GILBERTSVILLE, Pa. — Last Wednesday, Gateway Ticketing Systems held the fifth installment of their Webinar Wednesdays series titled: Reopening Strategies and Transitioning to a Capacity Managed Attraction. The webinar was attended by 476 industry professionals and the recording was distributed on Friday. “We’ve seen attractions reopening in other parts of the world on a limited basis with a focus on safety and flexibility, and in a capacity managed manner,” says Randy Josselyn, co-host of the webinar.

“Capacity management isn’t just for your special event anymore. In a post-COVID world, it will likely be for your entire venue or attraction. So we wanted to start developing the story of what a visit to your venue will now look like in this new world, and how you can potentially limit the number of guests at your gate, in your venue, and at particular rides or exhibits.”

Randy was joined by several experts from Gateway Ticketing, as well as a two-person panel of industry professionals who have their feet-on-the ground dealing with the capacity management challenges coronavirus has brought to their attraction. The panel included: Eddie Jones, Desktop Support Specialist at the Atlanta Botanical Garden; and Luis Almonte, Senior Director of IT, Systems Architect at Discovery Science Foundation.

Eddie walked attendees through the Garden’s plan to sell tickets in fifteen-minute intervals and only allow fifty people to enter during that interval, limiting their daily attendance from a maximum of about 7,000 guests to just 2,000 – 2,500 a day. He also addressed the solutions they’ve developed to aid safety, social distancing and flow through their gate and garden. From something as small as purchasing USB extension cords so scanners can be placed in a location where guests can scan themselves, to much larger changes like potentially closing their exit point which sits just twelve feet from their entrance and using a back gate as a new guest exit, Eddie’s contributions provide tangible recommendations that your attraction can action right now.

Luis further elaborated on what the Discovery Science Foundation is doing at their locations. They are considering making members purchase free timed tickets online before they visit, when normally they would show up and enter with their membership. They’re also working through the concepts of building a one-way path through their locations, like the experience at IKEA, to help manage flow and entry and exit points. Finally, they are having serious discussions about whether they will re-open their cafeterias right away and serve food.

“Week in and week out on these webinars, you’re hearing from attractions professionals faced with the same decisions you’re being faced with,” says Peter Wolf, Director of Sales and Marketing at Gateway Ticketing Systems. “They’re giving real-world examples of what their attraction is doing to mitigate the risks and perception of danger for when it reopens. These are some of the most powerful conversations happening in the industry right now.”

Gateway Ticketing Systems will continue to work to unite the industry during these challenging times and has Webinar Wednesdays planned for the next two weeks. Due to the popularity of the capacity management topic and the over 70 questions submitted by attendees, they’ve decided to continue the topic this week. While last week’s webinar spoke in general about capacity managing your attraction, and specifically about managing capacity at the gate, this week will focus almost entirely on the strategies and technology you can use to maintain social distancing best practices and transition to capacity management within your venue. They’ll cover retail, food & beverage, ride and exhibit operations and more. The webinar is called: Optimizing the Capacity Managed Guest Experience Inside Your Attraction.

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