GILBERTSVILLE, Pa. — Last Wednesday, Gateway Ticketing Systems held a webinar addressing The New Guest Experience: the considerations and preparations you should be making right now to adjust the end-to-end guest experience at your attraction in anticipation of reopening. The webinar was attended by 392 industry professionals and the recording was distributed Monday.

“We had three panelists who are working for venues and attractions right now during the coronavirus crisis,” says Randy Josselyn, co-host of the event.

The event was also co-hosted by Matthew Hoenstine. Randy and Matthew serve as experts in the Zoo & Aquarium and Theme Park & Destination spaces respectively at Gateway Ticketing Systems, and they have 45 years combined experience in the attractions industry. They were joined by a panel of professionals from the operator side: Grant Rozich of Palace Entertainment, Jarrid Vaughn from the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, and Brian Vauter from Natural Bridge Caverns.

“We wanted to start the conversation of learning from attractions opening in other countries, and from each other, about what we should be doing right now to prepare to reopen,” says Randy Josselyn. “It was an open forum, and nothing was off limits. We discussed how you might handle the exchange of money or credit cards, how you can update your marketing imagery, whether you will charge for parking, whether you will check temperatures at the front gate or have your employees where face masks…even to how the automatic sinks may work in the bathrooms and many things in between.”

“The power was in the panelists,” continues Peter Wolf, Director of Sales and Marketing at Gateway Ticketing. “These are real people at attractions struggling through this crisis, dealing with the same issues everyone is dealing with, and taking the time to share what their venue is doing right now to reopen. Whenever that may be.”

This was installment four of Gateway Ticketing’s Webinar Wednesdays, a series conceived during the coronavirus crisis to help venues and attractions deliver their best guest experience despite the challenges ahead of them. Other topics have addressed Ticketing Best Practices During A Time Of Crisis, How to Manage Extending Passes and Memberships, and Operational Strategies for Now and The Next Normal.

But this webinar was by far their most popular, with 403 registrations and 392 attendees. It was planned for one hour, but the content was so rich and in demand that it went to an hour and a half. Afterwards, the reviews were glowing:

“Our team is really enjoying and is appreciative of the webinars Gateway is doing. It’s great to hear what others are thinking about,” said an attendee from The Strong National Museum of Play.

“You could have talked for 8 hours today and I would have stayed on the call. Fantastic job today by everyone and so relevant with so much passion,” added an attendee from Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium and Northwest Trek Wildlife Park.

You can watch the recording of the webinar right here.

Gateway Ticketing will continue to work to unite the industry during these challenging times and has Webinar Wednesdays planned for the foreseeable future. Their next webinar is called: Reopening Strategies and Transitioning to a Capacity Managed Attraction.

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