PROGRAM

National Arts Marketing, Development & Ticketing Conference, Chicago

07.30.19 - 07.31.19

KEYNOTE

So Now What? How Will You Reach Audiences in The Post-Social Media World?

Coverage of the arts is all but gone in your local newspaper. Digital ads are less and less effective on the web. But as long as we have social media, we're still reaching audiences, right? Maybe not. In the past year, 42 percent of Facebook users have taken a break from the site, and for the first time the platform lost users. Pew reports that only 9 percent of teens say Facebook is their preferred social media. So Snapchat? After a couple of years of spectacular growth it lost users in the second quarter of 2018, and its stock price cratered in mid-September. Instagram? It's still adding users, but there are signs of slowing. Amidst privacy concerns, fake news, a growing tech backlash, and more and more studies documenting the numbing effect of social media, the bloom is off the social media rose.

So now what? How will you reach audiences in a post-social media world? This session will show you how big media companies are pivoting, and explore strategies for what comes next in a post-social media world.

Douglas McLennan
Editor ArtsJournal

PLENARY

Who Are You and Why Should We Pay Any Attention?

Chatter is your best advertising; are you participating in the conversation? If social media perks up or deflates attendance, what’s being said that really matters and what are you doing to support or change it? When people talk honestly about an experience, are you listening? In this session, you’ll learn how to frame internal discussions that resonate when you create external messaging and advertising, to keep imagery fresh and relevant with every program, project or production, and to connect visuals with keywords that set up and excite audience expectations.

Jim Royce
Principal Anticipation Marketing

BREAKOUTS AND PANELS

Random Acts of Ticketing

Sometimes a successful ticketing campaign calls for an extra touch of creativity, but we all know that can be hard to find when time to brainstorm and budgets are limited. This session will provide both inspiration and a list of tools you can use at your organization to boost engagement and ticket revenue. From tips for capturing customer data when you have a hit show to ways to win back lapsed attendees, we’ll be looking at case studies of fun and unexpected approaches organizations have taken with a proven return on investment. You can expect to walk away with concrete strategies you can implement at your own organization.

Karen Elizondo
Account Executive Spektrix

Copyright Issues in the Digital Age

The impact of social media has created an important need to know what you can and cannot use on social media. Learn how to protect yourself and your company from copyright infringement issues on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social platforms. Learn what media outlets are doing to protect themselves and best practices moving forward. Some questions we will address include; How do I know if the content I want to use is copyrighted? What happens if you use copyrighted material without permission? Can individuals legally post copyrighted content on their Facebook pages? Hear from leaders in the field in this dynamic and timely discussion.

Moderator: Carol Fox
President Carol Fox and Associates

Paul Natkin
Photographer Photo Reserve

Bonnie Rosenberg
Manager of Rights and Images Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

David Zivan
Group Editor Modern Luxury

Steven Mandell
Partner Mandell Menkes LLC

The Road to Optimal Pricing: Where Do You Go From Here?

Everyone is at a different point in the evolution of their pricing strategies. Hear from these seasoned marketing professionals about where they’ve been and where they’re headed in their quest for the perfect pricing strategy. What have been their successes and what obstacles do they still face? Then chime in with your own plans and questions about where to go from.

Moderator: Meghan McNamara
Director of Marketing and Audience Development Harris Theater for Music and Dance

Jim Royce
Principal Anticipation Marketing

Anna Marie Faulkner
DIRECTOR OF MARKETING Lookingglass Theatre Company

Charlie Frankel
President Easy-Ware Corporation

Are Your Surveys Designed for Past Behavior or Taking a Pulse NOW?

Constantly collecting survey data is essential and becomes more valuable when it is combined with past surveys or data from ticket sales and donation software. In this session, we’ll talk about setting up surveys for collecting fresh data you can use right now: to forecast ticket sales early in a run, in time to increase or decrease digital advertising, or quickly change tactics in social media when you have a hit or severe controversy, or capture useful comments to help make strategic decisions. Getting audiences to chat about their experience tonight is paramount for fueling tomorrow’s social media.

Jim Royce
Principal Anticipation Marketing

Finding the Synergy Between Funder Priorities and Organizational Needs

Stop trying to "sell" something others do not want! Tips and insight for looking between the lines on what funders may be interested in supporting, while simultaneously searching for ways to turn that "may" into a "will" through strategic thinking and planning.

Christina Salerno
Executive Director Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra

Ellen Placey Wadey
Senior Program Officer, Arts & Collections Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation

Edna M. Togba
Chief Development Officer Chicago Sinfonietta

Kim Goldman
Managing Director Lucky Plush Productions

Nathan Armstrong
Director of Foundation and Corporate Relations WTTW|WFMT

Building a Successful Major Gifts Plan for Small to Mid-Sized Organizations

How does an organization shift from year-to-year annual giving campaigns to the strategic development of major gifts - while still not losing site of annual realities? The process of building a major gifts plan for organizations in the small to mid range is not as linear as most of us would hope, yet careful planning, action, and patience can set the stage for success.

Christina Salerno
Executive Director Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra

Click. Click. Done. "Must-Have" Google Analytics Settings And Reports

Without a doubt, Google Analytics does all sorts of great things, but that doesn’t mean you are getting a complete picture. To get every benefit of the data, you’ll need to activate and/or setup several key features.

Focusing on the nuts and bolts of Google Analytics, all attendees will receive step-by-step instruction for setting up and using the service, including optimizing data quality and creating custom reports. Participants will master the implementation of must-have settings, configurations, and straightforward yet effective dashboard tools.

Participants are asked to bring their own laptop for this hands-on seminar and will benefit from a substantive Q&A session.

Learning Objectives

Activate Demographics and User Metrics
Filtering Out Your Own Visits
Activate Search Tracking and Enhanced Link Attribution
Adjusting Session Settings and Campaign Lengths
Setting Your Primary URL
Activating Google signals
Basic and Custom Reporting
How Segmentation can lower costs and maximize engagement

Drew McManus
Principal Venture Industries Online

Ceci Dadisman
Digital Marketing Manager FORM

Part of the Digital Marketing Track - Can 100% Digital Marketing Work for Your Organization?

The Phoenix Symphony, has allocated 100% of their single ticket advertising budget to digital for over two seasons. That’s right, zero print ads, good postcards, thanks-for-nothing television and radio. In this session, you’ll learn about the Symphony’s digital evolution, and see how the Symphony used data and experimentation to arrive at this progressive budget. Discover how this real live case study is playing out with $4,000,000 in annual ticket sales on the line—hint: record breaking results & growing audiences.

After this session, you’ll be able to:

Implement an iterative and strategic approach to increasing your digital advertising
Evaluate how to set, measure and implement key KPI’s to prove, justify and communicate your progress
Double down what marketing efforts are working and discontinue or cut back efforts that are not
Prove or disprove paradigms in your industry using data (e.g. older audiences don’t use social media)

Todd Vigil
Founder & CEO EleeHub | Pathfinder Search Ads

Part of the Digital Marketing Track - Your Site is Launched: What is Important for Ongoing Success?

Once your site is launched you should assess your digital presence. We will walk you through options (strategic and tactical) for assessing your results and cover some vital ongoing necessities such as optimization, maintenance and security. This is how you can turn your website from a beautiful showcase into a conversion engine targeted at ticket buyers and donors.

Stay Tuned For Many More Sessions To Be Added, Including:

Increasing Revenue While Lowering Costs
Attracting Younger Audiences
Google Analytics
Strategies To Boost Advance Sales
Optimal Pricing
Digital And Traditional Marketing Mix
Social Media As Audience-Building Tool
Artificial Intelligence
And More!
(program and speakers subject to change)

Our Sponsors

Dream Warrior Group provides graceful yet technologically savvy solutions for Arts organizations. The goal-driven services focus on audience and action. As your technology advocate, we will be your ally and can manage and fully implement your online presence. Our services (à la carte or contracted) include: Web site design and development, e-marketing, e-promotion, social media management and optimization. We implement your message in a digital environment.
More Info
InstantEncore powers over one million patron experiences every year. helps arts and culture organizations thrive. Our two innovative mobile services – Appscension and InsideGuide - breakdown barriers to attendance, increase convenience for patrons, and drive ROI for you.
More Info
BroadwayWorld is the largest theatre site on the internet, covering Broadway, the West End and beyond to 100 US cities, 45 countries and in 12 languages worldwide. With over six million monthly visitors, BroadwayWorld delivers complete up-to-the-minute Broadway, off-Broadway, and regional theatre news, in-depth interviews, extraordinary photo coverage, entertaining video features, lively message boards, ticket discounts, reviews, and more.
More Info
Spektrix is a complete solution for ticketing, marketing, fundraising, and CRM, designed specifically for the performing arts. With world-class technology and support, Spektrix helps 650+ organizations across the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. grow their revenue and deepen patron relationships. Powerful, intuitive software, at-a-glance insights, frequent and seamless upgrades, training, support, and strategic consultation with experienced professionals come at no additional cost - making Spektrix the fastest-growing solution for arts organizations today.
More Info
Arts organizations that put their audience in the spotlight will fill their houses. We work with you to make sense of the chaos and create a plan that gets your audience excited for your next show.

Count on us to be your steady partner on anything from strategic guidance to tackling Tessitura or executing a campaign — all while helping you find ways to be relatable to your audience members. You also won't be left figuring out how to implement a lofty plan. We can execute it for you so you can focus on your endless to-do list. Or help you prioritize and get efficient execution systems in place that work for you and your team. Get to know us better at one of our Executive Roundtable Discussions. Learn more and RSVP at NEW-MarketingSolutions.com/events.
More Info
EleeHub was founded in 2021 to address a critical gap in the nonprofit marketing domain. It became evident that most nonprofits could be categorized into three groups: those unaware of the Google Ad Grant, those who had attempted to utilize it but were deterred by its complexity, and those engaged with costly consultants yielding minimal or expensive outcomes. EleeHub emerged as a beacon for small to mid-sized nonprofits seeking an efficient, cost-effective, and impactful marketing strategy.

As a certified Google Partner, EleeHub champions the belief that all nonprofits should fully utilize the Google Ad Grant, with professional assistance, to optimize their outcomes. The EleeHub team brings together over thirty years of collective expertise in nonprofit marketing and Google Ads, positioning itself as a leading force in the sector. https://www.eleehub.com/
More Info
Elevent is the multi-event ticketing & membership platform made to modernize all things ticketing for professionalized venues, festivals, and seasonal event organizers. White-label by design, high-scale, omnichannel, and holistically blended with a real CRM, Elevent digitally transforms your event organization into what you envision. https://readyset.goelevent.com/
More Info
At Ludus, we believe ticketing, marketing, and fundraising should be effortless, allowing you to focus on what truly matters: your events. Our simple, web-based software simplifies event management with integrated tools for ticketing (both online and in-person), marketing, fundraising, and built-in CRM tools. Additionally, Ludus offers Collections for payments beyond tickets, registration tools, a streaming platform (AnywhereSeat), and volunteer management features. Ludus is completely free, with no contracts tying you down. Plus, enjoy live support every day and night, including weekends. We listen to our community and continuously evolve, creating new features and updates to serve you better. Simplify your operations and free your time with Ludus, ensuring a successful and streamlined event season. https://hello.ludus.com/
More Info