CASE STUDY

Sycamore Tickets Prepares Students for Future & Elevates Patron ExperienceAn hour outside of Chicago in Sycamore, Illinois, Sycamore Tickets acts as the central ticketing office for the local school District. Consisting of a high school, middle school and five elementary schools, Sycamore Community School District 427 serves nearly 4,000 students. Sycamore Tickets manages ticketing for the District’s theatre, music and dance productions in addition to high school sporting events, school dances, commencement and community rentals for organizations like the Kiwanis club and the Penguin Project. “Our events attract a community-oriented group. We have parents and students who come of course, but most of our audience is from the larger community,” says David Olson, who heads up Events, PR and Communications for Sycamore Community School District 427.

A Manual Ticketing MessWhen Olson joined the District, there was a painfully time consuming ticketing system in place. The manual process involved poster boards and file folders and was so complex that it gave Olson nightmares, “We only sold tickets two weeks in advance because of the stress that it caused. I put my foot down and said we need a better solution.” To make matters worse, because online sales weren’t available, there were always long lines at events. It was a headache for the box office and a less-than-stellar patron experience. After doing research and making a case to District officials, Olson got the thumbs up to invest in an all-in-one solution.

COMPANY

Sycamore Ticketswww.sycamoretickets.org

TYPE OF EVENTS

Sycamore Tickets manages events for seven K-12 schools in Sycamore Community School District 427.

SUMMARY

Sycamore Tickets was bogged down by a manual ticketing process. After rolling out Vendini, they introduced online sales to save staff time and enhance the patron experience—all the while arming students with skills for their futures.

sycamore tickets

A Ticketing TransformationWhat could be a daunting process, switching from a manual system to a ticketing solution, proved worth it for Olson and team. “When we signed with Vendini in 2012, patrons welcomed the change. People love that they can buy tickets online and pick seats in advance,” says Olson. Vendini also brings a new level of professionalism to the District. “We get so many compliments from people who are impressed by our ticketing system. This is one way we distinguish ourselves from other schools.” The ability to offer online ticket sales was Olson’s premier case for investing in a ticketing system, but over the years he’s layered in more features to maximize their use of the system.

Before Vendini, Sycamore Tickets didn’t have a process in place to track sales. “There was no record keeping. At the end of the night, we’d close out the box office and count the cash but didn’t know how much we were supposed to have,” says Olson. With Vendini, they rely on simple-to-use reporting to capture this information.

“When a student changes shifts, they fill out a report that I compare to a report generated by Vendini. It keeps things accountable to make sure money doesn’t walk off.” With less energy expended on ticketing and reporting, Olson set out to create a website—built with Vendini Website

Manager—designated specifically for Sycamore Tickets. “Before we had an events page on our District website that was updated by a webmaster. It was a long process to make changes. Today, I can quickly update our Vendini Website Manager site on my own.” Olson isn’t the only one who enjoys the benefits of the new system, “One of our renters wanted to know when donors arrived for their show. The producer was blown away by the text alerts we enabled to notify them when donors scanned in.”

A Mobile Box OfficeOlson and his team have also made advances to transform the patron experience. “A few times we had to hold shows by 20 minutes to check in latecomers.” Today, staff can sell tickets and check people in quickly from iPads using Vendini’s mobile box office solutions. “Now we can keep up with the line,” says Olson. Since implementing online sales, patrons also enjoy the convenience of buying tickets online without a trip to the

box office. “When tickets went on sale for our Orchesis Dance Show, we sold 1000 tickets in the first hour and 70% of those sales were online.“ Online sales have also helped cut down on box office hours. Before Vendini, the box office was open for 15 hours a week; today, with an increase in online sales, box office hours have been reduced to 3 hours a week.

Olson also relies on Vendini’s email marketing tools to cultivate relationships with patrons. “We use email marketing to enhance our patron engagement. We want to continue the conversation with patrons to bring them back.” Some unexpected engagement opportunities are a result of Sycamore Tickets’ small box office. Out of necessity, they put mobile solutions to work, “Vendini’s TicketAgent for iPad sets us apart by getting staff out from behind the glass at the ticket office. With an iPad in hand, you’re face-to-face and within a foot of the person.

“We sold 1000 tickets in the first hour and 70% of those sales were online.”

- David Olson, Head of Events, PR and Communications for Sycamore Community School District 427

It’s important for students to learn how to interact in today’s digital world.”

Setting Students Up For SuccessAt the heart of Sycamore Tickets’ success lies its students. “Our students basically run the box office. I oversee the financial side of things, but they’re the ones selling tickets, interacting with patrons and scanning tickets.” And it’s been a breeze teaching students to use the system: “One of the biggest strengths

of Vendini is ease of use. I don’t spend an hour on training. I spend five minutes and they get it. Students can train other students easily.”

Committed to the growth of their student body, Sycamore Tickets offers students professional experience working with the community and using technology.

“Our students leave with real world knowledge to take with them to college. We prepare them so they’ll have an easier time getting a job with their experience.”

A Supportive Community While Sycamore Tickets sets their students up for success, the Vendini team does the same for their customers. “In a school setting, we’re swamped until 3 p.m. and sometimes need a hand in the evening. Vendini’s support team is

awesome, someone’s always there to help.” Olson says, “It’s crazy to say, but Vendini isn’t just a vendor we use. We’ve built a relationship and it just continues to grow.”

On top of building relationships with the Vendini team, the annual customer conference, Camp Vendini, connects Olson with a larger community of ticketing professionals.

“Camp Vendini is an awesome way to interact with other Vendini users. It’s nice to hear about what professional venues are doing and find ways to apply it to our operations. It keeps us on the cutting edge.” And it always comes back to the students for Olson,

“Connecting with professional venues helps me educate our students about how to use technology creatively and how things are done in the real world.”

Vendini makes the business of live events simple. We designed our all-in-one system to help organizations easily promote events, take donations, and leverage mobile ticketing and customer insights to deepen experiences with their audiences — and ultimately sell more tickets. Vendini is based in San Francisco, CA, with offices in Petaluma, CA, Los Angeles, CA, Boston, MA, New York, NY, Knoxville, TN, Vancouver, BC and Gualdo Tadino, Italy. To learn more about Vendini, please visit http://www.vendini.com

“We get so many compliments from people who are impressed by our ticketing system. This is one way we distinguish ourselves from other schools.”

“Students can train other

students easily.” - David Olson