No more waiting in line for rush tickets!

I got this message this morning on Facebook:

A message to the members of reasons to be pretty: A New Play by Neil LaBute.

--------------------

Subject: New Student Rush Ticket Program!

Hey Reasons fans!

We've got some great news (you know ... besides our three TONY nominations!): we just launched a new student rush texting program!

All you have to do to get your $26.50 ticket is text 'reasons' to 42903.

You can start texting 10am on the day you want to see the show.

You’ll be notified with a return text of availability for that night. If there’s availability you will have a three hour window to pick up your tickets. You must present a valid student id at the box office.

Maximum two tickets per person/performance and cash only!

Be sure to send this along to your fellow students!

See you all at the show!

--------------------

People have been making a lot of noise about Reasons other texting program which is interactive for audience members who are already at the show.  But this new program is a great use of technology.  For all the cynics saying their grosses are low so this isn’t a big deal, you are missing the point.  By using Facebook and text messaging the folks at Reasons are freshening up the age old practice of student rush tickets.  Remember 10 years ago when Rent created a whole new energy around the show with their day of lottery?  Rough times usually spark innovation – let’s hope Reasons lessons in using social networks and texting aren’t lost amongst the cynics. 

And if you haven’t seen the show, if the three Tony nominations don’t convince you – take a look at my reasons for people to see Reasons to be Pretty.

If you are a student – take advantage of this new program, you won’t be disappointed.  If you aren’t a student, you should still see the show.  Buy your tickets here and NOW.

If you are reading this post via Facebook Notes, please click-thru to Off Stage Right and be counted (and keep reading other posts).

A smart e-blast…

Maybe I am late to the party, but I was very impressed with the message I got on facebook from a couple of friends. 

Give the gift of great theater - go to www.reasonstobepretty.com/share and send a customized e-blast to your friends. It's that simple.

I was struck by not only the simplicity of this but the pure genius of getting instant word of mouth from a trusted source.  This is the third example I have found/discussed that asks an audience member to participate directly in the marketing of a show.  Long Wharf Theatre puts postcards in their lobby and asks audience members to address them and return them to the box office to be mailed – a “wish you were here” campaign and I have been having several conversations about encouraging audience members to tweet about shows during intermission or after a show. 

Of course the one problem with the e-blast campaign is that it is not immediate.  I have two friends performing in the show, worked at the theatre it was originally produced at, know most of the production team and producing team, and I LOVED the show off-Broadway, yet, I still haven’t made my own e-blast up.  Now I could tell you that I am seeing the show May 2, and I was waiting until then to send it out, but it would be a bit of a lie.  Frankly, I have been touting the show left and right on facebook and twitter – to the point that many friends thought I was working on it.  Unfortunately even though I see the box office grosses each week, so I know that I should have sent the blast the minute I got the message, the message itself didn’t imply any urgency to me. 

This is the issue with all three ideas.  If you are going to ask the customer to work for on your behalf, you need to make them feel needed.  Some how you have to get them to know that if they loved the show, they HAVE to tell everyone they know or the show won’t be around for them to see or their friends will miss out on something.  In the case of the Reasons e-blast you are asking them to take the time to type up to fifty emails.  That is a lot of work and time commitment (at least suggest they copy paste them too).  I have to wonder if it would have been a good idea to have hire a few people to stand outside the theatre at the end of the show with postcards with the link on them – with a message that implied “save this show.” 

For the postcards, what if they were handed out with the programs and the pre-show announcement asked people to turn them into the box office (and said where they could pick up more in the lobby). 

Certainly we can also think of ways to ask audiences to tweet their thoughts on the show through encouragement in announcements – I noticed at least one or two nonprofits must be using computers in their lobbies to send out tweets of audience responses on their institution’s twitter account. 

After all if I got an email, postcard or tweet from someone whose opinion I trusted, I would check out the show.  It certainly seems worth the cost of a bit of manpower to make it happen.

I have to go now – I have an e-blast to send out through www.reasonstobepretty.com/share.  In case I don’t paste your email in.  TRUST ME GO AND SEE THIS SHOW.  Don’t wait, buy your tickets now.

 

Is email helping us or hurting us?

After that very positive post about technology, I have to explore something I think is really becoming an issue in the world – email.

I prefer to communicate mostly through email in all of my negotiations and communications. I realized while I was unable to type on my own, that I communicate almost exclusively through email or in person—more often through email. I use the phone to talk to my family, when I have to have an answer immediately, or when forced by the fact that someone else doesn’t have email (seriously in this day and age, it should be a rule that you have to have email). But for all of my own leanings towards the use of email, I think it is a detriment to a successful working environment. Everyone talks about it ruining the way people write, but I am talking about erosion of the work environment.

First and foremost, the tone of an email is normally indecipherable. We add all sorts of hint to our readers as to what tone they should read the email with J, tee hee, L, ALL CAPS, etc. Yet each day I find myself puzzling over what someone might have meant when they said something really simple like “That’s great!” Do they really mean that is it great, are they being sarcastic and they are really pissed off? I waste hours on this weekly.

Second, I find myself and others I know employing email as an offensive strategy. I send emails to make sure I have it in writing and that the person I am sending it to knows a deadline, an interpretation, or an opinion. I often find when a staff member brings a problem to me, I say “well write an email so you have proof of what you were saying. It is back-up for some imagined future conflict – which I often think we will into fruition.

Third, reply all is the biggest contributor to misunderstanding and to endless confusion. People don’t read all the responses before replying. It makes conversations that should be had in person a confrontational environment for no reason, except that people frustrated, are up in arms, defensive, and plain old over it because of all the emails and confusion.

Fourth, people send out these large group emails to everyone they think should be involved in a discussion or decision or need to know when something is decided. This brings a whole group into discussion instead of going to the one or two people who should make a decision efficiently and then send the SOLUTION to all that need to know. This makes things simply drag on FOREVER. Or worse, people who didn’t need to be involved in the first place are mad at the fact they weren’t listen too. (Sorry folks the world can’t be run by a giant committee).

Fifth, who cares about phones, but when I am emailing with the person who is sitting in the next room shouldn’t I just go meet with the person and discuss it. Am I being lazy? Am I using it as an offensive stance to make sure that I have it in writing and there is no confusion and documentation? Am I afraid where the conversation will lead? If so, should I address that not hide behind an email?

I could go on and on and on about this, but I think we as leaders need to break free of the albatross.

From here on out:

I hope I can send emails to the appropriate person or people so that I can find the answer and then let the group know what the solution is.

I will try to break the reply all chain.

I will get out of my chair and seek out folks to have a conversation, and if necessary, we can take notes the old fashion way. Imagine writing with pen and paper!

If I feel I need to confirm something, I am going to actually confirm it with the person and make sure we agree and understand each other.

I will be conscientious of the “tone” of my email and try to be concise but kind.