Analytics, accessibility, digital transformation, customer experience and fundraising strategy made the list of hot topics on the agenda at October’s Tessitura European Conference, attended by close to 500 people from 63 arts and cultural organisations.

The conference, led by members of the not-for-profit Tessitura Network community, took place this year on 5 and 6 November at Manchester’s iconic Midland Hotel and other venues, including The Bridgewater Hall and Science and Industry Museum. The event was attended by European users of Tessitura's unified CRM platform for arts and cultural organisations, and supported by a range of sponsor organisations. 

“We have a record attendance this year, with 484 delegates from all over the Tessitura European Community.”
— Jack Rubin

Tessitura Network CEO Jack Rubin welcomed delegates, noting the event’s growth since its inception. “We have a record attendance this year, with 484 delegates from all over the Tessitura European Community. Thank you all for being here in 2018 — Tessitura Network’s 15^th year of operating in Europe!” he said.

This year’s diverse agenda comprised more than 50 scheduled presentations, discussion sessions, trainings, labs and networking events, as well as 35 Open Space topics that attendees put forward on Day 1. Open Space discussions have become a fixture at Tessitura Network’s annual Tessitura Learning & Community Conference to support the mission of knowledge-sharing. This year they were introduced to both the Tessitura European Conference and Australia & New Zealand Tessitura Users Conference (ANZTRUC).

Data-driven culture was a consistent thread throughout the two days. In the keynote Technology Update, John Jakovich, Tessitura Network’s VP of Business Intelligence, and Erin Koppel, Senior Director of Enterprise Consulting, highlighted the important innovations that the new Tessitura Analytics business insights tool will bring to organisations using Tessitura. “Tessitura Analytics represents a paradigm shift. Your ability to derive actionable insights from your data has exponentially expanded,” explained Koppel.

A number of hands-on analytics sessions throughout the two days gave delegates a chance to use, and learn about, this exciting new business intelligence tool. “I went to the hands-on session and I was blown away by how quickly we could … customise and drill in any way we want to,” said Siorna Ashby, Data and Insight Manager at the Roundhouse. 

“Tessitura Analytics represents a paradigm shift. Your ability to derive actionable insights from your data has exponentially expanded.”
— Erin Koppel

More than 70 individuals from arts and cultural organisations within the Tessitura Network community collaborated to bring this conference together. The city-wide organising committee in Manchester included staff from Bridgewater Hall, Science and Industry Museum, Royal Exchange Theatre, and the Royal Northern College of Music, while others volunteered as subject matter experts and planning committee members.

In addition to the organisers, the attendees included delegates from many of Europe’s leading cultural organisations, including theatres, museums, galleries, dance companies, orchestras, opera companies, performing arts centres, festivals, and educational institutions. The sessions attracted personnel from marketing, customer service, box office, digital, development, education, finance, IT and business. The breadth of topics and diversity of attendees made the event a cross-genre, cross-discipline hub of learning, knowledge-sharing and collaboration. 

“Culture holds the promise to weave us back together again.”
— Andrew Recinos

Tessitura European Conference 2018 closed with Tessitura Network President, Andrew Recinos’ unconventional, thought-provoking keynote, How to Think Like a Human. Using a range of intriguing and sometimes surprising props, Recinos explored how we can weave creativity back into humanity.

View images from Tessitura European Conference 2018 on Flickr.