Boroondara Council
Case Study
Booking Harmony for Council's Choral Event
- Reduce uncertainty about numbers for Free Events
- Plan for your market
- Looking ahead
"We booked George Dryfus, the noted German-Australian composer for a free concert in Hawthorn Town Hall. While this was a great event for our program, we were concerned that the performance would be over subscribed and we'd have to turn away people at the door," said Eli Newton, City of Boroondara Cultural Development Officer. Not knowing how many people would show up for the performance created a level of stress during the planning stages. The event did "sell out" and about forty patrons were disappointed. While this number was less than anticipated, it flagged the issue for Eli and her colleagues.
background
The City of Boroondara serves more than 160 000 people in Melbourne's inner and middle-eastern suburbs. Within the council there are 14 community centres, five library branches and numerous venues that host a wide range of cultural events.
The City of Boroondara's Cultural Development team run nine major concerts each year. The concerts, fully funded by the council, are free to attend. A large percentage of the patrons for these events are over 50 years old. Most of the council's concerts are fairly well attended, although capacity only becomes an issue with higher profile events.
solution
The 2008 In Harmony Choral Concert looked to be a very popular event. It included a diverse line up of local and national artists including the Australian Boys Choir. Based on her experience with the George Dryfus concert the previous year, Eli sought a solution to avoid overbooking and disappointing patrons. In addition, the council was considering some "pay to attend" concerts in the future and wished to explore ticketing options.
planning for change
Most people found booking their seats online simple and convenient. As the event progress, however, Eli found a few operational and change management issues arose. Most of her patrons are elderly and had limited internet exposure. Therefore, they preferred to book tickets over the phone. The council staff easily entered the information into the TryBooking site for patrons and posted their tickets, but time spent on this task was not fully anticipated. "In the past we'd had a more casual approach to our Front of House staff at events," said Eli, "but once we issued tickets we had to implement a more formal structure so we had ticket collectors at the door."
The issue that always exists for free events affected the In Harmony Concert as well. More people booked than actually showed up. Because the event was free, there was no commitment to use the tickets booked and so the event showed "sold out" when in fact there were empty seats during the performance. This is a quandary that most event planners face with free events, so they usually have additional tickets ready at the door for people who just show up.
conclusion
"The Trybooking staff are really very friendly and helpful. They explained the system so clearly during the demonstration and I really enjoyed every interaction I had with them," said Eli.
The City of Boroondara is reviewing booking for free events and Eli will make recommendations shortly. "TryBooking is a great option if we decide to run some paid events." said Eli.
