A. What surprised you most about the ticketing industry in 2025? I've been surprised how underserved schools still are when it comes to event operations. Most are stuck with outdated tools and they pass high fees to families. There's a real opportunity to make the process simpler and more fair for everyone. B. If you could solve one major challenge facing ticketing companies today, what would it be? The biggest opportunity is tighter integrations. Connecting ticketing platforms with software that organizations already use for adjacent activities like communication, fundraising, sponsors, and marketing. C. What's one operational challenge in ticketing that doesn't get enough attention? One challenge that doesn't get enough attention is how hard it is to integrate with related event tools. Reserved seating, point-of-sale, and ticket scanning all feel like separate worlds when they should work together. And organizers rarely get clear insight into who's actually attending. D. What's changed most about how your organization handles ticketing in the past 2 years? We've shifted from seeing ticketing as a single transaction to viewing it as part of a larger community experience. That mindset has guided our mission: to empower schools with tools that build stronger connections.
I run GC Jet Ski on the Gold Coast--we do pontoon and jet ski tours with BBQ setups, fishing gear, and BYO drinks. The biggest operational challenge nobody talks about is **weather-related rebooking chaos**. We're not selling a seat at an event that happens rain or shine--we're selling a day on the water that gets cancelled when conditions are unsafe, and our booking system treats cancellations like refunds instead of fluid inventory that needs immediate reallocation. The one challenge I'd solve is **real-time equipment availability tracking**. We run boats and jet skis from a custom floating pontoon I built, which means our "venue" literally moves. Traditional ticketing assumes fixed capacity at a fixed location, but when a jet ski needs maintenance or we relocate based on water conditions, there's no neat way to update availability without manually blocking time slots. I've lost bookings because the system showed availability we couldn't actually deliver that day. What's changed most in the past two years is moving all our prep to the night before--boats cleaned, gear checked, everything ready. Our booking confirmations now include specific prep instructions (what to bring, meeting point photos, weather check reminders) because we learned that customer confusion eats up the actual experience time. Cut our day-of delays by half just by over-communicating logistics upfront.
I manage The Great American Franchise Expo, organizing large-scale events across multiple U.S. cities--NY/NJ, DC, Houston, Dallas--connecting thousands of franchise brands with potential investors. While I'm in the expo/franchise event space rather than pure ticketing, we process massive attendee flows and exhibitor coordination that faces similar operational challenges. **What surprised me most in 2025:** The dramatic shift in attendee expectations around on-demand access. We've seen 40%+ more people trying to register at the door versus pre-registering, even though pre-registration is free and saves them time. People now expect instant access to everything, which creates bottlenecks we never had to manage before. **The challenge I'd solve:** Multi-city event coordination when attendees and exhibitors want flexibility to transfer between dates. We run 4+ major expos annually, and constantly field requests like "I registered for Dallas but need to switch to Houston"--our systems aren't built for this kind of fluidity, and manual transfers eat up staff time that should go toward improving the actual event experience. **Operational challenge nobody discusses:** The hidden cost of no-show exhibitors on event layout and attendee experience. When a confirmed exhibitor doesn't show up, we're left with dead booth space that disrupts traffic flow and makes the show floor look incomplete. Unlike consumer ticketing where a no-show just means an empty seat, our no-shows actively damage the experience for everyone else who did show up.
I run Alcatraz Escape Games in Utah, and we handle thousands of bookings annually across two locations. Our ticketing system directly impacts whether guests show up, enjoy their experience, and come back. **b. The biggest challenge I'd solve: no-shows and late arrivals.** We lock our escape room doors exactly at booking time--no exceptions, no refunds. This strict policy exists because one late group destroys the experience for everyone else in shared rooms and kills our operational flow. We've tried digital waivers, reminder emails, and requiring arrivals 10 minutes early, but about 8-12% of bookings still arrive late or ghost completely. The industry needs better accountability mechanisms built into ticketing platforms--maybe tiered deposits that increase closer to the event time, or integrated SMS confirmations that feel more urgent than emails. **c. The underrated operational nightmare: private vs. public booking management.** Most ticketing systems aren't built for venues like ours where guests can book individual spots OR buy out entire experiences. We constantly juggle people wanting private rooms against maximizing capacity with public bookings. During our peak Friday-Saturday nights ($36/person in Draper), we've lost thousands in potential revenue because someone booked 4 spots privately when we could've filled 8-10 publicly. The math gets complicated fast, and most platforms don't help optimize this dynamically. **d. What's changed in 2 years: dynamic pricing became non-negotiable.** We now charge $32-36 depending on day and location, which sounds simple but required completely restructuring our backend. Sunday through Thursday pricing helps us fill slower nights, while weekend premiums fund our actor-led rooms like Zombie Panic and Chloe. The shift added roughly 15-18% more revenue on weeknights alone because the lower barrier got corporate groups and families in doors they previously considered "too expensive."
b. If you could solve one major challenge facing ticketing companies today, what would it be? I would tackle the terrible customer service experience when things go wrong. Most ticketing companies make it nearly impossible to get help when events get canceled or moved. Last year, a client's event got postponed due to weather. The ticketing platform they used took weeks to respond to refund requests. Customers were furious, and my client's reputation took a hit even though it wasn't their fault. In my company, we solve problems fast. When equipment fails or weather changes plans, we have backup solutions ready. Ticketing companies need the same approach. Good customer service isn't optional anymore. Companies that ignore this will lose customers to competitors who actually care about solving problems quickly. c. What's one operational challenge in ticketing that doesn't get enough attention? Equipment failure at the worst possible moment. Most people think ticketing is about sales and logistics. But when you're running events, your equipment needs to work perfectly every single time. A broken scanner, a printer that jams, or a tablet that crashes can create massive bottlenecks right when guests are arriving. I've seen this play out at events constantly. You can have the best ticketing system in the world, but if your hardware fails during peak entry times, you've got angry guests and stressed staff. We learned early on to always have backup equipment ready—not just one spare, but multiples. And we test everything the day before, not the day of. The real cost isn't just the equipment replacement. It's the reputation hit when guests wait in line for 30 minutes because your scanner died. Test your gear obsessively and always have backups ready to go. d. What's changed most about how your organization handles ticketing in the past 2 years? We switched from basic email ticketing to a proper customer service platform. Our old system was just Gmail with folders. Tickets got lost, response times were inconsistent, and we had no way to track anything. Now every inquiry goes into our ticketing system automatically. Whether someone contacts us through our website, social media, or email, it all flows into one place. Each ticket gets a number, priority level, and automatic routing to the right team member. Our response time went from 24-48 hours to under 4 hours. Clients get better service, and our team stays organized.
As someone who collaborates closely with event organizers and ticketing partners, I've seen firsthand how the industry has shifted in 2025. a. What surprised me most: The speed at which dynamic pricing models have become the norm. What was once reserved for airlines and hotels is now standard in concerts, sports, and even local theater. Audiences are adjusting, but the transparency challenge remains—customers want to understand why prices fluctuate so dramatically. b. One major challenge I'd solve: Fraud and scalping. Despite advances in blockchain verification and mobile ticketing, counterfeit tickets and bots still undermine consumer trust. A unified, industry-wide verification system would go a long way toward restoring confidence. c. Operational challenge often overlooked: Accessibility. Ticketing platforms still struggle to provide seamless experiences for older audiences or those with disabilities. Usability and inclusivity don't get enough attention, yet they directly impact sales and brand reputation. d. What's changed most in the past two years: My organization has shifted to integrated ticketing ecosystems—combining CRM, marketing automation, and ticket sales into one workflow. This has allowed us to personalize offers, track customer journeys, and reduce friction at checkout. The result has been higher conversion rates and stronger loyalty. The lesson from 2025 is clear: ticketing is no longer just about selling seats. It's about building trust, enhancing accessibility, and leveraging data to create experiences that feel personal and secure.
I sit on the board of Masabi, which powers digital ticketing for transit systems globally, so I've watched ticketing infrastructure evolve across both public and private sectors. What surprised me most in 2025 is how far behind event ticketing remains in fraud prevention compared to government and fintech applications. The review economy has a $500B fraud problem, but ticketing fraud--bots, scalpers, fake tickets--gets treated like an inevitable cost of doing business rather than a solvable technical challenge. If I could solve one thing: real-time authenticity verification at scale. At Premise, we built systems to verify ground truth data from 10M+ contributors across 140 countries. That same verification architecture could eliminate ticket fraud if deployed correctly--cryptographic proof of purchase linked to identity without sacrificing privacy. The technology exists; the industry just hasn't demanded it yet. The operational challenge nobody talks about: capacity planning when you can't trust your own data. When 30% of your "sold" tickets might be bots or resellers, and no-show rates swing wildly based on weather or social media sentiment, you're flying blind on staffing, concessions, and safety planning. I saw this at Accela with 2,500+ government clients managing permits for massive public events--the agencies that succeeded built redundant data streams and real-time adjustment protocols, not better forecasting models.