Ticket Sales

Portland Choir & Orchestra is seeking an individual to manage ticket sales and validation at the venue and leading up to musical and fundraising events produced by the organization.  Specific responsibilities include…

1. Manage in person ticket sales at venue on day of performance.  This can require attendance right up to and possibly into start of performance.  As such, at least one ticket sales staff can not sing in the choir.  Experimenting with handing off to venue box office for ticket sales at the door which may offload much of this responsibility.
2. Manage ticket validation / check-in at performance.  This task requires multiple staff:  one for each audience entrance to the theater.  Some venues (Newmark) require their staff to perform this function, but for most venues this is the responsibility of the organization.  Again, this process will generally bleed into start of performance, so ideally staff does not sing in the choir.
3. Field ticket sales phone calls.  Our published phone number (971)867-4618 is serviced by Google Voice, and as such can ring on any phone that is not otherwise associated with Google Voice.  It can also ring multiple phones at the same time, the first one that picks up wins (or loses).
4. Monitor online ticket sales and report at rehearsals.
5. First line of defense with ticket issues, especially at the venue on performance days.  Thus requires familiarity with our ticket sales online platforms including outsourced such as Arts People.

At the moment, we have two options for online ticket sales:  Tickera plugin integrated with the WordPress website, and Arts People.  Currently, Tickera, which is integrated with our website, issues tickets by PDF that must be downloaded from the website when the sale is complete, or from an email delivered shortly thereafter.  Because successful email delivery is essential, the website requires registration and email verification before tickets can be selected.  Because this process is a bit tedious and may be a barrier for some (older) customers, we are investigating Arts People.  This outsourced service adds fees, and their online ticket-based support with no telephone service has proven problematic.  In either case, each ticket is identified by a unique barcode or QR-code that must be validated at the venue by scanning it using an app installed on an Android or iOS handheld device.  While we have some burner Android devices, team members may also install the app and use their personal device.  For most events, all tickets must be entered into the designated ticketing system.  However at the moment, the system only allows credit card account numbers that are typed in manually, and does not accommodate in person credit card scans.  We do have three Square scanners and two credit card scanners that work with the deprecated but still functional PayPal Here app.  However if a credit card is scanned for a sale, the seat reservation must also be entered separately into the online ticket system using a 100% coupon code.  For day-of-performance tickets, this requirement can be bypassed using preprinted tickets each with a unique barcode or QR-code and space to manually write the seat assignment on the ticket and record on a paper seating chart.  But otherwise, all in person and phone ticket sales must be recorded in the online system.  If the choir is staffing ticket validation, the preprinted barcode may not be required, significantly simplifying the process.

There is a significant level of commitment required for this position.  Our musical performances typically accommodate an audience of 700-1000.  Of these about 15% of tickets are purchased by phone and another 2-10% in person at the venue on performance day.  The phone number published on our website and printed promotional material is serviced by Google Voice.  This allows calls placed to this number to ring on one or more designated mobile telephone capable of accepting SMS text messages.  While calls can occur any time of day, most are between the hours of 4-9pm.  Voicemail left on this number can be directed to one or more email addresses.  There is also an app for Android and iOS that allows outgoing calls to be placed identified with the Google Voice phone number.

While some technical skills are required to navigate the phone and website, most of the skillset required for this position is management and people skills.  It is not possible for a single individual to fulfill all the responsibilities of this position, hence the primary responsibility is leadership and recruiting.  All other individual responsibilities can be delegated to others, however selling tickets over the telephone requires accepting credit card numbers and wielding a website coupon code potentially capable distributing unlimited free tickets.  Website credentials provide a reasonable degree of accountability, however personal integrity is also required of all team members.

If interested in this position, please contact us using the button below.