What you should do at Ticketing Professionals this year (and every year)

One of the highlights of my professional year is always the Ticketing Professionals Conference, which I first attended in 2017, and which I've been attending on a solid streak ever since it started back up after the pandemic. (I missed the first one, in 2016, because that month I was simultaneously trying to put dozens of Fringe shows on sale, complete on the purchase of my first flat, and learn how to parent a 5-month-old — so I'm allowing myself a pass.)

The things I do at TPC are pretty similar to the things I'd do at any conference. Really, they're the things anyone should do at any conference, but sometimes it bears saying this kind of thing out loud. So even though I sadly can't make the conference myself in 2025, here's my advice if you're going. What should you do at Ticketing Professionals?

1. Go to a session about something you've never heard of

There will undoubtedly be lots of sessions on the schedule covering things you already know about or do regularly in your job, and the temptation is only to go to those. After all, part of the point of attending conferences is to keep up to date with the state-of-the-art in your field. And you should absolutely see some sessions that sound familiar to you, particularly if your direct competitors are speaking — it's always worth seeing what they're doing.

But the chances are, if you work in dynamic pricing and you go to a dynamic pricing panel, a lot of that panel will be spent covering stuff you already know. That's not to say you won't still gain some incremental knowledge or a few new useful tips, but it's unlikely to completely revolutionise how you go about your job.

So make sure you also challenge yourself to one panel that feels completely outside your wheelhouse. If you work in a theatre, go to a sports ticketing session; if you work in marketing, go to a panel about customer service or operations. Seeing how people solve problems you've never heard of before is often the best source of inspiration for approaching your own job in a fresh way.

2. Be a superfan

Even the most biggest celebrity speakers at TPC are not Lady Gaga. (Unless the organisers have scored a real coup for the keynote this year.) So don't be afraid of them! If you've seen someone speak before and thought they were incredible, or if you recognise someone you've always admired professionally on LinkedIn or in the trade news, turn up to their panel early and sit in the front row. Then find them at lunchtime and tell them how great they were!

Industry celebrities or not, the people at TPC are all there for the same reasons you are, and they'll always be happy to hear they impressed someone, or to meet a new colleague.

3. Take time to recharge your social battery

As with any conference, TPC has lots of great networking opportunities. The first TPC I went to, in 2017, was a real epiphany for me, revealing a warm, welcoming — and huge! — community of likeminded people, all grappling with the same professional challenges I was. Some of the people I met that year I'm still in touch with today.

But networking is hard work, even if you're really good at it, and the one thing worse than not networking at all is networking when you're grumpy and exhausted. It benefits nobody if you're standing there rolling your eyes or making stilted conversation. So if you get to the end of the day and can't face the next social event, then give yourself a break! There will always be other conferences and other networking sessions.

Besides, there's nothing more satisfying than the smugness of being the not-hungover person, in a morning panel full of bleary-eyed audience members chugging coffee for dear life.

My best piece of advice, though? Next time you see me at TPC — even if that's not 'til next year — come and say hello!