In
the previous video we created a general admission event and it is already
active and ready to sell. It was very easy and fast to create a general
admission event.
In
this video I am going to introduce the assigned seated events. We are going to
use a tool called “seating chart designer” that helps us design a seating chart
for our venue.
So
let’s start with some background information.
To
create an assigned seat event, we should first create a venue. Then we have to
design the seating chart for the venue. Then we create an assigned seat event
that uses this venue and last we add tickets to the event.
If
the venue or the seating chart exist, I can re-use the existing venue and skip
the first 2 step. For this example I am going to re-use the venue we created in
the previous video, ‘Demo Venue’, and I am going to add a seating chart to it.
Let’s
go to the events menu [short-pause] and venues[pause]. I am going to search for
the venue we created in the previous vide: “Demo venue” [pause]. I am going to
edit the venue [pause]and here is all the information.
Here
is the button to “open the seating chart designer”. I am going to click on this
button [pause]. And it opens up the seating chart designer in a new tab.
Remember
that the seating chart is attached to a venue and not to an event. So when we
design a seating chart we do not have the price categories in mind. We just are
creating a seating chart for the venue. Using this approach, we can re-use the
seating chart for all the events in this venue. Obviously pricing structure may
vary from event to event. This is why, we don’t consider pricing at this step.
Ok,
there are some useful hints here on the page to get me started:
·
Click
anywhere in this box to add a section, then use the mouse to drag them around
or resize them or change their setting using the gear icon.
·
Please
note that for amphi-theatre style seating charts, the stage should always be at
the bottom of the screen and the first row you add in each section, is the
closest row to the stage.
Ok let’s
click here in the box. Basically this area is the area where we design our
seating chart. It is scrollable to the right and scrollable to the bottom so
you won’t run out of space. You probably have your venues seating chart on a
piece of paper. So first rotate the seating chart so the the stage is at the
bottom. Then we start from the section at the most top-left and we create that
section. Then we move to the section to the right and then we go to the next
row of the sections. Remember that this area is only scrollable from right and
bottom and if you don’t start from the top-left most section, you may run out
of space or end-up having a lot of space and will need to move all your
sections.
There
are 4 different types of objects that you can add at any location on this
seating chart.
·
First
object is called “section”. Section is what you usually see in an amphi-theatre
style venue. There are rows of seats and each seat has a number; this is what
we call a section.
·
Second
object is called “general admissions section”. If there are areas in your venue
that are not assigned seated, you should use general admission section for
those areas. For example, you may have a standing section in a theater. Another
example, you may want to sell the orchestra level of a theater as assigned seat
and balcony as general admission. General admission section, allows you to have
events that are partially assigned seat and partially general admission.
·
The
third type of object you can add to a seating chart is a table. Tables are
usually used for dinner-style round-table events or as tables in a night club.
·
The
last type of object that you can add to a seating chart is called a shape.
Shapes are used to indicate the location of the stage, bar, dance floor or the
playing field.
So
lets get started with designing the seating chart. In this example I am going
to start with adding sections. I click on an empty space in the seating chart
area, and click on “section”. There are a few fields I have to fill to add my
section. The first thing is sales priority. Sales priority is a number usually
between 1 to 10 that indicates how preferred this section is relative to other
sections. Usually sections closer to the stage and in the center of the venue
get priority of one and sections far from the stage and to the far sides of the
venue get higher numbers. These numbers help the system find best available
seats for the user. For this section I am giving it a sale priority of 4
because I am starting from the top left which is the furthest section from the
stage. Enter the section name. ‘Balcony Right.’ [pause]. The next field is the
alignment. It basically indicates if the rows in this section are aligned to
the left, right or center. Next is the “sales preference”. Sales preference
indicates whether the seats to the left of this section are more desirable or
the seats to the right. Again this help the system to find and assign the best
available seat to the buyer. Since this section is to the left of stage, seat
that are to the right are closer to the stage and so more desirable. So I am
going to choose “right to left” here. Ok, Let’s add this section. The section
is added here and now I have to add rows to this section. So I click on “Add
Rows”, row A[pause], from set 1 to 20. The arrangement and order of seats are
different from venue to venue and from section to section. Some sections have
only odd seat numbers or event seat numbers while some other have all the
seats. I am going to choose all seats for this section. Then there is the order
of seats in the row. All the values in this drop-down are based on left to
right order of seats. From left to right, are they ascending, 1, 2, 3, 4? Are
they descending 4, 3, 2, 1. Some vnues have seat number 1 in the middle and
then odd seats to the left and event seats to the right or visa versa. In that
case you will select either: 5, 3, 1, 2, 4 or 4,2,1,3,5
In a
lot of venues, the right section has seat number descending and the center and
right sections accessioning.
So
for this section, I am assuming that my seats are descending from left to right
so I choose 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Now I am going to add the row and as you can see the
row appears in the section. To make sure the ordering and arrangement of the
seat are exactly the same as the seating chart I hover over this row, so that
the seat number appear and I verify that they are exactly as I intented to. So
it is A20, 19, 18, 17, up to A1. Now that the first row is correct, I can
continue to row B and the rest of rows. It is much faster now since we have
already set the ordering. I just change the row number to B, and if the number
of seats in row B is different than row A, I adjust the seat numbers. Lets say
row B has one more seat, so I change the 20 to 21and add the row. I am going to
add row c with 22 seats and row d with 23 seats.[pause]. Ok, for this example
let’s assume that all sections have only 4 rows. If I hover over the rows to
see the seats as you can see they are aligned left. This is how we set it when
we first created the section. If I need to change it, I can click on the gear
button, click on edit section, and this is the information I entered
originally. I can edit any of the settings here. For example, I can change the
alignment to right-align and it will change the alignment of the seats in the
section.
I
created the balcony right section and the seats are aligned to the right now.
Now I
am going to add another section here. I set the sales priority to 3 as this
section is more desirable comparing to the previous section as it is in the
center of the balcony. Name is balcony Center[pause]. The alignment is centered.
Since this is a center section, left and right seats are as good so the sale
preference doesn't actually matter for a center section. I am going to put left
to right and add the section,[pause] Click on add row. In this section I have 4
rows, all the seats ordered ascending from left to right and starting from 101.
Row name: A, the seats are numbered 101 to 110[pause]. Add row [pause] hover
over and verify on the seating chart [pause],add row B, 101 to 112 [pause]. Row
C, 101 to 113[pause]. And row D, 101 to 114[pause]. Ok. So, we added section 2.
And now I am going to add another section for balcony left. I notice that my balcony
left is very similar to the balcony right. The same number of rows and seats.
The only difference is the name of the section, the alignment of the seats and the
sales preference. So instead of creating a new section and adding all the rows
I can save time by duplicating my balcony-right section. I click on this gear
button, click on duplicate section and I can get aduplicate section for balcony
Right. I drag it over here, click on the gear and edit section, change the name
to balcony Left. Change the alignment to left align and change the sell
preference to left to right. So we just added 3 sections.
For
the sake of this demo I am going to add some tables here. Let’s assume that in
the front row we have some tables. I am going to click here. Click on add table,
set the sale preference to 2 as it is closer to the stage comparing to the
sections we added, set the name to Table A. There are 12 seats on this table so
I am putting them from seat 1 to seat 12. I choose the shape of the table, round,
square, rectangle, or corner table. I am going to select round, and add my
table. I can resize the table using this corner [pause]. I need 3 more tables
the same as this one. So I am going to duplicate this table and drag it over
here. Again, duplicate and drag, [pause], duplicate and drag. I am also going
to add one big rectangular table with 40 seats, table E, seats 1 to 40.[pause]
I am going to resize it to make it a little bigger. I am going to use drag and
drop to arrange them perfectly. So this is Table A. This duplicate is
automatically named A2 so I have to edit each duplicate table to change the
name to B. This is Table C[pause]. And this is table D [pause]. So we just designed
the table area. Let’s say we have also a standing area. I am adding a general
admission section, [pause] .The sales priority is probably 5, these are not
the best available tickets as they are standing. I name it Standing. The
maximum capacity of this standing area is 200 people and it will be rounded
corner, square [pause]. I am going to make it bigger to cover all this front
area. Now let’s add the stage. So I am going to click on add stage, call it a
stage. I want to use a rectangle for that and click save [pause]. I can resize
and adjust the location.[pause] I also want to show the bar area so I add
shape,[pause] call it bar, and move it here. So we can drag and drop and resize
the objects on the seating chart. We can also rotate any object. I should hover
over the gear button, click on the gear button, and click on rotate shape. And
now I can move this slider to rotate my bar to make it vertical. Or maybe these
sections are not all horizontal so I can click on this gear, click on rotate
section, rotate this section a little bit [pause], click on this one, rotate
section and rotate it a little bit[pause].
And
last, using the zoom slider at the top, I can resize my whole seating chart to
make it best fit on the screen [pause]
In
this demo for the purpose of training, we added all types of possible sections
to our seating chart. Now you should be able to create any type of possible
seating chart, an amphitheater, an arena, a dinner-style venue or a night
club.
That
is it for the seating chart designer. All my changes where getting saved as I
was making them and we are now ready to create the event. Please note that as
soon as you assign tickets to the seats in the seating chart, the seating chart
will not be editable any more. So make sure that your seating chart is complete
and error-free before continuing to the next step.
To
create a new event, I go to Administrative > Events > Events [pause], I
click on add event here[pause]. I am going to call it Assigned Seated Demo
Event. Secondary name is optional. I am going to leave it empty, I am going to
use the default organizer, myself. The event date, lets put it for next month
[pause]. The Start time 9:00PM. I want to start the sale immediately so I leave
the sales start date to today. We want to keep selling tickets up to 11:00 pm
on the event date, which is actually 2 hour after the start of the event[pause].
For the venue, I already have created the venue so I just type in a few letters
of the venue name [pause] and it shows up. Currency is US dollar, categories is
optional. Seating type is very important. I change it to assigned seat and check
the active check box. I can add more information about the event as well as
additional photos and videos in the description box. [read slowly] Delivery
method, I am going to offer both will-call and print e-ticket. Returns policy
let’s have no returns policy for this event. Pictures, I am going to browse and
upload my flyer [pause]. And I hit save [pause]. So event created successfully.
I can go to the home page in a new tab to see my event [pause]. Yes, it is
created right here. I click on the ticket button [pause], as I expect it is showing
the seating chart but there are no tickets available as we haven’t added any
yet. So I have to go back to my edit event tab, go to the tickets tab, and click
on add/update tickets [pause], and start adding tickets to my seating chart.
To
add tickets, I have to select the section first. I see all my sections and
tables in this drop down. Balcony right, balcony centered, balcony left, table
A, B, C, D, E and the standing section. I choose balcony right first and I can
see all the rows in this section in the next 2 dropdowns [pause]. I am going to
have tickets in the first 2 rows at $40 and the next rows at $30. So I choose row
A to row B. I have to create a new price-section for my 40 dollar tickets. I
click on “Add section” button. You are probably familiar with this dialog from
the previous video. I can give it a name like “Vip” or “Front” or “$40”, set the
buy price, face price, and the service charge, very similar to what we did for
the general admission event. As you know buy price is for the re-sellers.
Basically if you buy the tickets to re-sell it online then you can specify how
much you are going to pay for the tickets. It can be a certain dollar amount or
it can be like 90% off the face price. The face price would be 40 dollars. I am
going to add 15% in service charge. My total cost for selling tickets including
the Ticketor cost and the payment processing cost is probably around 5% to 6%.
So by setting the service charge to 15%, not only I am not paying any cost for
ticketing, I am also making an additional 9% of my ticketing. I add this
price-section. If I have price variations for my $40 tickets like senior price,
student price or early bird price I can click on add ticket variation and add
those variations. Lets add a student price variation at $35 which means $5
discount for students. So the ticket name is student, description is “Student
ID required at the entrance” [pause], face price is $35 and again 15% charges.
Then I am going to click on add tickets [pause] and it shows me the number of
tickets added, and I can also see on the seating chart that the first 2 row in
my balcony-right has now tickets available. Now I want to add row C and D at a
different price. So I select Row C to Row D here. I can see the $40 price-level
that I created before here but I need to create a new price level. So I click
on add section again, fill out the fields [pause], set the face price to $30,
and again 15% service charge and “Add Section” . And I click on add tickets.[pause]
Tickets added, I can see them on the seating chart and as you can see each
price level is displayed in a different color. The guide here explains what
each color actually mean, what price variations are available for each price
level and any description for the price.
I am
going to do add tickets for balcony center and balcony left. [read slowly] Balcony
Center, row A to B. I am going to choose price level $40. The price already
exists so I don't have to create a new price section, I just select it from the
list. Add tickets[pause]. Balcony Center again, row C to D. 30 dollars, Add
tickets[pause]. Balcony Left, row A to B, 40 dollars, add tickets [pause]. And
Balcony Left, row C to D. 30 dollars, add tickets [pause]. So this is how my
seating chart looks. Now I can add tickets to each table and also to the
standing section exactly in the same way. Let’s add tickets for a couple of
tables. Table A from seat 1 to 12 I am going to specify a new price. I call the
section VIP, “Includes dinner and unlimited drink [pause], face price 200 and
the service charge of 15, add section. Add tickets [pause], 12 tickets added.
And as you can see now this table is colored and the guide displays my VIP
price [pause]. Let's add some standing seats as well. I am going to the
standing section. Let's add just 20 tickets for this section. I am going to add
a new price level, call it standing, set the face price to 20 dollars and the
service charge of 15%. Add section. Add tickets [pause]. The section is now
colored which means that there are seats available here. And there is a colored
coded price in the guide [pause].
So we
are all set here. The event is now ready to sell. Let’s see how it looks to the
user and what the user experience is.
Lets
go to the home page by clicking on the tickets here. [pause] Event Demo
Assigned Seated, I am going to click on the tickets button [pause]. The
seating chart is displayed here.
I
have 2 options to buy a ticket. I can either ask the system to give me the best
available seat in a price level or I can pick my seats from the seating chart.
For
the first approach, I select that I need 2 tickets and I need the price to be
40 dollars and when I click on “Find best available seat” the system finds 2
seats for me and it adds them to my shopping cart. They are 40 dollars each,
and here are my seat numbers. I can also see the seats on the seating chart.
The system finds me the best available seats based on the “Sales Priority” and
“Sales preference” we set while designing the seating chart. If I don't like
these seats I can simply delete them from my shopping cart [pause] and pick the
seats from the seating chart. So lets say if I want to buy these 2 seats, the
ones in the center, I click on the row, I slect that I need 2 seats in this
row, and I choose that I need the center seats.[pause] As you can see I got
these 2 seats in my shopping cart. I also want to add some VIP tickets from
this table [pause]. 2 tickets from this table [pause] added to my cart and
maybe I need some standing tickets also so I am going to click on standing
section. I need 3 standing tickets [pause]. My shopping cart displays all the
tickets I added. I can click on “Continue shopping” to go back to the list of
all events and add tickets for other events or I can proceed to checkout. To
make the payment and finalize the sales[pause]. I choose my delivery method:
print e-ticket or will call. Here is my total face price, here is my total
service charge, which is actually the 15% of the total face price and my total.
If I have a promotion code or coupon I can apply it here. I can pay by my
Visa/MasterCard or I can pay with PayPal, both options are available here. To
create by credit card, I have to just fill out the form and click on buy items.
As people buy tickets, those seats will automatically become unavailable on
this seating chart and will be shown in gray. The system automatically controls
the inventory for you.