This month’s edition of TicketNews TV highlights the most recent Ticket Summit, where more than 500 entertainment and ticket industry professionals braved January’s harsh winter weather to attend the event in New York’s historic Waldorf=Astoria hotel.
In an interview with correspondent Kim Crandall, the conference’s Executive Director Dr. Molly Martinez discussed why Ticket Summit has seen such impressive growth over recent years. Martinez explained that conference has worked hard to “bring all the people involved in the ticket supply chain, which involves promoters, producers, primary ticket agents, secondary ticket agents. Essentially anybody involved in event ticketing is at this conference. This having become the destination, the growth has continued throughout the years.”
Highlighting the increasing participation of primary ticketing professionals in Ticket Summit, Crandall spoke with Bruce Parker, Corporate Account Executive of the Detroit Pistons, and Brian Jemison, Assistant Director of Sales for the New Jersey Nets. Parker and Jemison discussed their organizations’ growing recognition of the importance of the secondary market and its associated technologies in creating successful events. See the video below.
The sports event industry itself was a topic of great interest at the Summit, with sports ticketing professionals reporting that fans have maintained high interest in buying sports tickets and sales have remained solid, even in the face of a sluggish economy.
Also showcased in this edition of TicketNews TV was the recent partnership agreement between ticket search engine FanSnap and Microsoft’s searcher Bing. FanSnap CEO Mike Janes was on hand at the Summit to discuss the agreement. “We’re really excited about the deal”, he told Crandall. “Obviously, Bing is one of the big three search engines that are out there. There’s this real trend among the search engines to provide specialized results…this is really a first.”
Currently in its fifth year, Ticket Summit offers a biannual conference for industry professionals, meeting in New York City each January and in Las Vegas in July. Developed and hosted by TicketNetwork, the Summit has grown in popularity and scope over the years to include a variety of topics and professions related to the ticketing business. It is currently the leading trade conference for the ticketing industry, providing education about current trends as well as numerous opportunities for professional networking.
The next Ticket Summit will be held from July 13-15, 2011, at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Launched in 2009, TicketNews TV is a fast-paced, monthly Web-based newscast that covers various aspects of the ticketing industry, focusing particularly on the secondary ticket market. The newscast is edited by video editor Michael Merritt; more episodes of TicketNews TV, as well as videos about parent company TicketNetwork, can be found by clicking here.
