June Forum

1. June Forum

2. Scope • Project update • Box office audit • Mosaic • Next steps

3. Project update • Aims • Objectives • Participants • Reference group • Update on DDX • Box Office audit

4. Aims & Objectives • To create sustainable organisations with a profound understanding of their audiences • To build capacity and capability across the sector in audience development • To support cross sector collaboration • Objectives • To profile the Scottish audience for the performing arts and offer national and regional benchmarks • To increase the capacity of companies and venues across Scotland to extrapolate and manipulate audience data and use it to inform the actions, artistic and operational, of their organisations • To develop key competencies in customer care, data management and data compliance • To support and encourage best practise in customer care and relationship management

5. Participants • Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy • Aberdeen Music Hall, Aberdeen • Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh • Caird Hall, Dundee • Carnegie Hall, Dunfermline • Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow • Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow • City Halls, Glasgow • Cumbernauld Theatre, Cumbernauld • Dance Base, Edinburgh • Dundee Rep Theatre, Dundee • Eden Court, Inverness • Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Edinburgh • Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Edinburgh • Edinburgh International Book Festival, Edinburgh • Edinburgh Playhouse, Edinburgh • Filmhouse/Edinburgh International Film Festival, Edinburgh • Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow • His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen • Horsecross, Perth • Howden Park Centre, Livingstone • King’s Theatre, Edinburgh • King’s Theatre, Glasgow • Lochgelly Centre, Lochgelly • Macrobert, Stirling • National Theatre of Scotland • Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow • Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Pitlochry • Platform, Easterhouse • Rothes Hall, Glenrothes • Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh • Royal Scottish National Orchestra • Scottish Ballet • Scottish Chamber Orchestra • Scottish Opera • The Arches, Glasgow • The Byre Theatre, St Andrews • The Hub, Edinburgh • The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen • The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh • The Tron, Glasgow • Theatre Royal, Glasgow • Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh • Usher Hall, Edinburgh

6. Reference Group • Reference group • Ben Jeffries – Horsecross • Janice Kelly – Scottish Arts Council • Duncan May – Glasgow Theatres Ltd • Martin Reynolds – Festivals Edinburgh • David Stark – RSNO • Role of group • to review progress of the project • to provide informal feedback to the management team from participating organisations • to oversee and contribute to the evaluation process

7. Project Stages • DDX install (new venues) • Box Office Audit • Forums • Training Needs Analysis • Individual audience feedback sessions (new organisations) • Reports • Training and Capacity Building • Evaluation

8. DDX Install • Glasgow and Edinburgh venues already have the software installed. • New venues across Scotland currently being installed and event data is being extracted and coded.

9. Box Office Audit Thank You!!!

10. Box Office Audit Rationale • A need to understand the technical capability of the current box office systems in use to identify the levels of future investment required to enhance the marketing effectiveness and sales performance of organisations. • Aims - to assess: • Overall age and marketing capability of current systems • How box office systems are used currently • The quality of the audience data • Data compliance • Relationship between the sales, front of house and marketing teams • Levels of technical understanding, support & use of current box systems • The levels of investment required to maximise the capability of current box office systems

11. Box Office Audit Why we undertook the box office audit “It is really good that the FST are doing this survey as the Box Office are an undervalued resource.” “As a general rule box office staff are undervalued. The BO is the public facing dept and is the vital point in the org. The BO have the knowledge about the customers, can see different behaviours and trends. From a programming point of view they have lots of knowledge.” “A delight to be asked in-depth questions about the Box Office. Always seen as Grunts on the front line and not as a vital components to the other departments to do their jobs.”

12. Box Office Audit • Methodology • The Source project team identified objectives and areas of investigation for the box office audit • Aplin Partnership contracted to deliver the box office audit • Experience & expertise in field of box office • Independence • Detailed questionnaire developed • Detailed telephone interviews conducted with box office managers by Aplin Partnership between March & June • All Source participants invited to participate. 4 out of 28 potential participants still to take part.

13. Box Office Audit • Methodology • Interviews focused on: • Box Office systems • Box Office staffing • Systems set up and practice • Organisation culture and how it impacts upon the Box Office • Technology usage, awareness and backup procedures (inc internet ticketing) • Interviews conducted in confidence • The Aplin Partnership report to The Source will include: • Groupings according to behaviour, attitude and system usage • Groupings according to size and geography • Recommendations to feed into the project overall and propose interventions which will have the maximum lasting positive impact

14. Box Office Audit • Key themes • Box office infrastructure A significant proportion of the box office infrastructure is ageing and reaching the point where it is not fit for purpose based on the general rule that IT systems should be written off after 5 years • 13 venues have ticketing systems more than 5 years old • Role of box office With a few notable exceptions, fundamentally most Box Office systems and staff are regarded as a sales tool and not as a key customer touch point and knowledge source

15. Box Office Audit • Key themes • Audience data / management information Some key indicators suggest that box offices are not being used as effective tools for audience data or management information. Although it is important to note that there are a number of venues who have a very thorough knowledge of their database and are working to minimise duplicate records • 5 venues could not say how many performances they had on the • system each year • 7 venues could not say how many customer records they had • 11 venues were unable to say how many duplicate customer records they have • Virtually all participants sell tickets online: 5 venues did not know what % of • internet ticket sales they have, 7 venues gave a precise %

16. Box Office Audit • Key themes • Data compliance One of the key regulatory areas for box office. The majority of organisations (not necessarily within box office) were confident they were compliant in this Area • 18 venues said they were confident (or had someone in their organisation who was) about the Data Protection Act & where they stood legally • “[the team are] ...Quite comfortable with the process.” • 4 venues said they were not confident • “[We are] ..Not asking the right questions and will need to look into this.” • Relationship between the sales, front of house and marketing teams -This was a key dimension of the interview & analysis which has informed a segmentation of the sector

17. Box Office Audit • Key themes • Levels of technical understanding, support & use of current box systems • The questions related to current practice and understanding has helped to identify some training gaps in the following areas: • Customer care • Specific ticketing system training • IT training • Managing staff / staff communication skills • Marketing reports • Cross selling and up-selling skills • Disability awareness • Financial budgeting

18. Box Office Audit • Outputs from the audit • One of the significant outputs from the study will be a series of benchmarks which will help you position yourself within the wider sector. Examples of the benchmarks include: • Year box office system installed • Tickets sold per year • % of sales achieved with customer data capture • % of duplicate records on the system • % of tickets sold online • Wages per hour • In addition Aplin Partnership will group together clusters of organisations based on answers to soft indicators for example relating to identified training needs or development areas

19. Box Office Audit Key Findings

20. Box Office Audit Groupings according to behaviour, attitude and system usage 1: Collaborative & Communicative Organisations with good internal communication who have a fundamentally collaborative approach and staff who feel supported yet empowered 2: Command & Control Organisations with rigid controls and structures & strong demarcation between departments 2a: Efficient Command & Control – Staff working reasonability well within the constraints of their organisation, who whilst feeling there is a lack on communication, are reasonably happy 2b: Inefficient Command & Control – Staff feeling that they are inefficient and less effective than they could be because of the constraints of their organisation, they are generally fairly unhappy. 3: Un-engaged Those who did not participate in the survey at all, or in a meaningful way

21. Box Office Audit • Groupings according to behaviour, attitude and system usage • Collaborative & Communicative Organisations with good internal communication who have a fundamentally collaborative approach and staff who feel supported yet empowered • Example quotes: • Q: Are there targets set for performance sales? – are you involved in this? • A : Yes, we have a meeting at the beginning of the season and set targets. we talk together constantly. • Q: Do you feel that your contribution in the Box Office is valued by the organisation? • A: Yes – definitely • Q: What 3 things would make your job easier? • A: More staff – which I’m getting on Monday, a slightly bigger box office – but things are going • really well....we work as a team

22. Box Office Audit • Groupings according to behaviour, attitude and system usage • Command & Control Organisations with rigid controls and structures & strong demarcation between departments Efficient – Staff working reasonability well within the constraints of their organisation, who whilst feeling there is a lack on communication, are reasonably happy • Example quotes - Efficient Command and Control • Q: What 3 things would make your job easier? • A: Would like better pay and a guarantee of hours for the casual staff. Communication within the whole business could be improved. • Q: Are the box office involved in the brochure design? • A: No - we will see it before it is printed and proof read the relevant pages.

23. Box Office Audit • Groupings according to behaviour, attitude and system usage • Command & Control Organisations with rigid controls and structures & strong demarcation between departments  Inefficient Staff feeling that they are inefficient and less effective than they could be because of the constraints of their organisation, they are generally fairly unhappy • Example quotes - Inefficient Command and Control • Q: Do you feel that your contribution in the Box Office is valued by the organisation? • A: No - Undervalued. Nobody is bothered as long as we are bringing the money in. • Q: Are there targets set for shows? • A: Probably there are

24. Box Office Audit Key Findings

25. Box Office Audit What Next? • Detailed analysis of findings • Dissemination of more detailed findings • Development of cluster groups • Informing Training Needs Analysis • Training and development sessions

26. Benchmark Areas

27. Area Profiles East West Central A Upper Echelons B Families on the Move C Small Town Propriety D Country Lifestyles E Urban Sophisticates F Town Centre Singles G Renters Now Owning H Low Income Families I State Beneficiaries J Shades of Grey North North East

28. Next Steps Training Needs Analysis Individual organisation reporting Benchmark area reporting Evaluation framework

29. Training Needs Analysis • E survey to box office & marketing teams • Incorporating findings from the box office audit • Taking place June- Sept • Looking at training needs within organisations and across the sector relating to audience data and knowledge • Leading to identification of training needs • The Source to create development plan to meet needs

30. Reports • New participants • Your audience report (06-09) • Quarterly reporting • Current VS participants • As current

31. Reports 1 headline analysis per organisation to include:

32. Activity Plan • June-Sept 09 • Training Needs Analysis • June-Sept 09 • DDX install, data extraction, coding & analysis: your audience report • Sept 09 • Regional Forum • Headline results of TNA • 1st regional benchmark area reports

33. Thanks!