Leadership / 05.12.21
INTIX Legend Jennifer Staats Moore Has Some Impressive Stats and Insights
Teddy Durgin
This story is brought to you by the INTIX Women in Entertainment Technology Program.
In INTIX circles, Jennifer Staats Moore is sometimes referred to as the “Godmother of Regional Ticketing Groups.” And a quick look at her résumé shows you why. Actually, it’s not possible to take a quick look at her résumé; it’s too long, too varied, and too fascinating. She has been a leading proponent of regional ticketing since 1999. She created the RTA Starter Kit, which has since been used as the blueprint for starting a new regional ticketing group. She co-founded the Women in Ticketing group on Facebook, which has grown to more than 800 members. And she has long worked with INTIX members to form and maintain regional ticketing groups in their communities. Currently, there are 16 such groups.
“Supporting and promoting INTIX and the greater ticketing community is my passion,” she says. “The more time and energy I’ve expended on ticketing, the greater the knowledge, ideas and friendships I have received. I try to live my life by the maxim that ‘To whom much is given, much will be required,’ and I’ve been fortunate to receive so very much from the relationships I’ve built with INTIX and its members during my tenure.”
She is particularly proud that some of her longest and dearest friendships have been made through INTIX. “Hardly a day goes by where I’m not speaking on the phone with someone who I met in an elevator or seminar at an INTIX Conference,” she says. “My children have grown up surrounded by folks in the ticketing industry, consider some of my INTIX friends to be akin to extended family, and now they both are pursuing careers in the live events field.”
For them, Moore acknowledges that the field will perhaps be forever changed because of the past year’s turmoil. She points to baby boomer patrons, who had been learning before the pandemic how to buy and access tickets on their phones. “They will visit will-call less,” she says, “freeing up the box office on the night of the event to focus on new revenue streams such as selling souvenir tickets or concierge services.”
She continues, “Our Generation X customers will continue to cherish live music and will return to our venues with the most incredible haste in order to see their old favorites. Our millennial supporters, who have felt a keen sense of wanderlust during the pandemic, are excited to get out of their house and see their favorite bands perform with their best friends. Generation Z will be a testing ground for new marketing strategies and ticketing innovations, and I personally can’t wait to see what brings them into our theaters, arenas and performance spaces. There certainly will be some growing pains at first, but I fully believe that the live event business has been hibernating and is about to start roaring like it never has before.”
Moore will be right there on the front lines. Her current job is as Associate Director of Georgia State University’s Rialto Center for the Arts. The venue is regarded as the cultural centerpiece of downtown Atlanta, celebrating more than a century on the same corner in the city’s Fairlie-Poplar Historic District and 25 years with Georgia State. As Associate Director, she is responsible for financial planning, fiscal and administrative activities, ticket services and human resources.
“I guide internal departments — events, rentals, production, front of house and ticket services — in maintaining the Rialto’s short- and long-term vision and meeting the organization’s financial and strategic goals,” she says. “In tandem to my work at Georgia State, I’ve served on the steering committees of both the University’s Executive Leadership Academy for Women and Atlanta’s Arthur Blank Audience Building Roundtable.”
For years, Atlanta has been a special city for Moore. In fact, it factors into her fondest ticketing industry memory. “The top of my career bucket list was to work for the ultimate live event: the Olympics,” she says. “So, when my husband was transferred to Atlanta, I applied to and was subsequently hired by the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) in 1995. As Senior Project Manager in Ticketing for ACOG, I served as a regional ticketing manager during Games-Time [or the actual games], and developed the Olympic procedure manuals — manuals that are still being referenced in ticket offices around the world.”
She was also directly responsible for the 1996 Summer Games Time staffing, including the hiring and training of a ticketing management staff of more than 200 managers and supervisors to oversee ticket sellers in 41 box offices. “Due to the large scope of our endeavor,” she says, “it was critical to hire the very best in the ticketing business. We hand-selected a phenomenal group, many of whom were fellow INTIX members who helped ensure that we logged a record setting 8.6 million tickets sold. I was thrilled to share this opportunity of a lifetime to help coordinate an Olympic Games with so many past, current and future INTIX colleagues and see them take our Olympic ticketing practices back home to their own box offices.”
Her affiliation with INTIX goes back well beyond the mid-1990s. In 1991, at the age of 28, she became the youngest member ever to win the Ticketing Professional of the Year Award. At the time, she was working at the University of Florida. Other INTIX honors include the 2006 Spirit Award and the 2008 Patricia G. Spira Lifetime Achievement Award. She served as Chair of INTIX’s board in 2003-04, was a board member from 1997 to 2005, and a Board Executive Committee member from 2000 to 2002.
“I had the honor of closely working with INTIX founder Pat Spira on a near daily basis in 2001 and 2002,” she says. “Pat had such a clear vision for INTIX, the conference and what it could do for the ticketing industry. She was more than happy to share her knowledge and advice. Her words of wisdom ranged from the profound to the surprising: ‘It’s all in the little details,’ Impressions count,’ ‘Don’t eat bread with dinner.’ But the advice that stood out the most was ‘Don’t limit yourself or your potential!’ Pat understood my desire to give back to the association but thought I should be taking some of the job offers that came my way even if it meant leaving the ticketing industry. Ultimately, I was able to find a balance between the two: taking on a directorial role at the Rialto while still staying heavily involved in the greater INTIX community.”
That’s not to say there haven’t been obstacles to overcome. Even today, with all of her experience and wisdom, Moore still finds challenges. The biggest? “The life balance between working, volunteering and having a family,” she says. “I’ve found a balance that works for me and my family. But it certainly took some adapting, a lot of compromise and a very understanding husband!”
It’s from this experience that she is more than willing to share advice with younger INTIX professionals, especially women, looking to make their mark in the ticketing and live events space. “You are unique, just like the current times, so find a way to stand up and stand out,” she says. “Find a way to balance life and work. For working moms, that’s even more challenging. Understand what you are getting into in terms of crazy event schedules. I’ve loved the flexibility of events and being able to show up for the school performances, the field trips and the after-school activities. I’ve even served as PTA president. But I’ve also missed out on some family time while working weekend events. Fortunately, my kids tagged along sometimes and have indeed grown up being around events, giving them a confidence and access to experiences they might not have had otherwise.”
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Tags: Leadership , Women in Ticketing