My first experience with Brown Paper Tickets

A few weeks ago, I hosted the ninth edition of my little reading series, Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids. For the very first time, I decided to make it a paid, ticketed event, with the proceeds going to Frontier College.

During school, I had a part-time job in school at the now-closed Empire Theatres in Bedford, Nova Scotia. Sadly, none of the ticket-selling experise I gained there was applicable to this situation. So, based on a recommendation from Ariel (of Salon of Shame fame), I turned to Brown Paper Tickets. They’re based out of Seattle, but sell tickets in Canada, too. BPT calls themselves “the first and only fair-trade ticketing company.” They work on a Not-Just-For-Profit model.

Essentially, they’re like TicketMaster, but not evil. Overall, I was really impressed with the service from BPT.

Pros:

• Very easy-to-use website
• Willing to do small events
• They handled all the payment stuff
• Prompt customer service
• Super-cool, official-looking, high-quality printed tickets (with gold foil!)

Con:

• Bulk ordered pre-printed tickets showed up late

Easy-to-use website

It was a breeze to set up the event on BPT. The site walked me through everything. My event was relatively simple, but I got the sense that there’s a powerful backend to their system, with lots of configurable options.

Willing to do small events

Part of why I wanted GRTTWaK9 to be ticketed was to keep it small. Past events had grown too big, with too many people crammed into a small venue. I knew I wanted to sell 100 advance tickets through BPT, hold 20 tickets for readers, and 20 for rush tickets. Total: 140 tickets. It was great that there’s no minimum event size. BPT was willing to sell 100 tickets for me, or 10,000. Nice to see a service scale like that.

Payment

Honestly, I was worried about the added complication of dealing with money. But BPT handled everything. Everything. I simply pointed people to my event page, and they managed the money side of things. Less than a week after GRTTWaK9, a cheque arrived in my mailbox, and the proceeds were off to Frontier College. Easy peasy.

Customer service

I had to deal with customer service twice. Once, via email, I asked how to set a per-person ticket purchase limit on the event. I got a prompt response from a human being named Jon:

Setting the per ticket limit is something that we will need to assist you with. It is very quick and easy, but it looks like that is not currently one of the tools that is available on your end of the site. Hopefully that will be added to your control in one of the next few website updates. In the mean time, let me know what you would like the per purchase limits to be, and I would be more than happy to assist you with that.

I replied with the limit, and Jon set it for me. Awesome.

Later, when my pre-printed tickets didn’t show up (more on that later), I telephoned the toll-free number, and reached another actual human being (sorry, can’t remember her name) who was also very helpful.

The tickets

BPT offers a few options for ticketbuyers. I chose two: you could have a printed ticket, or your name added to a will-call list at the door.

The printed tickets were super cool. I mean, just look at them in the photo above. For a tiny little event like GRTTWaK, it was a real thrill to have a physical momento of the night. Gold foil! Barcodes! Perforations! Mysterious alphanumeric codes!

My one problem

This probably has more to do with living in Canada than BPT, but I’ll mention it for the benefit of anyone ordering bulk tickets outside the US. I wanted printed tickets for the rush ticket-buyers and the readers, so I ordered 25 pre-printed rush tickets, and 25 pre-printed reader tickets. They were ten cents apiece, but the shipping was $15. They shipped USPS Priority.

I ordered my tickets on September 21, and the ETA was September 24. Unfortunately, they didn’t arrive until October 5, the day after the event. Maybe they got stuck at the border. Maybe they were abducted by aliens. Who knows. Anyhow, if you plan to do a bulk order of pre-printed tickets, I suggest you order them well in advance.

Overall

I was really, really pleased with Brown Paper Tickets, and would recommend them to anyone who wants a one-stop solution for a small event. Great service. I’ll definitely use them again.

Juvenilia in Charlottetown

Every once in a while, I get an email or a telephone call along the lines of “I really like the idea behind Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids. Can I do one in my city?”

My response is almost always, “Of course! Please do! Just call it something else.”

So then, from Sandy Nicholson: a GRTTWaK-inspired night of juvenilia in Charlottetown called The Hilroy Diaries (Facebook event). Note that unlike GRTTWaK, there is a cover charge, but it goes to a not-for-profit called Women’s Network PEI. Here’s the poster:

GRTTWaK update

My little reading series, Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids, got a nice mention in the Toronto Star today.

Also, I’ve cut several more episodes of the GRTTWaK podcast, which will roll out over the next few weeks.

GRTTWaK4 post-mortem

The fourth installment of Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids was, like each of the previous events, a lot of fun.

This time around, we moved to a new venue: The Gladstone Hotel Ballroom. It turned out to be a great room for the event, with (almost) enough seating.

It’s my constant fear that I’ll put one of these events on, and a whole bunch of people will show up to listen, and no one will read. Luckily, that didn’t happen. We had 26 readers, a nice crowd of spectators (150+ said the bartender), and the whole thing was done in just under two hours. Jenna and I took a handful of photos, and some are in this Flickr set.

Also, for the first time, I asked readers’ permission to put their readings on the web. Most said yes. So once I get all the audio sliced up, I plan to start releasing Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids: The Podcast. Stay tuned for that.

A big thanks to everyone who came out to read, everyone who came out to listen, and to the fine folks at the Gladstone who helped make it happen (especially Penny and Connie).

The next event will likely be in late May/early June.

Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids FAQ

A message from Mara in my inbox tonight:

I’m very interested in attending the Grownups Read event on Monday, but the start time isn’t mentioned on the website. It would probably help if I knew when to show up.

I’ve had a couple of very valid questions like this over the past little while, so here’s a little FAQ about the next reading event, which happens at the Gladstone Hotel Ballroom this Monday, March 10, 2008.

1. When should I show up?

Doors open at 8:00. We’ll get started as soon as possible after that.

2. Where do I get tickets?

You don’t. It’s free. Just show up before we run out of space.

3. Can I bring something to read?

Yes, please. This is an open-mic event, and it only works when people actually bring things to read in front of other. Too many spectators makes for a short and boring night. Sign-up is on a first-come, first-served basis, but I’d really appreciate an email if you plan on bringing something, just so I can gauge the numbers.

4. What does “kid” mean?

Kid = whatever you consider kid to mean. One of the best things about GRTTWaK is the wide variety of things people bring to read. We’ve had stuff from early elementary school all the way up to college age writing. Bring whatever you want.

5. How long should my piece be?

Short. See the third rule of GRTTWaK:

1. You have to be the one who wrote it, as a kid
2. You have to be the one who reads it, as an adult
3. It has to be short (<5 minutes-ish)

That should cover most of the frequently asked questions. If you have another one, email me. Hope to see you out on Monday night. Here’s the official blurb:

GROWNUPS READ THINGS THEY WROTE AS KIDS is an open-mic evening of adults reading things they wrote as children — poems, book reports, and diary entries. Monday, March 10 at 8:00pm. Free. The Gladstone Hotel Ballroom. http://read.danmisener.com

Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids #3 was fun, packed

I’m a little late posting this, seeing as the event was almost two weeks ago, but I have to say: the third Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids was an awful lot of fun.

It was also well-attended. Some might say a little too well-attended.

Thanks no doubt to some pimping by Torontoist, BlogTO, and Here and Now, a lot of people showed up.  So many people, in fact, that we spilled into the side of the Victory that lacked sightlines to the stage.

I think perhaps we have outgrown our home at the Victory Cafe, lovely as it is (especially after the new bar installation). I’m afraid the next event will probably have to take place elsewhere, unless we can reconfigure the newly-reconfigured room. Speaking of the next event, it will probably happen in early-ish 2008, probably February or March.  If anyone has suggestions for a slightly larger venue, please leave them here or drop me a line.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the event, either to read or to listen.

It’s a real treat to see this thing start to take off.

New Grownups Read Things… website

In anticipation of Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids 3 on November 19, I started a new blog for the event at read.danmisener.com

Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids #3

Last night, at Future Bakery, I ran into Bryanna, who read at the first Grownups… reading night back in February. Seeing her reminded me that there hasn’t been an event since the spring. Which is a shame, because it’s fun.

So today I called up Blake at the Victory, and I’m pleased to announce:

What: Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids 3

When: Monday, November 19, 2007 at 8:00 pm

Where: The Victory Cafe, 581 Markham Street, Toronto

So start digging through your parents’ basement.

Update: there’s a FaceBook event now.

Less than one week until Reading Series part deux

Well, the second installment of Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids is less than a week away. My pal Tristan was nice enough to create a Facebook event for the night, so if you plan to attend, RSVP, si vous plait.

Also, through an email from Neil at Mortified, I learned that our fledgling reading series was mentioned briefly in the LA Times. Seriously.

And, if all goes well, I’ll be interviewed on CBC Radio One’s new arts/culture/entertainment show Q on Monday, April 30 (the day of the show) about the event.

I’m really looking forward to Monday, and I have my fingers crossed that people will show up and read.

Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids 2

I’m really excited and happy to let you know that we’re doing Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids again.

8:00 PM on Monday, April 30, 2007
Upstairs at The Victory Cafe, 581 Markham Street, Toronto

That means you have about three weeks to clean out your closet, or dust off that shoebox of work from grade school, or call up your mom in Newfoundland and get her to send you that old letter from camp.

The first one was great, and this one should be just as fun, and free.

Hope to see you there.