8 Advantages of Digital Tickets for High School Performing Arts Events

Think of the last time you attended a professional concert, Broadway show, theatre production, or dance performance. How did you buy tickets? Chances are, you used a digital ticketing platform to select your seats, purchase tickets, and enter the event.

Patrons of the arts nationwide are accustomed to using digital ticketing to attend the events they love most, and many have come to expect similar ticketing policies at community and high school productions.

With digital ticketing, high school performing arts departments can save time, increase revenue, and elevate the event experience - all at no cost to schools. By switching to digital ticketing, your staff, students, and guests can enjoy these key benefits:

1. Sell tickets online in advance.
   
   So much work goes on behind the scenes to prepare for a performance, and the days leading up to the event can be particularly hectic. Organizing, staffing, and managing in-person ticket sales can be extremely time consuming, especially when you must order paper tickets and count cash.
   
   By selling tickets online, you can get hours back in your day to focus more on other important elements of your upcoming event. You can quickly add your schedule in the event management platform, customize your ticketing page with your branding, and set default ticket prices.
   
   Your patrons can purchase tickets easily online by completing a short checkout form as a guest or by creating an account. When they arrive at the event, they can simply present their phone at the door to display their ticket and redeem it with the tap of a button.
   
   
2. Allow your guests to reserve their seats when they purchase tickets.
   
   Professional and community performing arts productions typically allow guests to select their seats during the checkout process. You can provide the same experience for your high school performing arts events with reserved seating.
   
   An interactive seating chart can be mapped based on your venue, and guests can easily choose their desired seats when buying tickets. Reserved seating can minimize lines at the door and provide a more enjoyable experience for your guests. If you would prefer to host events with general admission, you still have the option to do so.
   
   
   
   
3. Offer season tickets with reserved seating.
   
   Your most loyal guests may wish to purchase season tickets for your performing arts events. They can complete a similar checkout process for a single event to select their preferred seats for the entire season. When they arrive at the venue, they can simply present their season ticket on their phone at the door and make their way to their usual seats.
   
   
4. Control access to tickets with private links.
   
   With private links, you can provide hidden access to events for select groups of people. Let’s say you want to make sure that your students’ parents and family members have priority for buying tickets, or you want to offer a discounted price for a certain group of people without using a promo code. You can easily allocate tickets to these groups with secure private links to control access to your events.
   
   
5. Manage safety measures and accelerate crowd flow.
   
   Performing arts departments nationwide are continuing to navigate safety concerns and policies. Digital ticketing can help you host safer events so the show can go on. With digital tickets, you can provide contactless payment and entry. Your guests will no longer need to exchange cash or paper tickets, and they won’t have long wait times at the door. There may be times when you need to limit capacity at your events. With digital ticketing, you can easily control the number of tickets sold. 
   
   
6. Send event alerts and updates.
   
   Running a successful performing arts event requires effective communication. With digital ticketing, you can send event alerts to notify your guests of important information. For instance, you can inform them of safety policies, security procedures, capacity restrictions, and more. By setting expectations up front, you can ensure that your guests arrive ready to enjoy the performance.
   
   
7. View ticket sales information in real time and plan accordingly.
   
   With a digital ticketing and event management platform, you can view ticket sales on demand and take appropriate action. For example, you can close ticket sales when an event is sold out, adjust capacity restrictions as needed, plan your staffing and security measures, and more with instant access to your performing arts digital ticketing information.
   
   
8. Simplify reporting and bookkeeping.
   
   As you’re basking in the applause after a successful performance, counting cash should be the last thing on your mind. Digital ticketing instantly streamlines the bookkeeping process, so you don’t have to worry about reconciling accounts and making deposits.
   
   With digital ticketing and event management software, you’ll receive a next-day event report with a summary of the ticket sales for your event, broken down by ticket type, channel, and other criteria. These reports save time and are easy to share with your finance department and other authorized viewers. You’ll also receive a weekly direct deposit with the funds generated from the previous week’s events.

By switching to digital ticketing, you can operate more efficiently behind the scenes and at the door while elevating the event experience. To learn more about how your high school performing arts department can benefit from digital ticketing, contact us for further information.