Live entertainment has been back for a while now. Major acts have been touring the country for months while pop megastars like Katy Perry are playing sold-out residencies in Las Vegas. But it’s the return of The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival after a two year absence that marks the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel of the Covid lockout. Thrice delayed, Coachella will see hundreds of thousands of live music fans descend on the desert a hundred miles east of Los Angeles for two weekends, to be followed a week later by a similar number of country music fans at sister festival Stagecoach.
Coachella’s return was stymied by California’s strict Covid restrictions, which means that the producers have had plenty of time to ponder the new normal. Thankfully, smaller venues have been experimenting with how to make their guests feel safer and more comfortable, and technology has answered the call. Since Coachella’s last festival in 2019, for example, the box office window and in-person “will call” have both largely disappeared, replaced by mobile and online ticketing apps that are all about staying safe and keeping fans in their personal comfort zones.
Timed Entry
Venues can’t do much about how people move around inside of stadiums or vast outdoor polo fields (as in the case of Coachella) but they can control how their guests come in. Typically, fans have been subjected to long lines as security struggled to check bags and move revelers through metal detectors. Patience can wear thin as inexperienced workers struggle with huge lines of ticket holders, all arriving just before the big act; bodies often end up crushed together. Timed ticketing, an innovation in which a digital ticket displays a window for entering the venue, allows promoters to better control traffic flow and capacity. The timed ticket is similar to an airline boarding pass that features a boarding “zone” number. Your group still gets to move together, but the interaction between groups is limited.
Graphic Interface
With timed tickets, rather than waiting for the “crush,” venues can now manage the number of tickets sold and the number of patrons per time slot, in real time. Timed ticketing software provides the venue management with an easy-to-read, color-coded grid that can be adjusted for a better flow of traffic before and during the event. This enables better and more efficient management of safety protocols. It also creates a feeling of safety among the crowd as well as a customized experience for each ticket holder. In a way, each guest becomes a VIP. No more “general admission.”
Conflict-Free
Timed ticketing systems also prevent patrons from buying overlapping time slots by omitting any conflicting slots from their selection and by visually denoting sold-out times as unavailable during the checkout process. This in itself allows for better and customized messaging about safety protocols during the purchase process, i.e. no surprises. Merchandise sales can also be handled at time of purchase, limiting crowds at event concession stands by allowing for pre-paid orders to be picked up or delivered to a seat or even a designated area–again at specific time intervals to prevent crowding.
On-site Kiosks
Of course, the safety of the venue’s workers is equally important as those of its guests. Automated ticket kiosks offer a final, contactless alternative to human interaction. Kiosks are programmed with simplified timed ticket interfaces that work with any existing timed ticket online setup, typically using QSRs or barcodes. The kiosk alleviates box office congestion and provides venues with an easily sanitized and socially-distanced onsite ticketing option. Employees’ physical interactions are limited; guests can create a bubble of sorts around their group.
Of course, not every guest will want their experience restricted. After all, part of the magic of live entertainment is that it’s a shared experience, and the more people to share it with, often the better. But using technologies like timed ticketing will enhance everyone’s experience by messaging that the venue takes their safety seriously–not only from Covid but from the conflicts and crowding that frequently arose pre-pandemic. Indeed, I’m confident that with new technologies like timed ticketing we can bring the industry back even better than before.