We acknowledge that things can change unexpectedly or that this timeline might be unrealistic in some cases, but below is a guideline based on prior successful launches.
2 months before you want to start selling tickets:
- Make sure you have admins set up and able to log in. Administrator setup (Every admin user must have their own account. Account sharing is a violation of the Arts People service agreement.)
- Confirm that you have your merchant account set up and working. If you use Neon Pay, you’ll want to reach out to support to be sure that your Neon Pay account is still active. If you use a third party processor, please connect with that processor to ensure that nothing has changed since you closed or last produced transactions.
- Make sure your venues are set up. Note that if you need new assigned seating venues added, please reach out to Customer Support 2 months before you plan to start selling tickets.
- Review your past pricing setup. If you need a refresher, your pricing can be found by going to Setup > Pricing, selecting the season from the dropdown menu, and clicking the “Show expired pricing terms in this season” button. This is a great time to request pricing training if you’d like to take charge of your pricing setup.
6 weeks before you want to start selling tickets:
- Add your show(s) and performance(s)! You can always keep the shows in preview mode and edit details later if needed. Show setup (includes video that is slightly outdated, though the article has been updated to include all fields) and Performance setup (includes video that is slightly outdated, though the article has been updated)
- Request pricing setup! You’ll want to submit a support request that includes as much detail as possible about your pricing needs for the whole season if possible. Be sure to include any regular pricing plus comps, subscriptions, passes, discount codes, etc… If your pricing is similar to last season’s, our customer support team can copy that past pricing to your new season and make some adjustments to have it ready to go for your new season. When you submit your pricing setup request, please include the subject: “Pricing Setup Request for sales starting [insert date]” so our team knows when you’d like to start selling tickets.
3 weeks before you want to start selling tickets:
- Test and confirm that ALL pricing is set up correctly, and run some test transactions on your own patron record so you can see email confirmations.
- Train your staff! Here are some links to the box office articles and videos so you can get your staff trained on using the box office and assisting patrons.
1 week before you want to start selling tickets:
- Review show and performance setup for any last minute adjustments to descriptions. Consider taking shows out of preview mode and adding a publish date so shows go on sale automatically when you’d like them to be available.
- Make sure you know how to share public pages.
Tools and best practices you can use to help you open safely:
- Social distancing - To accommodate local social distancing ordinances enacted for most entertainment venues, we have released a feature to help make it easier for you to provide buffered assigned seating for your patrons. Read about how to set that up here!
- Pay-what-you-can - The Arts People pricing engine now includes the ability to configure pricing terms that permit a patron to select their own price for a ticket. Pay-what-you-can (“PWYC”) pricing terms are configured with a description, a minimum and maximum permitted amount, and one or more predefined prices (all fields are optional). Patrons can select from suggested amounts or click Custom to enter their own amount per ticket, based on your minimum / maximum amount parameters.
- Virtual venues - Selling tickets to a virtual show? You can create a GA venue and add the show link to your venue’s address field. This way, when a patron purchases a ticket, they’ll receive the link to the show in their email confirmation.
- Required agreement text - If present, this text will be displayed to the purchaser after ticket selection. The purchaser must check an "I agree" checkbox to indicate agreement before proceeding to their cart / checkout screen. This can be used to require patrons to acknowledge COVID safety protocols, for example.