“Prior to implementing Zaui Software in 2016, ticket sales for the festival were fragmented”
Dylan Morgan is the Ticketing Manager for the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival (VIMFF). Dylan talks about how it worked before joining Zaui. “Managing Festival Tickets was a painstaking manual process managed by multiple box offices.”
Film Festivals Run on Tickets
Tickets used to come with seller fees (passed on to the customer), sales commissions (passed on to the festival organizer), and required constant phone calls. “We used excel spreadsheets to monitor ticket inventory for each show. It was a real pain before.”
With the switch to Zaui, customers can now purchase their tickets through VIMFF.org and receive them instantly to their inbox. At the venue they present their ticket for scanning directly on their cell phone. Going paperless with the auto generated QR codes is also a huge improvement to reducing the ecological footprint, a core value of both VIMFF festival organizers and attendees. “Once you get to over 10,000 seats in inventory over 9 days with 32 shows, a central digital system is the only logical way.”
Branded Customized Checkout
Buying tickets for VIMFF these days is simple and easily accomplished on a phone, tablet or desktop. Simply go to VIMFF.org and pick a show.
After purchasing a ticket, a confirmation email will be sent, containing a QR code. This code will be scanned by staff at the entrance using the Zaui POS App, which verifies the ticket and checks in the guest.
Behind the Scenes
In the Zaui back end, reports centralize data from all events and allow festival operators to make real time business decisions. “We get an automated inventory report when we are down to the last 30 seats for a show. At that point we can either release more tickets or consider the show sold out” says Dylan. In addition, a simple report showing sales and inventory levels can be run to aid decisions about whether further promotion is needed to attract more people to particular shows.
When asked what advice he would give a younger version of himself starting an adventure film festival, Dylan replied “When you start, you have to know it’s going to be like herding a bunch of cats. Just get the hard stuff done early. Pick your shows, set your venue schedule and solidify a pricing structure. Use a centralized ticketing system like Zaui that only takes 5 minutes to train staff and let the people you’ve brought on guide the show’s success. For the people that still want to book the old fashioned way,
We do still have a manual backup system with the Zaui dashboard on a laptop at each show. This allows people to check in under their reservation name. We are getting close to having full digital adoption but there are still people who are reluctant to buy tickets online.”
This year VIMFF is celebrating their 20th Festival. “We are getting bigger and better every year and have been experiencing hockey stick growth. I just don’t think we could manage it these days without a ticketing system like Zaui.” Dylan concludes.
Zaui Event Ticketing
If your event is growing rapidly and managing tickets is becoming an operational bottleneck, it might be time to move to a centralized digital ticketing system. Let our friendly sales team walk you through how Zaui Tickets can work for your business or event!
Related Posts
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Zaui’s pricing is fully pay-as-you-go. You aren’t locked into any long-term contract. In fact, leading platforms emphasize this flexibility. Similarly, Zaui lets you start and stop anytime. You can change or cancel your plan freely, so you only pay for what you use.
Absolutely not. Zaui’s pricing is 100% transparent. We disclose all fees up front with no surprise add-ons or “sneak-in” charges. In fact, Zaui’s plans include all core features “without additional fees”. Industry experts note that hidden fees undermine trust so we avoid them entirely. All costs are clearly outlined in our pricing, and there are no extra setup charges or undisclosed surcharges at checkout.
Zaui integrates with major payment gateways (e.g. Stripe) so you only pay standard credit-card processing rates (roughly 1.9%+$0.30/transaction) and we don’t mark them up. Only the published platform commission is added on bookings. You also have full control over who pays the commission, we let you decide whether to absorb booking fees or pass them on to customers. In short, you’ll only pay the transparent booking commission and normal gateway fees, nothing extra.
Your onboarding and support are included in the price. We provide white-glove setup help and ongoing 24/7 support at no additional cost. Our dedicated customer-success team will guide you through every step, ensuring a smooth launch. You won’t pay extra for training or service other than the onboarding fee; it's all built into your plan.
You can schedule a free demo with our team. Our Zaui ninjas will walk you through pe how Zaui can work for your business and highlight opportunities to grow with our advanced features all without any upfront payment. This way, you can feel confident it’s the right fit before making a commitment.
Of course. Zaui’s plans are fully flexible. You can upgrade or downgrade at any time to match your needs, without penalties. You can move to a higher tier or back down easily, and your billing adjusts automatically.
No. Zaui does not charge its commission on offline/manual bookings. “No fees on offline bookings” You only pay the commission when a booking is processed online through our system. Manual reservations (or bookings from partner channels we set up for you) incur no extra platform fee. (30% or less)
All of Zaui’s core features are included in your plan at no extra charge. We believe in value and transparency: Zaui provides over 15 advanced features (Google Things to do, reporting tools, marketing tools, reports, etc.) at no additional cost. Many competitors charge extra or require higher plans for the same features, but with Zaui you get the full suite of tools in one package. Any optional add-ons (if any) will always be clearly listed and optional there are no surprise paid upgrades for standard features.
Each Zaui plan is designed for clarity and fairness, following industry best practices. You can trust that our pricing is transparent and flexible, with the support you need built in.
Extra accounts- unlimited agents, resellers, user
