate a Pricing Map, you perform the following steps:
A NEW Pricing Map, a copy of the duplicated map opens.
You can now go on and edit the new map.
The words "Theatre" and "Venue" are generally synonymous with each other. The places where you perform may be called a Theatre, Concert Hall, Arena or some other term. In Theatre Manager, we refer to all of these as the generic "Venue." In each venue can have a number of pricing maps - and this is where you start that process. |
Venue Map # |
Unique number of the map automatically assigned by Theatre Manager. |
Outlet |
The original Outlet that built this venue map. This only displays in the Outlet version. |
Internal Venue Name |
The internal name used for the venue. This only displays to users (Employees). |
External Venue Name |
The external name of the venue. This displays in areas such as tickets and Web Sales. |
Address |
Address of the venue. |
City |
City in which the venue is located. |
Province / State |
Province / state in which the venue is located. |
Country |
Country in which the venue is located. |
Postal Code / Zip Code |
Postal code / zip code of the venue. |
Phone |
Phone number of the venue. |
Fax |
Fax number of the venue. |
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E-mail address of the venue. |
Fire Rated Capacity |
The maximum number of people allowed in the venue as posted by the Fire Marshall. |
Active |
A check box to indicate whether the map is active or inactive. |
Venue Color |
Color assigned to the Venue for use in the Facility Management module. |
Icon |
Icon for the venue. This icon will appear on the internet for web sales. |
Notes |
Any addition notes about the venue. These notes will appear on the internet for web sales. |