INTIX Conference Takeaways: Ticketing Pros Tackle Premium Experiences, Authenticity In Marketing (and Donny Osmond!)

“People don’t understand the importance of the ticketing profession, ticketing professionals, they don’t get what they deserve,” said the one and only Donny Osmond, on stage at the Paris hotel in Las Vegas as part of the opening remarks during the INTIX Awards Luncheon on Wednesday.

The crooner was speaking to the 1,400 ticketing professionals in attendance at the ticketing organization’s long-running conference and trade show this week in Las Vegas.

“in my opinion, you guys are the unsung heroes,” Osmond said, admitting he gets most of the credit for his show, which takes place at the Harrah’s Showroom on the Strip, shouting out Caesars entertainment senior VP Amy Graca and others for making it all happen. “So many artists don’t realize that. So please understand that it comes really from a sincere place, and I say thank you for all you do for me. I’m gonna be calling some more because I haven’t really announced this yet but I’m going to be touring domestically and internationally.”

See Also: 2026 Ticketing Star Awards Winners

The lively comments from the beloved entertainer from his home turf in Vegas, including crooning to new INTIX board chair Ashley Voorhees with a rendition of “Puppy Love,” gave way to the awards luncheon that aptly serves to congratulate, support and empower the many hard-working ticketing industry professionals who annually attend the INTIX conference, this year with delegates coming from 27 different countries, according to organizers.

Awards went to Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College box office manager Harmony McGivney  (INTIX Spirit Award), Wolf Trap Foundation assistant ticket services director David Damerell (Truth Tickets Young Ticketing Professional), and The MLB’s Athletics (Outstanding Ticket Office). Rounding out the big annual awards on the occasion were the IMPACT Award, which went to Linda Forlini, who retired in 2020 after serving as vice president of ticket operations at the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center in New York City, Kimmel Center and Philadelphia Orchestra and Derek Palmer, chief operation officer of Project Admission, who was given the Patricia G. Spira Lifetime Achievement Award. The 2026 Outstanding Ticketing Professional award went to Gabe Johnson, Director, Criterion Ticketing, Roundabout Theatre Company.

Of course, most of the four-day INTIX event is about getting down to business, with numerous discussions and workshops taking place. Takeaways from this year’s panel discussions suggested both a robust business with a focus on unique and premium experiences, while also acknowledging a slowdown in number of events and some price sensitivity among consumers.

“But the demand that we’re seeing is exponential,” said Kristina Heney, Oak View Group executive vice president of marketing, taking part in a Women’s Leadership panel that focused on entertainment and marketing, noting the Harry Styles onsale that saw millions of fans queuing for a chance to snag tickets.

In a world where individuals are being fed and specialized, curated information on social feeds and generative AI now built in to traditional web searches like Google, creating a personal experience is important, which means trying to build a lasting relationship rather than a transaction.

“I think it’s really important to kind of take stock of how you’re communicating with the fan at all touch points,” said Lisa Cechinni, managing partner at advertising and marketing firm Situation Group . “If it’s overwhelmingly transactional, how are you going to have a relationship with somebody? Can you imagine personally having a relationship with somebody if they’re always trying to see what they can get out of you? Chances are, you won’t. Maybe a takeaway for today is to take stock of the way your website looks, your social comms calendar, your email comms, how much of it, like what percentage of it is transactional for you versus value-add.”

Experience is everything when bringing value and offering a ticket to something that can’t be seen or heard elsewhere, as described by keynote speaker Randy Weiner, producer and playwright of popular, often unorthodox immersive theater like “The Donkey Show”, “Sleep No More” and the “Backstory” pre-show for Usher’s Las Vegas residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in 2021.

Usher wanted to do something a little different, with a backstage-type space featuring exotic dancers, tributes to Black excellence and more. 

“So, along with us, he convinced Caesars Palace to let us use the whole area underneath the Colosseum,”  Weiner said. This project, like his others going back to his early days as a pre-med student not afraid to take chances until his luck ran out, had a similar reaction from some of those subjected to his quirks. “If that team is here by any chance, the production staff there … they hated me. All the union guys hated me so much. They all hate me (laughs)… but we got to an agreement and I think what we did was pretty awesome.”

The unique experiences play in to more common events on the ticketing side, with examples of recently opened (SoFI Stadium), under-construction (the Athetlics’ Las Vegas stadium) or recently renovated sports facilities (Truist Park in Atlanta) proving a good example.

“We thought we had more premium than we would ever need, then we came to having Taylor Swift and some of the other major concerts the first time, we didn’t have enough premium,” said Andrew Bragman, vice president of ticket operations at SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park in Los Angeles. “What we did take a look at areas in the stadium that were underutilized and figure out how to build temporary premium spaces. This is something we’re still doing.” With BTS concerts coming up in a 360-degree configuration, there are opportunities for effective and thoughtful premium spaces to maximize the opportunity and not be permanent (and expensive to create).

 “We found two more areas that we can sell as boxes, taking our field club patios, which for football are great … but it’s just a concrete space,” Bragman added. “We put some carpeting in for our concerts, put some bar stools and some tables to dress it up and it becomes one of the ultimate premium experiences we have at the stadium.”