#5

August 24, 2013
Selling entrance tickets to LLU 150 year anniversary concert

On the occasion of the 150 year anniversary of Latvia University of Agriculture various events are organised every month. The most awaited of them all - concert Mēs joprojām mīlam Tevi [We still love you] - took place on August 24 in the courtyard of Jelgava Palace. I volunteered to help in the process of organisation and preparation, and was assigned to sell tickets before and during the concert. In truth, I was willing to do what was most needed and would have been satisfied even with a drab and tedious task, but an opportunity to communicate with people only increased my excitement.

I got to Jelgava Palace an hour and a half before the concert to meet the other ticket sellers - most of whom were the university's students - and to get brief instructions. I was given a white, oversized shirt with the university's logo, three hundred tickets and sixty informative books for selling and some spare money. Originally two ticket windows were put at each of the two entrances: by the main gate people were queueing, but the back entrance was used mostly by Latvian celebrities and other participants. Therefore, I suggested moving my booking office to the other side of the courtyard and - to be honest - I do not know how they would have managed with only two ticket sellers there. I was inundated with requests as well as questions, people were coming on to my table from both sides! Selling tickets with literally no respite whilst making sure that nobody took a book without paying for it was really hard.

It is important to point out that this concert was not the only big, public event in Jelgava that day. Annual Milk, Bread and Honey Festival took place in the parks, on the streets, but the most popular event that drew hundreds of spectators was the milk carton regatta on the Lielupe river. The river flows right by Jelgava Palace, therefore many people came to the concert quite spontaneously, influenced by the crowd.

I had thought that I would get to see a bit of the concert myself, but to my surprise people kept coming almost until the end. In total I sold 426 tickets and 79 books and to my relief - in spite of the chaos - I had managed to collect the exact amount of money as supposed.

Here are some pictures:

the official poster

me in my white shirt holding a ticket

my workplace

in action

the courtyard, more than a thousand spectators

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My reflections

When I volunteered to help in the process of the concert's organisation and preparation, my main goal was to be a part of this important event regardless of what I was asked to do. The encouraging fact that my duty will require interaction and communication with people I was told only a few days before the actual event.
I had never sold anything for somebody else's purpose, and I found myself being more nervous than I expected. I was responsible for every ticket and every book I sold and for every piece of money I collected. Therefore I had to be very accurate and precise, whilst working as fast possible so that people were not kept waiting for long. In the beginning my motions were clumsy and tearing tickets out of the small booklets required more time than I would have liked. I got better at it only after selling at least half a hundred tickets, but that would not have been such a problem if there had not been such a chaos. 

People did not queue and for this I blame the chief organiser. She should have restricted the area somehow so that people were forced to form a queue. Instead they were able to come to my table from both sides and often there was one person buying a ticket and at least two others demanding my attention with their questions. I had to be vigilant so not a single book was taken without paying for it first, and this proved to be hard. I did not think there would such a muddle and confusion, otherwise I would have made a sign stating that books were not for free.

Thus, due to the chaos and the crowd in front of the main entrance - people were confused. Many of them did not know what was going on in the first place, others asked me whether they should buy a ticket (old people and children were permitted a free entrance) when actually it was a question only the gatekeepers could answer. Being polite and helpful even when I did not know the answer to the question I was asked, and not letting my nervousness show was another challenge. Basing it on the fact that I sold more tickets than my colleagues and that I had collected the correct amount of money, I think, I did quite well. 

Through this activity I definitely improved my social skills and my ability to quickly adapt to a new environment. This task tested my responsibility, concentration and accuracy. Also - even if I my efforts to generate interest in buying a book (not only a ticket) were successful from time to time - I learned that I do not feel comfortable trying to talk people into buying something they are not interested in. This skill may be just as important for a businessman as it is for a salesman and for anyone wanting to achieve his goals, and apparently this is a thing I have to work on.