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Cracking the CodeIncreasing Student Attendance

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Moderator• Abbey Lehman » Paciolan

Presenters• Chris Flores » North Carolina State University• Cecil Hairston » Oregon State University• Robby Ray » University of California, Irvine

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How do we get students to show up? How do we keep them showing up? How do we convince them to stay? Let’s see how our colleagues have created a Home

Court Advantage!

Student Ticketing – Cracking the Code

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Introduction

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Chris Flores

North Carolina State University

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Get the Right students in the event, get them to stay. Make it easy. Make it easier. Make it fun. Reward best fans.

Goals

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How Does NC State Drive Student Attendance – What Are Our Goals

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Upload the student file from the university using the student upload process.

Ticket Requests are for Football and Men’s Basketball ONLY. All other sports you just have to show your Student ID.

Students Request Tickets» Six days prior to the event until four days prior to the event » Entire process is done online. Students never need to call or come by.» Lottery runs immediately if necessary.» That night we print and distribute the tickets and emails. Tickets are PAH or Mobile.

On Demand » If there are tickets remaining, three days prior to the event students can get their

tickets instantly.» Even on day of game, students may request mobile as they’re walking up to the

gate.

NC State Process

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Create a Good Process That Works for Students

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Free Parking» Football - Parking tickets can be picked up at 4 different pick up points starting three days before the event.» Men’s Basketball - Students just show their ID at the parking gate to receive their free parking.

Additional Perks» Mobile Delivery

▫ No longer need to find a printer. ▫ Tickets can be requested as students are walking up to the gate.

» Online Redemption▫ All ticket requests are done online at the student’s convenience. ▫ Never have to stand in line or call.

» Ticket Return▫ If they can’t attend they can return their ticket online so another Wolfpacker can come!▫ Make sure the most students are at the games.

Free Ticket, Free Parking

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They have the Ticket…… Now Lets Get Them in the Event

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Membership Cost: $30 for one year or $100 for 4 years.» Full membership in the Wolfpack

Club.» Receive priority seating at Men’s

Basketball and Football games.» Receive priority points in the WPC

for when they graduate.

Student Wolfpack Club

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Get Them More InvolvedDonations

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Fan Experience is Key» Men’s Basketball

▫ Student fan tunnel▫ Finishing the ‘E’ in STATE▫ Promoting Top 10 each game to create excitement▫ Prizes for most loyalty points. Including a pair of ACC

Tournament Tickets!▫ Student of the Game to lead the 1 Pack Chant

Getting Students to Attend – The Fun Stuff

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What We Do to Get Them to Show Up

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Cecil HairstonOregon State University

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Tickets are paid for through student fees» OSU students have agreed to purchase an allotment of tickets» Negotiated fee equates to roughly half of the value of the tickets» Tickets are distributed through the Ticket Office

Football Tickets» Hard tickets are distributed for football games on the Monday of game week» OSU students are allotted a minimum of 6,000 tickets» Quarter system causes 2 or 3 home games before class is in session» When school is not in session, student tickets can be reserved by phone or in person starting at 9:00 am

each day» When classes are in session, student tickets are distributed in person only from our football stadium

starting Monday of game week at 7:00 am» For all subsequent days, distribution begins at 9:00 am from the football stadium.

Oregon State Student Ticketing

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The Process

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Students claiming tickets but not showing up Atmosphere at games lacked Students would leave before the game ended

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Challenges that We Faced

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Create a home field advantage by having an engaged student body

Pack the student section with hopes it would ignite the rest of the fans in attendance

Ensure all student tickets were claimed

Get the students to the stadium on game day

How can we make a change

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The Strategy

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External staff discussed the goals and committed to:» Allocated resources to students» Partner with various student groups on campus» Find ways to make game day fun for students

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The OperationHow Was the Process Executed?

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Create a student culture: » In-game advertising at conclusion of 2014 baseball season to current students» Start Program – Orientation program for new and transfer students

Identify student leaders» Leaders were tasked with getting the word out» Make sure OSU Athletics was constantly promoted

Create student events» Watch party on our field» Band and cheer taught students cheers and chants» Held pep rally to generate strong student interest

Improve in-game atmosphere» Committed resources to make game day and student ticket distribution fun for students» Men’s Basketball coach to excite students and cross promote basketball» Improved music selection in game to be more with what students listen to» Cut out boring / crowd killing sponsored elements

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The MarketingHow Can We Make it Better?

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First game with classes back in session, we gave out 9,000 student tickets (Thursday night vs. Utah)

Higher student attendance at both Men’s and Women’s Basketball games

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The ResultsHow did it Change?

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Keep increasing student attendance Create a connection that lasts while students are on campus Roll that into keeping them engaged once they graduate

What is your future vision?

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The Future

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Robby Ray

University of California, Irvine

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Did not have a strong, consistent student following Games were free for Undergraduate students No membership fee for the Antourage Gave away free club t-shirt in exchange for their email address Communicating all events via email

Issue

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What Was the Issue?

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Creating the Loyalty» The t-shirt was not received until you attended three

Men’s Basketball Games» Students that attended all but one of our 16 home games

would received an authentic Adidas team jersey

Building the Antourage Club

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Club 15

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Access Pass was used to make attendance reporting easy PACmail communication

» Student recognition▫ Send emails when they were close to a mile stone▫ Congratulate them with an email when they hit the milestone.

» Targeted Approach▫ Moved away from the “blanket” approach▫ Sport specific data bases off of student attendance▫ Mirroring the rest of our communication strategy providing the most relevant info. ▫ Have seen a 30-40% open rate on our email communication.

» Attendance Email▫ All students who attended the game receive an email thanking them for attending.▫ Provide a video recap, infographic and link to web story. ▫ Creating more educated and loyal fans.

How

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Paciolan Process and Beyond

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FAQ’s can be found at www.ucirvinesports.com/antourage

Partnered with key campus groups to help spread awareness

» Orientation program» Student government» Housing» Etc.

Shocktoberfest» A combo event that is basically a sold out concert with a

basketball showcase in the middle of the pit section» This is our Midnight Madness event and helps us kick-start

the basketball season during the 3rd week of school.

How

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Paciolan Process and Beyond

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Continue to build awareness of the club and pride in membership. Build a community within the student attendance base. Even with large numbers of

students in attendance they still struggle to cheer like a major student seating section. The low barrier to entry (free) is the biggest hurdle and we need to continue to develop

ways to create value to a membership.

The Future

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Moving Forward

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Please complete either the session evaluation form on your chair or online at http://pacnet.paciolan.com/schedule.

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Thank you!Questions