Professional Development Dilemma for College Athletics Ticketing Professionals

Everyone has different priorities when it comes to attending a professional development conference: Getting better at what you do currently, getting exposure to new and different viewpoints or making connections in an effort to move up within the industry. The reasons are endless. I don’t pretend to speak for everyone but from my viewpoint I’ve always felt that college ticketing professionals don’t have the same opportunities as their marketing and fundraising counterparts. Don’t get me wrong- ticketing professionals have professional development options, but they don’t have a one-stop shopping model that has been created through the formation of organizations like NACMA (Marketing) and NAADD (Development). These organizations create a triple threat for individuals within their area of specialization. They put on an annual conference that focus on becoming a better marketing or development professional, sharing best practices, and discussing new trends within the industry. Similar organizations exist for the other major areas within college athletics departments- compliance (NAAC), business managers (CABMA), academic advisors (N4A), sports information (COSIDA) and most recently event managers and facilities (CEFMA). Most of these organizations have decided to schedule their annual conferences in conjunction with NACDA, either running concurrently or just before NACDA. This format allows attendees to gain exposure and knowledge in other areas of college sports administration and an opportunity to network within their area of specialization, with professionals in other areas, and sometimes, most importantly, with the primary decision makers in athletics departments.

From my viewpoint college athletics ticketing professionals currently have three good but not great choices:

Option 1: Attend your Software Company Run Conference

Pros: Sharing of best practices, Maximizing the use of your ticketing system

Cons: Networking opportunities outside of ticketing

Software conferences are by far the most popular destination of ticketing professionals currently. Long before I started in the field, Paciolan made the brilliant decision to create an annual users conference for ticket professionals near their headquarters in Southern California (who wouldn’t want to go LA in February?). The conference allowed ticketing professional to share best practices with one another and discover ways to maximize the use of their ticketing system.. It was also a great opportunity for Paciolan to share new products and features of their ticketing system. Other software companies that have entered the college athletics market have set up similar users conferences.

Early in my career, I attended multiple PacNet conferences and found them informative. When I used Paciolan software, these conferences were helpful in learning how to use the software and I got a chance to network with other ticketing professional around the country. For some these conferences served as a support group for ticketing folks who felt isolated and underappreciated within their department. As I began to have aspirations to potentially broaden my horizons beyond ticketing, these conferences lost a little of their luster because of the lack of opportunity to expose myself to other ideas and individuals outside of the ticketing specialization.

Option #2 Attend INTIX

Pros: Discover the new trends in ticketing, Valuable when looking at changing ticket systems

Cons: Low participation by college ticketing professionals, Lack of exposure to college marketing and fundraising professionals

I’ve attended two INTIX conferences during my career and quite honestly it has not been a great fit for what I’m looking for in a professional development conference. When I attended INTIX, the attendees and program was dominated by the arts and to a lesser degree professional sports. I don’t have anything against either group (I love musicals and the San Francisco Giants) but there wasn’t much discussion about college athletics. There’s a small group of passionate smart college ticket professionals who attend INTIX and who recently have set up breakout sessions where everyone shares best practices. The main benefit I gained from the conference was the exposure to what is going on in the ticketing industry outside of college athletics. Given the fact that professional sports organizations are usually out in front of us in the collegiate world, I gained some valuable insight and tools that may emerge in college athletics in the near or distant future.

Option #3 Attend NACDA, NACMA, NAADD and float from group to group

Pros: Exposure to marketing and fundraising trends, Networking opportunities outside of ticketing

Cons: Low participation by college ticketing professionals, No ticketing specific agenda

I tried this option two years ago and found it very rewarding. The more I work in college athletics administration the more I believe that the integration of ticketing, marketing and fundraising staffs within an athletic department is essential. Each plays an important role in generating revenue and exposure for their department and the dividing lines between ticketing, marketing and fundraising continues to blur. For me to best integrate my ticketing operation with marketing and fundraising, it’s important to understand the strategies and challenges of these areas. An added benefit from attending a mixture of marketing and fundraising session has been the takaways come back an utilized many these tools in our ticketing operation at Utah.

Or, a new idea…

Option #4 Create NACTA (National Association of Collegiate Ticketing Administrators)

Pros: One stop shopping for college ticketing professionals- best ticketing practices, networking opportunities within and outside area of specialization, exposure to all areas of college athletics administration

Cons: It doesn’t exist

A pipe dream perhaps, but potentially the best option given the ongoing changes in the college athletics ticketing profession. As college ticket offices continue to grow beyond in-bound call centers and begin to integrate outbound ticket sales departments, a new professional development strategy should be considered. A ticketing organization with a ticket sales and ticket operations track whose annual conference takes place at the same site as NACDA, NACMA and NAADD would present a new and rewarding professional development option. As the lines continue to blur between marketing, ticketing and fundraising, the integration of the three grows more essential for success. The more interaction between the professionals in these areas, whether in weekly meetings or in professional development, the better.