A new course from the CTC encourages cinema managers to think like a customer. Peter Knight reports on CTC training course that premiered at the NBC Universal London offices last November.
THE LAUNCH OF A BRAND new course from the CTC (Cinema Technology Community) took place last November. Aimed specifically at helping to provide cinema managers with additional technical support, the course built on the CTC’s enormously popular projection training course that the organisation has been running for more than five years. This new managers’ course set out to offer the same quality and style and, as with all previous such CTC courses, was delivered by industry experts who aimed to provide experience-driven insights on how to improve profitability, gain an increased understanding of the customer journey and provide a better overall visit for moviegoers.
Walking in the customer’s shoes
Following a welcome and introduction to the day, the attendees were taken on a customer journey by Sarah Lewthwaite, who provided an in-depth look at the overall experience from buying a ticket through to the auditorium and beyond and the exhibitor opportunities along the way. This session was an interactive opportunity to consider the multiple stages of the journey that a customer takes from the initial inspiration to go to the cinema, through to the follow-up afterwards.
Subsequently, the next topic was based around Distributor marketingm, and an exploration of the distribution activities in movie marketing that included an informative presentation from Dan Butler in the NBC Universal UK team. He gave a real insight into film distribution from a distributor’s point of view — a perspective that many in the room were not aware of.
The afternoon session explored some of the best practices in presentation and the common faults that may be found in a cinema auditorium. This was lead by Paul Willmott, followed by Sandie Caffelle who discussed pre-sales monitoring, analysis and preparation. Sandie’s presentation built neatly on the customer journey that Sarah had focused on in the morning, and finished with the important message to consider the big picture as well as just the little individual things.
The day concluded with a look at the art of showmanship, led by Paul Willmott. This considered the elements that make a great cinema presentation, and was followed by yours truly providing a look at some possible future technologies. This prompted a lively discussion around laser projection and options around replacement.
During the day there were plenty of opportunities for the candidates to network and talk to CTC members who were available to provide advice and guidance. This new course was considered a real success and will be repeated in the second half of 2020, details will be announced via the CTC website at www.cinema-technology.com
