Life might get a little more convenient for season ticket holders, theater patrons, subscribers and concert goers with the announcement of the social ticketing Web site, Ovation.com by Event Innovation.
Stephen Gilfus, chairman and CEO of the company and a founder of Washington, D.C.-based Blackboard announced the development of Ovation.com.
Ovation is a paperless ticketing solution that gives users a hassle free ticketing experience that combines the features of social networking technologies like a robust ticket management solution and "requests for attendance" along with a free membership card.
It reduces the hassle of standing in long queues or wasting time making phone calls to find out who can attend events. The entire process is quick, secure and user-friendly and done within a closed network.
Paperless ticketing has been explored by companies in different industry segments. According to a 2007 news report, Spanair was planning to convert its current system to allow for completely paperless ticketing. Passengers received a 2D code on their mobile phones, which functioned both as ticket and boarding pass.
A more recent article highlights Continental Airlines passengers at some of the nation's busiest airports going wireless. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers were using the Workabout Pro solution from Psion Teklogix, a global provider of wireless computing solutions, to electronically scan boarding passes on passengers' mobile phones.
While there are paperless ticketing solutions available in the market, they lack the capability required for event attendees to manage multiple ticket management for friends, groups, families and co-workers.
"Creating a network that truly meets the needs of concert goers that purchase multiple tickets for their friends, sports fans that manage season tickets, or theater patrons that have tickets across a multitude of events was key to our design," said Gilfus.
Event Innovation has developed a technology platform that integrates easily into existing ticketing and gate access systems. According to the company, the new solution has already attracted the interest of several ticketing partners and the company is looking forward to finalizing its partner integrations prior to a 2009 launch.
Some key features of Ovation include free registration for individuals, friends and families. When signing up, the user needs to provide a valid credit card and address to validate their membership and receive a membership card. Members who purchase tickets from major ticket providers will be able to have them electronically deposited into their Ovation.com account. Managing and transferring of tickets to people can all be done conveniently with the click of a button.
Another useful feature is that a user can import personal and business contacts from Yahoo, Hotmail, Outlook, Google (News - Alert), Linkedin and other social networks.
Anita B. is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Anita's articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Michelle Robart
