Step 1: Number of Performances

The first step is to identify the primary sales method and the number of tickets that can be sold in each performance. The data required is:

Number of Performances Enter the number of new performances you want to add.

If you have

  • a regular pattern of performance with similar dark days, performances times, sales methods, etc, just type in the total number of performances for the event.
  • a different pattern for each week, then do a week at a time and repeat the process
  • no pattern at all, enter however many you want, move them around in the calendar at the end and then edit any outlier dates and times

Sales Method and Map Settings

Sales Method The sales method indicates to Theatre Manager how you want to manage the sale. The three key methods are General Admission/Festival Seating, Reserved, and Course/Classes.

In the Sales Method drop down list, choose the primary type of seating that will be used in this performance. You can change it later on a per performance basis in the calendar.

Sales Method Description
Auction Item Used to sell items being used for an auction.
Consignment Tix Used to sell tickets on the behalf of another group where they have allotted you a particular number of seats and have probably even provided you the tickets. Consignment Tix has no overselling feature.
Festival Seating Used to sell tickets to an event that where seats are not assigned to the patron. This is often referred to as General Admission and sometimes as Rush Seating.
Advantages
  • The performance can usually be oversold because there is some no-show factor that can be counted on.
  • The price of the tickets is usually a little less than reserved seating
  • Patrons will automatically space themselves out to create a comfortable house dressing
  • Can be used for flexible passes
 Disadvantages
  • Patrons often arrive at the venue earlier to ensure a good seat. (this can be an advantage if you have a bar)
Inventory Could be used to sell merchandise. For example, T-shirts, Programs, etc. This is a legacy capability in Theatre Manager. Now, it is far better to use the resource based inventory management/merchandise sales.
Reserved Used to sell tickets to an event having reserved seats. Reserved seats can only be used with theatre maps that have had seats created.
Advantages:
  • Customers will pay a higher price for the ticket
  • Most popular ticket sales method
 Disadvantages:
  • Cannot count on a no show factor to over sell the theatre
  • House seats must be explicitly booked out
  • Causes some work for the Box Office manager to ensure the house is dressed properly
Traveling Troupe This is used for shows that travel to various locations. This sales method enables a new performance to be created for each booking, track contact onsite, estimated class size, accommodations and some limited schedule items.
Courses/Classes Course registration is designed to help venues manage their education curriculum, workshops and such. There are a number of features that are part of this feature like attendance reason tracking, class rosters, report cards, and more.
Performance Type Performance type is a customizable code table field you can use to flag specific performances. You can use it for display on the web. It can also be used for reports to narrow down searching for specific performances in reports.
Prevent Overselling This field indicates if you want to prevent sales to occur over the Max Quantity to Sell amount. It might be useful to deselect the option for outdoor events where there is no practical limit to the number of tickets that can be sold.

This only applies to General Admission/Festival Seating.

Set Initial Holds On a pricing map, you can set up a standard holds in the venue for house, sound, ushers, artists etc. When you click this optionL
  • reserved seating performance maps automatically get the default holds
  • general admission performance get a lump sum hold amount that matches the total holds in the graphic map

Capacity and Reporting

Max quantity to sell For reserved events, this cannot be changed as it is the total seats in the pricing map. For other sales methods, you can restrict the number of sales to this value.

For example, you may normally have 400 seats in your theatre, but the designer has created a set that obstructs 50 seats. You do not want to create another theatre map, or you just don't have access to them. Enter a quantity of 350 seats to sell. That will be your house total for that event.

Quantity to report Use this setting to indicate when you tell online sales and reports that you are 100% full. It includes all SOLD and HELD seats.

In the prior example, If you have 400 seat house and 50 blocked seats, you can sell 350 seats. If you indicate that the Quantity to Report is 275, then web sales will stop when SOLDS + HOLDS > 275, leaving 75 seats unavailable online.

Refer to further description of meaning of Quantity to Report in performance setup

This option is not applicable for Traveling Troupe.

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