Using Event Tickets as a Bartering Commodity.

The use of bartering dates back to ancient times and is simply the exchange of goods and services between two parties. Any company involved in the events industry sells tickets for admission to their event. Tickets have a monetary value and have been used as a bartering tool in the events industry for years. 

It is common practice for events organisers to allocate a certain number of guest entries usually in exchange for services. This is certainly the case for volunteers because they are exchanging their time and labour to gain entry to the event. Indeed, most sponsorship deals will always include an allocation of guest tickets for the sponsor organisation. 

In essence the event organiser is using tickets as a bartering commodity to sweeten deals and attract favourable rates on services. The number of tickets available as a bartering commodity is really going to depend on the size of the event and the number of tickets sold. For a sell-out event obviously the face value of each ticket will be higher than a smaller event. 

In the planning phase event organisers should make accurate forecasts for their visitor numbers and expected tickets sales by volume and face value. Knowing these numbers will help understand what percentage can be set aside for bartering and exchange. Typically, there are allocations required for artists and sponsors but if it's possible organisers should keep a pool of tickets available to use for other purposes. 

With the current crisis in the live events industry finances are being squeezed and it therefore makes sense to use this valuable commodity to close deals with suppliers. For many event organisers this may be a departure from normal practices, it does however open up new areas of negotiation with potential suppliers. These could be providers of goods and services to the organising company, from rent and office supplies to event specific contractors like medical services or advertising agencies and media companies, there is really no limit to what can be considered. Although the total cost is unlikely to be exchanged for tickets a few complimentary tickets will certainly lead to good discounts on those services being purchased.

In these tough times it makes sense for event organisers to use the one resource they have to negotiate better deals from suppliers. Using complimentary tickets to sweeten deals will reduce costs incurred now and can have a significant impact on the company’s cash flow. The financial impact can be offset until later in 2021 when tickets go on general sale and ticket revenue is slightly reduced as a result. 

Using an events software management platform like FestivalPro live event organisers get all the functionality they need to manage every aspect of their event ticketing. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The FestivalPro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features for managing the ticketing process with a capability to select how much and when tickets are released for sale. The ticketing module allows for the allocation of guests and the capturing of details of who has been allocated those guest tickets. 

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