Ticketbud Tidbits - for Event Organizers Ticketbud - Event Ticketing

In this episode we talk to Dawn Robinette, a PR expert that runs Tale to Tell Communications. Dawn has extensive events experience working with General Motors, sponsorships and promotions, managing more than 175 events and programs annually. Working with NASCAR, the NFL, the NCAA, the PGA, MLB, the Olympic Torch Relay and Cirque du Soleil, achieving a 150% increase in promotional press coverage for GM across all major US media markets.

HIGHLIGHTS:
In the episode Dawn shares strategic and logistical details for her current project Old West Christmas Light Fest. Dawn manages the dual roles of event manager and event promoter for this Texas holiday festival as part of a small team. Dawn is an advocate for the customer experience and how vital it is to keep this front of mind while planning, promoting and executing an event experience. She is always looking for new ways to engage customers and shares some tactics and strategies around this.

Dawn also shares advice on maximizing marketing spend, and where to get the most value for your efforts, particularly if you have limited resources. She gives some great insight around social media engagement, marketing and the use of influencers in your event marketing.

In this episode we talk to Joe Newman, the CEO and Co-founder of the American Basketball Association (ABA), the largest professional sports league in the US. The ABA has teamed up with Ticketbud to focus on growth ahead of their new season.

Topics include:
- Rebuilding the ABA brand and how the central association supports the success of more than 150 teams
- The ABA's partnership with Ticketbud
- The value of moving the ABA to online ticketing. Enabling them to reach new audiences, while gaining valuable customer data and buyer behavior insights
- Challenges of implementing changes across an organization with so many independently owned teams
- Communication practices between the ABA and it's teams
- Promoting a new ticketing purchase channel to fans
- ABA promotional efforts, merchandise and more

In this Halloween themed episode we talk to haunters Sue Rose and Rick Williams, who have run haunted trail events in California and Georgia. Their current attraction, Nightmare Forest Web of Fears, is a haunted walk through Georgia's historic countryside.

Ranked by Style Magazine as one of the "Top 10 Spots to Celebrate Halloween". Attendees rave about the experience. This is a well developed and executed event that attendees rave about.

Sue and Rick share how they were underwhelmed by other haunted events that were overpriced and lacking in creativity and production. With a love of halloween, historical stories and urban legends, they decided to create their own haunting experience.

Sue and Rick share what goes into planning this experience, from inspiration, to practical execution and logistics. Creating a theme, storyline and characters, as well as preparing the property and designing scenes. Auditioning and working with actors to bring their spooky story to life and create a memorable experience for attendees.

Key Topics:
- Creating an immersive story
- Developing characters and managing talent
- Event safety and insurance
- Being prepared and adaptable
- Common challenges
- Team communication
- Attendee communication
- Ticketing, attendee information, event data and reporting
- Event promotion: including showcasing the experience and production value, making people more comfortable with pre-purchasing tickets.

In this episode we talk to Hayden Walker, the organizer of the highly successful Mac and Cheese Festival held in Austin, Texas and Portland, Oregon.

Hayden is the Executive Director at AFM Media and Editor in Chief of Austin Food Magazine. With his finger on the pulse of all things foodie in Austin.

Hayden created Austin's Mac and Cheese Festival which became a huge sell out success, enjoyed and embraced by attendees and vendors.

Now in its 4th year in Austin and 2nd year in Portland, the Mac and Cheese Festival has a winning event recipe that is set to grow, and take on more cities in 2020.

Episode Topics:
-Turning something you love into a career
-Creating the Mac and Cheese Festival experience
-Research and inspiration
-Evolving a food festival, growing in size and locations
-Managing event stakeholder relationships
-Testing event formats and target audiences
-Ticket pricing and event promotion
-Benefits of prepaid events
-Preparing vendors for success
-Event day gate management

In this episode we talk to Loy Maierhauser from MAP Brewing Company in Bozeman, Montana. Loy manages all private and public events for MAP Brewing. From regular weekly events such a live music and community pint nights, to their highly successful backyard summer concert series.

In addition to her role at MAP Brewing, Loy co-founder of Fermentana, a beer-and-all-things-fermented events planning and promotions company. Through Fermentana Loy organizes Craft Beer Week in Bozeman and a women’s only beer education series called Beer Maven, as well as conference planning for the Montana Brewers Association and the Craft Maltsters Guild.

Loy is a Certified Cicerone and a Certified Beer Judge (through the BJCP) and regularly attends beer festivals and competitions as a judge.

In this episode Loy shares her experiences running brewery events, organizing a summer concert series and managing an event planning company.

In this episode we talk to Kevin Baxter, owner of Vivid Festivals, who has over 20 years experience working in entertainment and marketing. Kevin talks to us about his upcoming food festival, The Big Dill, and his goal to build the biggest online pickle brand through events, content and community building.

Key Topics:
-Building a brand around something people have a preexisting affinity for
-Finding the right partnerships 
-Moving away from the food sample model
-Short and long term strategies for sponsors 
-Building awareness and an online community
-Utilizing influencers   
-Promotion, promotion promotion - including activations
-Communication is the key to a better experience for all