Festival Manager

Job Description

THE JOB

Responsible for overall festival and special event functionality and oversight, operational excellence, production excellence, developing key relationships with partners and teams, ensuring superior customer experience for guests, event staff and artists, and managing financial profitability and viability of the event year to year.

WHAT THIS ROLE WILL DO

Project Management
• Timeline: Manage the full life cycle of Country Jam, Headwaters Country Jam, and special events produced by Neste Live! from planning to execution of all in-person and virtual festival events. Facilitate interdepartmental communications and ensure all deadlines are met. Create festival checklist, create agendas for and lead regular planning meetings. Consider short- and long-term impacts of decisions and execution.
• Budgeting: Work closely with Live Nation management to develop and manage event income and expense budgets. Manage, track, and fulfill event invoices.
• Post Event Feedback:

○ Wrap Report: Complete a post-festival report, and collect staff reports and key team reports.

○ Post-Festival Survey: Work with Marketing Director to create, execute, and analyze survey.
Operations Management
• Hiring: Project staffing needs and coordinate hiring, training, supervising, and managing payroll for seasonal festival staff and interns.

○ Hires may include but are not limited to: Volunteer Manager, Operations Manager, Events Producer, Technical Director, Lead Projectionist, Guest Services Manager, Traffic Control, Design Interns, Video Interns, Venue Managers, Box Office Workers, Ticketing, Gates, Cleaning Crews, Stage, Production, Backstage, Security, and more
• Venues: Arrange contracts for festivals and special events. Ensure staffing and equipment needs for successful events at all venues. Plan audience experience, crowd control, wayfinding, ADA accessibility, and safety protocols including crisis plan and communicating to all key teams.
• Virtual Platform: Ensure virtual streaming platform is ready for successful festival patron experiences; facilitate the resolution of glitches or customer service issues.
• Supplier and Vendor Relations: Manage contracts, orders, invoices, and delivery with festival suppliers and vendors for screenings and special events.

Ticketing Management
• Manage Ticketing Partner relationship and primary responsibility for online sales process including all verbiage, UI/UX, and policies on website as it relates to ticket sales. This includes building and managing all festival sale links sold through our Ticketing Partner or other method.
• Understand festival economic model, and manage established pricing, fee schedules, revenue share, and all ticket tiers and ticket types. Provide weekly snapshots of ticket sales with approved report format.
• Work with Marketing Team to ensure correct information is listed as well as includes updated assets.
• Establish, manage, and clearly communicate to (1) internal team, and (2) customers: All consumer communication protocols including but not limited to: (a) purchase issues, (b) refunds, (c) renewals, (d) upgrades, (e) donation requests, (f) information needed, and (g) special needs. Provide written policy for team and keep updated.
• Monitor and manage ticket inventories and provide team reports for any and all potential issues or needed updates, including low inventory counts, deviations from financial model, and disputes.
• Manage the allocation and processing of complimentary or trade and sponsor tickets.
• Work with HR Department and manage all on-site ticketing staff on-boarding.
• Identify physical locations needed on festival site (customer service center, box office, etc.) and needs at each location.
• Management and responsibility of ticketing customer service locations.
• Manage third-party ticketing equipment/scanners on loan to company.
• Coordinate scopes of work between ticketing providers and ticketing staff.
• Oversee advancement related to Ticketing at each festival including coordination between departments (IT, tables/chairs, tents, power, etc.).
• Identify all potential theft and security breach opportunities including but not limited to: disputes, fraud, scalping, credential fraud, in-house ticketing schemes, etc.
• Work with Inventory Controller at festivals to account for credentials on-site.
• Create and present for approval a weekly overview of ticket sales.

○ Identify key data needs of team

○ Integrate company communication solutions (e.g. Slack)
• Create formatting for post-festival recap for approval which summarizes key data needed for festival recap summary. Once approved, provide ticketing wrap to festival management team within 21 days of festival wrap.
• Work with Graphic Designer to identify graphic needs and execute ordering and management of all credentials needed for the festivals (e.g. wristbands, laminates, etc.).
• Arrange the delivery and set-up of ticketing provider's terminals, printer, and barcode/RFID scanners to all applicable locations, as well as any other equipment needed for successful box office operations.
• Work closely with festival admin to create processes for credential activation and distribution.
• Create a Customer Service plan for each event that will be distributed to all ticketing staff.
• Duties and responsibilities include, but shall not be restricted to the following:

○ Team meetings, 1x per week (30-60 min)

○ Department Head meetings, 1-2x per month (30-60 min)

○ Join other team calls as needed (e.g. Marketing, Sponsorship, Guest Services)

○ Develop smooth management systems for festival ticketing operations

○ Coordinate the allocation and distribution of trade/sponsor ticket requirements

○ Coordinate the database of promotional plans and numbers of tickets available

○ Develop and maintain ticketing policies, procedures, and reports

○ Make recommendations to improve ticketing processes and policies

○ Monitor ticketing timeline

○ Manage ticketing for all festival elements

○ Support the marketing plan to maximize the festival box office revenue

○ Facilitate group ticket sales

○ Drive the continuous improvement of ticketing services and multi-tix ticketing service via various POS

○ Prepare and distribute a festival ticket sales report to all senior managers on an ongoing basis using reports from ticketing platforms

○ Reconcile internal tickt sales reports with venue ticket sales reports for each event

○ Identify trends and gaps in ticket prices and sales to assist with the development of strategies to improve sales where required

○ Develop/manage the organization-wide systems in accordance with policies and procedures provided

○ Create and execute a ticketing/credentialing security process

○ Work with the execution of a loss prevention program

Marketing Support
• Marketing: Collaborate with Live Nation management, PR, Marketing Director, and Community Engagement staff to support & find new opportunities in local, regional markets. Incentivize, track and maintain merchandise program. Plan and execute site maps for internal and external audiences year to year.
• Materials: Source vendors and obtain quotes for printed materials and manage the process for final delivery. Deliverables include but are not limited to: event guide, posters, postcards, signage, and any other printed materials.
• Ticketing: Work closely with Membership and Ticke

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Jobcode: Reference SBJ-d2v482-3-141-41-187-42 in your application.