Molly Martinez heads the marketing and branding initiatives for TicketNetwork, a leading-edge technology solutions provider in the ticket industry for both ticket buyers and ticket sellers. As marketing program manager, Martinez provides strategic direction for various branches of the company and manages all branding project initiatives, including TicketNetwork's secondary marketplace TicketNetwork.com.
Martinez also serves as executive director of Ticket Summit, TicketNetwork's industry conference and trade show for the secondary ticket market. Now in its fourth year, it became a biannual event this year with expansion into New York this past January at The Waldorf-Astoria hotel. For its summer event, the conference is returning to its Las Vegas home base at The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, July 15-17. Martinez directs all planning and focus of the event, which draws an average of 600 attendees from across the country and other international locations.
Counted among this year's speakers in Las Vegas are Andy Cotten of Yahoo!, Dustin Brighton of eBay, Sean Pate, Chris Tsakalakis and Julian Green of StubHub, Ken Davenport of Davenport Theatricals, Mark Guarino of Mintel Reports, Don Vaccaro of TicketNetwork, Joe Cohen of Seatwave, Josh Logan of the Houston Rockets, Christopher Miller of viagogo, Ray Waddell of Billboard, and Sean Healy of Sean Healy Presents.
Prior to joining TicketNetwork, Molly conducted market research for SmartRevenue Marketing Research Company, and has provided program evaluation assessments for clients such as ESPN, Inc, Schering Plough and Lowe's. Prior to this, Molly worked for several years as a translator in Zimbabwe, Switzerland and Washington, D.C, and as an English lecturer at Metropolitan University in Puerto Rico.
What hot-topic issues are on the agenda?
With every show, the Ticket Summit conference aims to design panel session topics around the relevant issues affecting the ticketing industry. Given the shifting legal tides potentially affecting the ticket market, we have two sessions dedicated to the issue: one on ticketing tax law, the other on current lawsuits and legal trends. In addition, as the economy has affected businesses nationwide, the keynote session will be addressing ticketing strategies in a recession economy.
Other sessions include “Sports & Entertainment,” “Pricing Strategies,” and “Building a Public Relations Plan,” all aimed towards providing attendees with concrete tools and knowledge to move their businesses forward. Finally, we will also be hosting a full day of Web 2.0 training, starting with a breakfast roundtable, and two subsequent training sessions on how to integrate Web 2.0 tools into ticketing and Web 2.0 apps to expand one’s business.
What types of professionals attend the conference as delegates?
Basically, anyone whose business involves the sale and/or purchase of tickets attends our show. This includes box office and venue managers, concert/artist promoters, event marketing firms and, of course, primary and secondary ticketing agents. In addition, as more research is being currently performed on the relationship between the primary and secondary ticket markets, our conference also draws economy and legal experts on the matter. Finally, as Ticket Summit is both a conference and a trade show, the event also brings in a wide variety of vendors ranging from software and technology companies, to professional sports leagues and marketing firms.
Has the recession had an impact on projected attendance?
In spite of the shifts in balance on the economy scales, Ticket Summit attendance has not waned. In fact, due to the overwhelming success of the conference, for each show I've seen that we get an increasing number of early registrants who had an extremely satisfying learning and networking experience and wanted to lock in early for the following year. In addition, as the conference has expanded to address global ticketing issues, attendance numbers from abroad, particularly Western Europe, have increased. On the whole, approximately 500-600 people attend each Ticket Summit conference.
How do the Las Vegas and New York conferences differ?
Whether in Las Vegas or NYC, the Ticket Summit conference and trade show are focused on building sessions around the most relevant topics and providing attendees with networking opportunities to help build their business. By having the conference rotate between the two cities, it makes it accessible for ticketing agents to attend from anywhere in the country, while always providing relevant panel and training sessions pertaining to the industry, no matter which conference they choose to attend.
How did TicketNews TV come about?
TicketNews TV is an extension of TicketNews.com, the leading source for news specifically relating to the primary and secondary ticketing industry. Following each Ticket Summit, TicketNews TV runs a special Ticket Summit edition in an effort to educate the public on the industry topics touched upon at the conference.
Since it is monthly, how do you handle hot news in between the podcasts?
News on the ticketing industry is posted as it happens on TicketNews.com.
Will any staff be twittering during the conference?
Yes, we will be twittering during the show. Our twitter handle is Ticket–Summit.
– By Jane Cohen and Bob Grossweiner
