Ticketed Shows & Holidays

Scot Nery’s Boobietrap occured every Wednesday for five years, so we ran into some holidays. We didn’t stop for Fourth of July or Christmas or Halloween. Ticket selling gets weird with all the holidays. So, we gotta think about the experience of the ticket buyer.

Gasp! Another post about empathy! In line with that, I’m writing here about my own singular perspective on holidays. if I were trying to sell tickets to Hindus, I don’t know much about them, so I would definitely do some research so I’m in their heads.

With a regular show, we probably execute it on the weekend, because that’s most appropriate. When we get close to a holiday that our audience will celebrate, we need a compelling reason for choosing which day. I say “will celebrate” because tis’ also possible to throw an event for a group that is decidedly not celebrating that holiday as an anti-holiday show, or who ignores that holiday.

There are non-public-event holidays

Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Labor Day are usually (in my circles) holidays where people have private gatherings with family and friends. If someone is planning to go to a private event, or they feel the need to go to a private event, or they feel left out because they don’t have a private event; they’ll probably not want to buy a ticket.

There are public event holidays

New Years Eve, Halloween, and Saint Patty’s are examples where people are expected to go out to something wild.

There are either way or nothing holidays

Holidays like the Superbowl, Cinco De Mayo might be examples of holidays where people (that I know) are not expected to do any specific kind of celebrating.

Holiday Shows Must Respond

The show has to be on deliberate dates and it has to respond to the celebrated holiday how the audience wants to respond to it.

The thinking

If the ticket buyer is gonna go to a public event in the same week as a show, they probably don’t want to go to the show. They have already spent their money for that week, they’ve already used their good shirt that week.

If the ticket buyer has other options (and the probably do) for the holiday event, they have to have a really important reason that event is good. There is only one day a year to celebrate Halloween for real.

Show dates adjacent to non-public-event holidays could be good on theme.

Thanksgiving is a weird one because it’s not really much of a thing in itself.

It’s good to do a Christmas show starting around Thanksgiving because although people have plans, their plans are not substantial and will most importantly have their family coming to visit. The family needs something to do. This is probably not a time you want to have an adults-only show in the midwest.

Holiday parody shows are pretty sucky

It’s hard to do a Christmas show that makes fun of Christmas. A lot of people have tried. Who is that for? Who really needs to buy a ticket to see someone make fun of a holiday? Someone might need a ticket for a pleasant Christmas show where they can check off on their holiday list that they did a holiday activity. We can make that show and make it fun or weird in our own way.

Written for folks who want to attract and energize groups

Scot Nery is an emcee who has helped some of the biggest companies in the world achieve entertainment success. He's on an infinite misson to figure out what draws people in and engages them with powerful moments.

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