Back in March, when Covid-19 suddenly became a reality in all of our lives, the enormity of what was to come remained inconceivable. Two months later, we’ve all adapted every aspect of what we do, from our home to our working lives.
Just as you’re reassessing how you support and stay in touch with your audiences when they can’t attend your live events, we’ve found new ways to meet the needs of our users whilst business is very much not as usual across our sector.
As we’ve sent a lot of information to you in recent weeks, I thought it might be helpful if I were to sum that up in one place. I hope this will guide you towards the resources that are most useful for your organisation, and I’d encourage you to share your thoughts on what you need from us next.
What we’ve done so far
Our system
The first step for most of you was to cancel events and begin refunding tickets. The creation of the Ticket Converter makes that unwelcome process a little easier - and where the tool’s being used so far, it’s seen 60% of revenue retained within your organisations as donations or credit. More recently, we’ve broken that data down by artform to help you benchmark your own audiences’ response over time.
Other feature updates include the ability to ungroup tickets in a bulk order, making it easier to edit large orders; a one-click button to regenerate print at home tickets for rescheduled events; and, coming soon, an easier way for audiences to see their credit balance when booking online.
Our support
Many of you told us that, with colleagues furloughed, you were using the system in new and unfamiliar ways. Others asked for guidance in using the closure period to improve database quality or explore strategic projects like membership reviews or website developments. We’ve adapted our training and support offer in response to those contrasting needs.
So far over 400 people have taken part in online system training, using our tools for email communications, fundraising, sales and event set up. Our intention is to make the training accessible, easy to follow and specific to your current needs. Feedback has been very positive, and you can book for future sessions through the Support Centre now.
The Spektrix Action Toolkit has been designed around the key questions we’ve been hearing from users. From basic event changes, sales or cancellations through to Memberships, email automation and loyalty, it’s designed to take you directly to the resources you need to make the most of the system, whatever your level of experience.
We’ve just announced two webinars on building your fundraising momentum, aimed at development teams - or those who have taken on fundraising responsibilities alongside everything else.
Our Support and Training Consultants are here and ready to work with you on any aspect of your work including system training, seating plans, data insight or future planning. Our experience and knowledge of culture and technology make us a genuine extension of your team and, as ever, all training and support and resources are an inclusive part of your relationship with Spektrix.
Our communications
There’s a lot of news to share at the moment, and so we’re sending our newsletter updates every fortnight rather than once a month for the time being. If you’re not getting those for any reason, drop a line to marketing@spektrix.com and we can make sure you’re on our lists.
At Spektrix we’re committed to helping the cultural sector thrive, and right now that means playing our part in its recovery. We achieve this by working as technology partners to your organisations, and by participating actively in conversations with our partner network across the industry. We are currently providing anonymised, aggregate statistics to Parliament and funding bodies to inform the development of their support packages and policies, and working with industry partners to bring you important tools and resources that can help. We will continue to collaborate with other industry experts, sharing data and resources to help your organisations achieve your goals, and the whole sector to survive and grow. If you have ideas of how else we can do this, please let us know.
What’s next?
In the coming weeks, we’ll share a number of new initiatives with you, to continue addressing both our shared challenge and your individual priorities. Clinics take a fresh approach to working through your organisation’s strategy in a focussed online session, whilst a new forum and set of excellence criteria will help anyone looking for a new web agency to find the perfect match. Keep an eye on our communications for these announcements, and for more news about the opportunities, system improvements and resources we continue to roll out.
Checking in with you all directly is a priority for us, and we’ve appreciated the conversations we’ve had with many of the organisations we work with. Everything you’ve shared with us has fed into our response, and we look forward to hearing about your approach and innovations as we speak to more of you in the weeks to come.
Tell us what you need
Which brings me to my last, but most vital point. At Spektrix we are here to respond to you and your needs. If there’s something you think we could help with, tell us. If you need to talk an idea through, give us a call. Each of you is working in unique circumstances with a unique set of needs, and it’s only with your input that we can start to recognise all of them. Reach out, tell us how we can help, and remember that we are here to listen, to learn from you and to make things happen as a result.
Until we meet again,
Alice
Reach out to let us know how we can support you during this time of crisis
Alice Young is Managing Director of Spektrix in the UK and Ireland