A job post, December 2017:
“Supervisor, Commercial Operations who will be overseeing all the revenue generating aspects of our operations: box office, food and beverages, rentals, and advertising.”
What struck me is
“Box office” and “food and beverage” going the revenue generation silo.
Rather than in say, an “experience” silo.
That’s not the right word but here’s why it’s close.
The mind set matters, it sets the top priority.
Putting the experience behind
the revenue generation leads to short term decisions
That can lower the experience of the interaction,
Which hurts long term viability.
e.g.
A focus on revenue margins means
less bartenders
with less training
and more expensive drinks.
An endemic problem in arts venues I’ve attended.
Not having seen the numbers,
I wouldn’t be surprised
if there is a decreasing rate
of financial return
by adding service staff or extending training.
There are probably tons of rational reasons
to keep expenses down and costs high.
The arguments for experience over efficiency
are much “softer” and harder to fit in an Excel file.
Revenue problem is a side effect of a relevance problem.
The relevance problem is a side effect of experience problems.
Most attempts to “make theatre relevant” are focused on content changes
while the experience stays the same.
It hasn’t worked.