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.

Making an SVG Map from the Powerpoint document

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.

• If you have not done so, export your PPT map from the database or find the original source document
• Tidy up your PPT document using Powerpoint before converting it to SVG.
• Use one of the following software options to convert a PPT into SVG format
  • Open Office 4.1.4 (Recommended - free) or later which can be obtained from www.openoffice.org
  • Adobe Illustrator CS6 (paid) - this can be found online for downloads - which we know some customers use. We have not tried the Adobe Illustrator Creative Cloud CC product (since it locks you into a subscription).

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.

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:

1. Import the SVG map into the Theatre Manager pricing map
2. Set up or change the tooltip format to assist the Patron making a purchase online.
3. Use the Place Seats SVG Map Wizard to merge in seat locations and tooltips to make the final map for pick your own online
4. Previewing the SVG map and then testing it with online sales

• OpenOffice (free)
• Adobe Illustrator CS6 (paid)

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:

• You must have first:
  • Used your PPT to create the initial SVG map
  • and merged it with seat locations using the wizard
• Then you can do the following any number of times:
  • Export the merged SVG from Theatre Manager using the Export button on the toolbar and selecting SVG - Format
  • Edit it using one of the SVG graphic tools described above (Open Office, Illustrator) or any other one that you find works for you.
  • Import the manually adjusted SVG Map back into Theatre Manager
  • Preview the map
  • Test using the map online to by tickets

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:

• First, offer patrons tickets using the best seats process. (Patron is now guaranteed at least those tickets)
• Then, allow patrons to spend as much time as they wish attempting to swap for seats more suited to their tastes, without losing their original seats.
• Also, allow patrons to 'reposition' the best seats algorithm by swapping for seats in the desired area, and then finding new best seats near the desired area.

The images below indicate what the patron will see online:

1. The patron finds the event in the usual manner and clicks the buy button.
2. They are presented with the normal quick selection process where they can select a location, price, quantity of tickets and whether the seats must be together or can be apart.

   They then click the Find Best Seats to get a starting set of seats.

   

3. Seats are offered to the patron. They can change prices for the selected tickets and add them to the cart as they normally would. Alternatively, if they wish to have different seats, they can:
   • Highlight:
     • other seats in the map to get the new seats - or -
     • existing seats in addition to new seats to get more seats - or -
     • fewer tickets
   • Click Swap for Selected Seats to change the tickets they are being offered -and-
   • Repeat the above process as often as they want
   
4. When Add tickets To Cart is clicked, the most recent selection of seats in the top area is added to the cart.

   

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.

Optimizing Graphic Map Size

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.

To add a new Pricing map, click the New button in the Theatre window.



The Pricing Map opens. Click here for more information on the Pricing Map window.



1. Enter the Price Map Name and Capacity information.
2. Enter the Price Codes you wish to use on this Pricing Map.
3. Enable or disable the default Reserved Seating Search options you wish to use for this Pricing Map.
• Click here for more information about Enabling seat search by section.
• Click here for more information about Enabling seat search by Price Code.
• Click here for more information about Enabling Pick Your own Seats online.

The "Seats Placed" and "Seats Named" checkboxes will automatically populate when the map is complete.

4. When complete, click the Save button.

   

   You can now add the Graphic Map.

5. Click the Graphic Map tab.

   The Graphic Map tab opens. Click here for more information on the graphic map tab.

   

6. Drag and Drop your graphic onto the Graphic Map page.

   

   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.

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.

1. Click Setup >> Venue.

   The Venue List window opens.

   

2. Select the Venue, and click the Open button.

   The Theatre window opens.

   

   Click here to learn how to create a map if the map you want has not yet been created.
3. Choose the Map you want to add the seats to and click the Open button.

   

   The Pricing Map window opens.

   Click Here for a detailed description of this window and it's functions.

4. Click the Graphic Map tab.

   

   The graphic map window is displayed. You use the editing tools and the right-click menu tools to add your seats to the map.

5. Decide if the seats will be square or circular.

   Select the appropriate shape button .

   Round seats typically indicate "wheelchair" or ADA access seats.

6. Click Add Grid of Seats button.

   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.

7. Click the Add button.

   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.

   
8. Click the Save button.

   Save frequently while adding seats. If an errors is made the Revert button can be used to return to the last saved point.

9. Select a row or column or seats.

   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.

10. Duplicate similar section of the venue as needed.

    	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 .

11. Align the seats.

    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: Create a "ruler" out of 6 horizontal seats to use as an alignment guide for vertical columns. Do the same using 6 vertical seats to align rows. This allows you to easily align two seats directly over the last block of seats, two "spaces" representing an aisle, and two more seats directly over the next block of seats. Now you have perfect aisles. When placing seats individually in a horizontal line, place the first (and only the first) seat at the correct height. Place all subsequent seats in that row slightly below the correct height. Then use the alignment tool to bring all the subsequent seats up to the level of the first (and only) perfectly placed seat. The same is true for vertical placement (left and right). If your rows are offset (Row A has 17 seats, Row B has 18 seats, Row C has 17 seats, etc.), once you have the seats roughly placed, select the first seat in every other row by Control+clicking on them, and aligning them to the left or right. Then redistribute the seats in that row based off the perfectly placed first seat. While it may be enticing to place the seats in an arc if your venue is set up this way, because the Box Office will be selecting the seats by drawing a line through them or a box around them, arcs make it difficult to select seats in a single row. The best way to place the seats is always in a straight line. If you have side sections that are identical but oddly shaped (each row is a different length), build one section, then highlight it completely and use the duplicate tool, then the flip tool to add the opposing side.

    
    
12. Click the Save button.

    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.

    

13. Select the seat(s) that you want to hold on the graphic map. Then click on the hold tool, and select a letter code to hold the seat(s) with.
14. When you are done, choose the Save Button.

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:

• Logical Seat # 1 would really be called Section Right, Row A, Seat 1.

  The "serial numbers" just need to be arranged sequentially, and then named in the same sequence.

1. Click the 123 button on the left of the map.

   

   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.

2. Select a section of seats to reorder.

   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.

3. Click the Reorder button.

   

4. Enter the first seat number for the section being reordered.

   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.

5. Decide which direction to reorder the seats.

   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.

6. Click the Reorder button.
7. Repeat steps 2 through 6 to reorder any other sections.

   Once the seats have been reordered, you are ready to begin naming the seats. For more information of naming seats click here.

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.

Verifying Social distance holds

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

• any social distance hold that uses one of these 3 holds as part of their social distance seat holds
• or, in other words, if you click on a seat to sell as social distance, is this permanent hold seat part of what would be held as a 'q' hold

Message shown for a conflict

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.

Heat Map of Conflicts

The social distance map will change to show a 'heat map' to show:

• which seats conflict with the permanent holds
• how many times the seat conflicts

In the image to the right, you can see:

• the numbers 1, 2 and 3.
• For example:
  • the seat marked 3 means that it conflicts with 3 holds.
  • The seats marked 2 conflict with 2 holds.

Fixing a conflict

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

• that the 3 aisle seats that are permanent holds will also turn into 'q' holds
• when sold - this is a conflict, because when released, they will be returned to hold, which will also return to old any seats that the hold seats are associated with.

To fix the seat

• select the social distance seats EXCLUDING the the three hold seats as per the image below.
• Pick the seat in the middle and set the seats as centre of the social distance map
• repeat for all seats in conflict.
• click the verify button again to make sure all conflicts are removed.

You can export Seat Names to a text file for easy editing in most spreadsheet programs.

1. Open the Pricing Map for editing.

   Click here to learn how to edit Pricing Maps.

2. Click the Seat Names tab.

   The Seat Names window opens.

   

3. Click the Export button.
4. Choose your export format from the options from the list:

   

   The Export Seat Names window opens.

   

5. Select the directory to export the seat names file to and change the file name as needed.
6. Click the Save button.

   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.

1. Open the Pricing Map for editing.

   Click here to learn how to open Pricing Maps.

2. Click the Seat Names tab.

   The Seat Names window opens.

   

3. Click the Import button.

   The Import Seat Name window opens.

   

4. Select the file containing the seat names to be imported.

   The following file formats are supported:

   • Excel (.xls)
   • Excel (.xlxs)
   • Tab delimited (.txt)
   • Comma Delimited (.csv)
5. Click the Open button.

   The file will be imported into Seat Names window.

   

6. Click the Save button.

   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.

1. Open the Pricing Map Window.

   Click here to learn how to access the window.

2. Click the Seat Name tab.

   

3. Edit the seat names by clicking in a cell and changing the values

   This is similar to adding seat names.

4. Click the Save button to save the seats to the database.

   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.

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:

• Revenue protection for the key seats
• A way to manipulate the lower quantile seats while still doing the best for revenues - and still allowing some to be left as singles.

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:

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:

• One or three seats - nothing will be offered
• Two seats - then Seats 1 and 2 will be offered

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:

• One or three seats, nothing will be offered (See below)
• Two seats, then they will get something

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:

• One seat requested - offer Seat 1
• Three seats requested - offer them all
• Two seats requested - offer Seats 1 and 2

Thus, the search process is designed so that:

• The majority of seats are taken care of in the first pass. This is how patrons work and how Box Office Managers dress the house normally.
• A second pass can be invoked if you are coming down to the wire (say the last quartile) where you want to be a little freer with how seats are offered.

• ADA seats - where you want to automatically hold a companion seat for a period of time if the primary wheelchair seat is sold - at least until you can determine the patron's requirements
• Dinner Theatre Seating - especially where there are a number of two-top tables that are beside each other. In this case, if a patron buys one seat at a table, then the other can be held so that nobody sits opposite the purchaser. Other two-tops that are side by side can be separated for dining privacy.
• Social Distance Seating - where if somebody buys a seat, all seats around it are held automatically

How do associated seats sales work?

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.

• After clicking or selecting seats on the map to sell (refer to the ones that will be selected on the left)
• The associated seats are immediately held using the (hold code in system preferences) to prevent sale by others (refer to the right diagram).

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.

Where do associated seats work?

The short answer - everywhere a ticket is sold. Examples are:

• Selling a ticket online If:
  • One or more seats are held in a cart, all associated seats are also held until the patron picks other seats using Next Best SeatsPick your Own.
  • The patron checks out, the holds are made permanent.
  • The cart is abandoned, the associated seats are released
• At the box office during selecting a seat. It may be easier to drag select multiple associated seats when selling rather than clicking on them one at a time, otherwise you'll need to over-ride the hold
• During sale of a seat for a subscription package. All associated seats are held for all performances during the sale, if possible

When making seats associated: The first person to purchase one or more seats that are associated causes all other associated seats to be held in their name, under their patron account, permanently If a seat is refunded, then any permanent holds on the associated seats (using the hold code in system preferences) will automatically be released You can release an associated hold manually so the seats can then be sold from that point forward. However, if you refund the other associated tickets and resell them, the hold will be put back in place.

You cannot use associated holds until an associated hold letter is specified in System Preferences