This last week I have gotten some real lessons in the importance of disaster planning.
During the quiet of the holidays I started a conversation with some colleagues about how we would handle inclement weather on performance days. Everyone keeps telling me how they try to shy away from scheduling shows in January because the weather is so bad. With that in mind, I wanted to have a plan for how we would proceed before the need arose.
Since we present a number of touring shows, we would be in a position of needing to pay artists per our contract unless the weather is so bad a state of emergency is declared. In that case, we would issue refunds to the ticket buyers.
However, if the weather is poor, but not so bad that we cancel the show, there may still be a number of people contacting us asking for refunds because they chose not to attend. My recent conversation has been about what we should do to respond to these people. Since we need to pay the performers, we probably won’t be in a position to offer refunds.
I have been discussing possible options with staff, board members and others. Our eventual solution may not make our customers happy but surveys have shown that even when the solution doesn’t please them, customers have a better impression of your company when you make the attempt to resolve their complaints rather than just refusing them outright.
In the process of the conversation, we decided we should post our policy on our website noting that we only offer refunds when the university closes and/or the sheriff declares a level 3 emergency.
And then came this week with the extreme cold.
Pretty much every school in county closed and many of the universities in the state did as well. We were open though.
Given that it was sunny and there was barely a dusting of snow on the ground, I started to launch into the stereotypical grandparent tirade and talked about how I stood out waiting for the bus in colder weather than this when I was younger. (Unfortunately, I not as tough as my grandfather. I only had to trudge uphill through the snow to the bus stop one way rather than both ways.)
Had we had a show and a different provost who decided to cancel classes, I might have been in a situation whereby our own policy dictated we issue refunds. At the same time the performing artists would stand there looking at me like I was crazy for saying the show was cancelled due to the cold and then glare at me when I said we weren’t paying them.
Not that the cold didn’t cause any difficulties. Yesterday we narrowly avert a large disaster when someone noticed a ball of ice forming on the sprinkler heads of the lobby fire suppression system. They just got the water turned off as the ice melted. There was some flooding, but nothing like what it could have been.
Every company knows that they should have a good disaster plan, how they will respond, where people should turn to for communications, etc,. Performing arts organizations need to know about the evacuation plans of the venue they perform in and think about issues like refunds.
But the events of the last week have made me realize I also need to know about the criteria being used by the decision makers I am depending on. I may assume the criteria is one thing and it won’t be. It may also change as personnel change.
As we heard about school closings Monday morning, a person I know who had attended and taught in some of those schools was amazed, noting they had never closed in the past. He opined that they might be quicker to close now due to people being more litigious.
In any case, being aware of shifting criteria can make for better planning. Had we or one of our renters had a school show this week with all the schools cancelling, that would have been quite problematic. Thinking about that, it just occurred to me that I should know what my policy about payment will be if a renter is impacted by school closings.
The person who made the decision to keep campus open this week when other campuses closed will be stepping down in June. I already started to advocate that very clear guidelines be developed for what conditions will result in the campus being closed and for the successor to be aware of the repercussions on our activities should the decision be made.
Now I also realize I need to know what constitutes a level 3 emergency in the sheriff’s eyes.
A few years back, I was the TD/Facility Manager/House Manager for a local arts organization. Our community (on a Sunday morning) was the recipient of a microburst, that blew out storefront and car windows, and disabled the cable company system.
Our phone system was tied to the cable system. Although the local phone company was not affected, we were. We had a youth ballet performance scheduled on Sunday afternoon. Most of the families who had children in the performance brought their children to the Center for the performance.
Our tickets were printed with the disclaimer that tickets were non-refundable, but may be exchanged for another performance of the same show.
This was the last show of the run.
I had some folks show up saying we have been trying to call you to see if the show was cancelled, but could not get through and since we couldn’t get through, we want a refund. I explained that the show was going to happen because the performers had shown up and therefore I did not owe a refund.
They said, their phones worked, so ours should work and therefore since they couldn’t call us, they should get refunds. I explained the policy to them, that was on the tickets they purchased, as well as the fact that the phone system was out of our hands.
Who was being unreasonable, the ticket holder or the organization? And why?
Depending on how wide spread the damage was, I think the assumption should be the show is going on unless you hear otherwise. Microburst damage could be fairly wide spread.
A good step to take is to post “yes, the show is going on” on your website and social media sites to assure people. And if you can get the local radio station to say something as well.
Our local library just had a malfunction with their phones last week and posted the fact on their facebook page and posted again when service was restored
While appreciate the step to post to our website, our phones were down because our cable company was out. Our cable company was also our internet service provide and at that time our web host. We had no way to call out or post anything. All systems were restored after the show began.
We took the stance, that since the show was happening, we did not need to refund the tickets, especially since the patron actually showed up at the venue to see if the show was still happening. That throws out any argument that they could not get there for the event.
I believe that if we had had to cancel the event, we would have issued credit for another.
Lee-
Yeah, I can understand that. I actually have been looking at weather forecasts recently and asking people if we can access the servers to update websites from home in case snow keeps us from being able to get in to our buildings so people know if a show has been cancelled.