The impact of ever-changing technology on the ticketing industry will be one of the major themes of the International Ticketing Association‘s (INTIX) annual conference, to be held this week in San Antonio, TX.
INTIX is a non-profit membership organization that represents more than 1,100 professionals in the ticketing industry. Its 33rd annual conference and exhibition runs January 17-19 at the Grand Hyatt San Antonio.
More than 780 people are scheduled to participate, INTIX president and CEO Jena Hoffman told TicketNews. The conference looks to attract professionals involved in ticketing for the arts, sports, arenas, fairs, festivals, as well as those in ticket distribution, marketing, technology and customer service.
In addition to sessions on the latest technology and industry trends, Hoffman identifies “revenue generation” as the hottest topic at the conference.
“Revenue generation includes developing and retaining customers through sales and packaging strategies; maximizing season, single and group sales opportunities; leveraging and managing social media to sell tickets; and identifying alternative revenue streams,” Hoffman explained in an e-mail to TicketNews.
The opening keynote panel will address the future of ticketing technology. The panel’s featured speakers include Paciolan CEO Dave Butler, Veritix president Jeff Kline, and Tickets.com president and CEO John Walker, among others.
On its third day, the conference will take a closer look at ticketing for this summer’s London Olympics. Ticketing for the summer 2012 event has been fraught with problems, including the temporary suspension of ticket sales on January 6 after the Summer Games’ official online resale site crashed.
Ticket fraud has developed into a major issue in the UK over the years. According to the INTIX conference agenda, one in 10 UK ticket buyers has been the victim of ticket fraud. The issue has become an increasing concern of officials in the months leading up to the Summer Games.
British police and Olympic officials have launched an effort, called Operation Podium, to eliminate fraud and illegal resales in connection with the London event. Nick Dowling, detective superintendent for the London Metropolitan Police, is scheduled to address the conference on law enforcement efforts to combat ticket fraud.
Other INTIX sessions will focus on how to maintain customer service despite staffing reductions in a difficult economy; optimizing resources on reduced budgets; and pro and college sports networking events that feature ticketing executives from the Atlanta Braves, Oakland Athletics and Boise State.
