INTIX2025 NYC v040825 - Flipbook - Page 22
his first day was anything but welcoming.
Stepping off the train at Penn Station,
Recinos fell victim to a friendly scammer
who offered to help get him a cab, then
tricked him out of all the cash in his wallet.
Upon finally reaching his new apartment,
Recinos learned it was an illegal sublet and
eviction was imminent. It was hardly the
warm welcome he had envisioned.
The next day, Recinos began an internship
at Carnegie Hall.
“When the rest of my life felt like an
ongoing train wreck, Carnegie Hall felt
like home. Do you have a place like that?
A place that isn’t in your home, but it feels
like home. Maybe it is somewhere you
work. Maybe it is somewhere you frequent,
like a vacation spot, stadium, pub or
theater. Home away from home. What
does this conjure? For me, it comes down
to three words: warmth, familiarity and
connection. Interestingly, this sums up
what we are in the business to do. We are
all in the business to deliver magic with
warmth, familiarity and connection.”
Recinos went on to share the stories of
three organizations that have excelled in
creating a sense of belonging and
connection. One such organization,
Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre, faced a
daunting challenge when its venue required
such extensive repairs that demolition and
rebuilding became the only viable option.
The announcement was made with genuine
warmth, inviting the community to bid
farewell to the beloved space. Patrons were
encouraged to sit in their favorite seats one
last time, and the send-off culminated in a
funeral-style procession as the community
followed the bulldozer down the street.
This heartfelt gesture provided a sense of
closure and togetherness before the
demolition. When the venue reopened to
critical and audience acclaim, it truly felt
like coming home.
Recinos also highlighted Ballet Austin,
which transformed first-time attendees
into loyal patrons by fostering a sense of
familiarity before the performance even
began. Ninety minutes before curtain, the
experience started with a unique touch.
When new guests scanned their tickets, the
scanners chimed like a doorbell, signaling
staff to guide them to a variety of
engaging activities. From mini ballet
lessons and themed photo areas to specialty
19
food and beverage offerings, each element
was designed to create a memorable,
inviting atmosphere that kept audiences
coming back.
“We are all competing with the couch,”
Recinos said as his session concluded.
“We all have the same goal to get people to
come out, fill our venues and experience
something wonderful … This is our noble
work to deliver this magic with warmth,
familiarity, and connection. At the end of
the day, this is what makes what you do
every single day so incredible and so
irreplaceable. It may be up to the
celebrities to make the magic, but it is up
to us to make it feel like home. And that
makes all the difference.”
After the general session, attendees
gathered for a networking coffee break
thanks to sponsor FEVO.
INTIX Villages
Mara Hazzard-Wallingford, Chief Growth
Officer at Tessitura, and John Jakovich,
Chief Innovation Officer, led the Tessitura Presents Arts Village workshop titled
“Harnessing AI as a Force for Good.” They
began by helping attendees understand the
current AI landscape and the key factors
driving its rapid adoption. The session then
delved into real-world case studies showing
how arts and entertainment organizations
are creatively leveraging AI.
In the Ticketmaster Presents Sports Village,
“Beyond the Ticket: Driving Revenue
Through Innovative Event Experiences,”
attendees learned how New York area
venues are transforming event experiences
to drive revenue and build deeper customer
connections. Panelists shared stories on the
popularity of new spaces, adding an
experiential layer onto seat purchases,
buying a dollar value that can be redeemed
through the season, and more.
The TodayTix Presents Entertainment
Village, “ROS: Return on Innovation,”
featured an interactive discussion on
changing audiences, competing tools, and
the challenges of conflicting data, where
the line between innovation and distraction
isn’t always clear.
In the Spektrix Presents Global Village, the
session “Join the Audience Revolution!”
explored the big questions facing our
industry, including what’s going wrong for
patrons, what a great experience should
look like, and what can be learned by
looking outwards to industries and experts
around the world.
INTIX UpLevel Leadership
In parallel, Kay Burnham, CEO of
Perceiving Possibilities, educated attendees
on leading a neurodiverse team. This
workshop was presented by Tixly in the
UpLevel Leadership track.
Examples included marketers using AI to
develop creative concepts more efficiently, significantly reducing the number of
revisions needed during the production
of that campaign. A fundraising team was
also spotlighted for using AI to predict the
likelihood of donor contributions based on
engagement data. In one case, AI identified
1,100 entirely new potential prospects.
Tessitura itself has embraced AI for internal
use, such as generating voiceovers and
transcriptions for training materials, transforming what was once a labor-intensive
process into a task completed in just 15
minutes. They also shared the story of an
organization that used AI to create a virtual box office assistant. This AI-powered
concierge helps reduce phone wait times by
being available to provide customers with
instant answers to common inquiries, such
as parking details, show start times, and age
recommendations for performances.
Welcome Lunch
Sponsored by accesso, the INTIX 2025
Welcome Lunch showcased speakers,
fundraising initiatives to support INTIX
Professional Development Grants through
the PD&E fund, VenuesNow Ticketing Star
award winners and more. Linda Forlini,
Amy Kline and the team are back with
50/50 sales to benefit the PD&E fund...
Click to continue reading Day One Highlights.
