Playbook · 2026 edition
The Sold-Out Show Playbook
How to sell out a show without discounting, panicking or guessing
Most shows do not fail on the night. They fail in the four weeks nobody was watching the numbers, when the proposition was vague, the price said the wrong thing, the tickets were released in one flat block and the content started before anyone had decided where it would be seen. By the time the panic discount goes out, the problem is months old. This playbook finds the actual problem and gives you the sequence to fix it.
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A show does not sell out because of one good post. It sells out because the proposition, the price, the phasing and the distribution were decided before tickets went live.
Who this is for
This is for you if
- You are putting on a show and tickets are moving slower than the date allows.
- Your last event sold out and you cannot explain why, so you cannot repeat it.
- You are discounting to fill the room and it is eating the margin.
- You are spending on ads without knowing what the spend is meant to fix.
- You are pitching venues or promoters and need the numbers to hold up.
This is not
- A social media course or a content calendar.
- A promise that any show will sell out.
- A membership, a community or a coaching programme.
Inside the Playbook
Fifteen chapters. Each one ends in a tool you complete, and each tool feeds the final plan.
- 01
Event Proposition · Event Proposition Canvas
What the night actually is, in language a stranger would repeat to a friend.
- 02
The Audience Is Not Everyone · Audience Buyer Map
Who buys first, who buys late, and who was never going to come.
- 03
Price Is A Message · Price & Ticket Architecture
What your price tells people about the room before they hear a note.
- 04
Event Economics · Event Economics Calculator
The break-even number, the profitable number and the point where the show stops making sense.
- 05
The Customer Journey · Customer Journey Audit
Every step between hearing about the show and holding a ticket, and where people drop.
- 06
Ticket Phases & Sales Velocity · Ticket Phase Design
How to release tickets so momentum is designed rather than hoped for.
- 07
Distribution Before Content · Distribution Map
Where the audience already gathers, decided before anything is filmed or posted.
- 08
Content Has Different Jobs · Content Job Planner
Awareness, proof, urgency and reassurance content, each doing one job properly.
- 09
Community Is A Sales Channel · Community Activation Map
The groups, hosts and organisers who can move blocks of tickets you cannot reach alone.
- 10
Paid Media Is An Amplifier · Paid Media Diagnostic
What paid can and cannot fix, and when spending more makes the problem worse.
- 11
The Sales Dashboard & Sell-Out Pace · Sell-Out Pace Calculator
The weekly pace you need to hit capacity, checked against where you actually are.
- 12
The 30-Day Recovery Plan · Recovery Planner
What to do when sales are behind and the date is not moving.
- 13
From The Field · Case studies
Real shows, what was diagnosed and what changed the sales curve.
- 14
The Event Health Score · Routed diagnostic
A scored read on the show that routes you to the chapter your problem actually lives in.
- 15
The Final Event Growth Plan · Exportable brief
One page built from your own answers, ready to run or hand to a promoter or team.
Drawn, not just described
Chapters carry interactive diagrams you can explore as you read. Here is one of them.
Figure 04.1
The sales window
Tickets do not sell evenly. Select a marker to see what belongs at that point in the window.
The strongest week you will have until the final one. List, partners, first price tier and a real reason to buy now.
Select any part to read more
Questions
- Is this a course?
- No. It is a working playbook. You read a chapter, complete the tool attached to it, and leave with a decision recorded rather than a lesson watched.
- What's included?
- The complete web edition, the downloadable PDF, fourteen interactive tools, saved progress across devices, and an exportable Final Event Growth Plan built from your own answers.
- Do I need an account?
- Yes, so your answers, progress and exports are saved and available on any device. Your account is created at checkout.
- Do updates come free?
- Yes. Buying the Playbook gives you lifetime access to this edition and every update to it.
- Who is it for?
- Promoters, artists, managers, venues and festival teams selling tickets to their own shows rather than relying on a booking to fill the room.
Want this applied to your specific show? See the Event Growth Audit.
Sell the room out on purpose
£39. Lifetime access. Web edition, PDF and 14 interactive tools.
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