Participant FAQs

IMPORTANT DATES

Festival Dates: 22 April – 17 May 2014
Festival Gala: 22 April 2014
Cracker Night: 28 & 29 April 2014
60 in 60 and Festival Awards: 17 May 2014

FESTIVAL AGREEMENT & REGISTRATION INVOICE

Your Festival Agreement and Registration Invoice will be sent to you by email. 

Please sign your Agreement and return to:
Email: shane@sydneycomedyfest.com.au
Post: 105 Victoria Road, Marrickville NSW 2204

Your Registration Fee is due 14 days after you receive your Invoice.

Please note: If you are presenting an event at a Non-Festival Managed Venue, you will need to sign both a Festival Agreement and a Venue Agreement. For a full list of Non-Festival Managed Venues please refer to the “Venues” section of this FAQ.

EVENT REGISTRATION

Our online Registration Forms are used to provide you with the information you need to produce a successful event at the Festival and also to collect the information we need for your event.

The information collected by the Event Registration Forms is used for many things including your Website, iPhone and Program Guide Listings so please make sure that all of the information is completed as comprehensively and accurately as possible.

Please note: If you notice any bugs or have any problems using the Registration Forms, please let us know. Also, if you are ever in any doubt about any information for your event, please contact Shane Smith on 02 9020 6919 or shane@sydneycomedyfest.com.au. 

TICKETING

This section will help you understand how ticketing for the Sydney Comedy Festival works and also assist you in getting your show on sale.

Key Terms Explained
Ticketek – The Festival has partnered with Ticketek for the 2014 Festival.
Festival & Non-Festival Managed Venues – The Festival presents its program in both Festival-Managed and Non-Festival Managed Venues. Fesitval Managed Venues are run entirely by the Festival. Non-Festival Managed Venues are programmed by the Festival and the day-to-day operations are managed by the Venue itself. In many cases, Non-Festival Managed Venues will offer ticketing on systems independent of the Ticketek system. This is something that we do not manage or control. However, in every case, even where there is an alternative ticketing system in use, Non-Festival Managed Venue will offer an allocation to Ticketek which in turn allows you to be part of all the Festival’s marketing initiatives via Ticketek.
NEN – Ticketek New Event Notification. This is the form you need to complete to setup your ticketing for Ticketek.
Published Price – The advertised price of the ticket. The Published Prices MUST include all fees, charges and GST.
Inside Charge – An inside charge is a fee charged by the ticketing company and/or venue that is built into the ticket price. On all Ticketek tickets, this includes a 50c fee charged by the Festival.
Booking Fee – A fee charged to the Patron to cover the cost of the transaction. This must be included within the Published Price.
GST – GST is charged on all tickets

TICKETING FEES – FESTIVAL MANAGED VENUES

Festival Managed Venues are ticketed through Ticketek. Please use the inside charges and booking fees tables below as a reference for establishing your NET TO PROMOTER.

NET TO PROMOTER = PUBLISHED TICKET PRICE minus INSIDE CHARGES & BOOKING FEE. Eg: for a show at the Metro Theatre with a published ticket price of $25:

TICKETING FEES (TICKETEK) – FACTORY THEATRE (ALL ROOMS), COMEDY STORE, METRO THEATRE, SEYMOUR CENTRE. Please note: Both the Comedy Store and Seymour Centre also sell tickets through their own in-house system.

TICKETING FEES (TICKETEK) – ENMORE THEATRE

Transaction Fees: Apply to all phone and web bookings.
Credit Card Charges: Apply to all purchases made with a credit card.
Complimentary Tickets: beyond the agreed to allocation, will be charged at 45c per ticket. Please contact boxoffice@sydneycomedyfest.com.au if you wish to hold or release tickets. Artist Guest Lists must be sent to boxoffice@sydneycomedyfest.com.au no later than 3pm on the day of the event.
Sales Monitoring: Daily automatic email sales reports will be setup once your show is on sale. If you do not receive these, please contact boxoffice@sydneycomedyfest.com.au. 

GETTING YOUR EVENT ON SALE

Following is a step by step process for getting your show on sale

1. Your NEN will be sent to you by email. 
2. Please complete the NEN and return to boxoffice@sydneycomedyfest.com.au
3. Check that your Show Details are up to date in your Participant Login: My Shows>Edit>Show Details. For example, that your image and text is correct.
4. Once your show has been built, you will be sent a build and web links to sign off on.
5. Once you have signed off on the build, your show will be put on sale.

If you have any questions regarding ticketing, please contact boxoffice@sydneycomedyfest.com.au

BOOKING DETAILS FOR FESTIVAL-MANAGED VENUES

BOOKING DETAILS FOR NON-FESTIVAL MANAGED VENUES

Settlement: Will normally occur within 21 days of your final performance.

MARKETING

Presenting a show at the Sydney Comedy Festival is as much about getting your message out to a developing audience base as it is about the show that you perform. With a view to support you in achieving this, the Festival has compiled the following information to ensure you give your show the best chance it has.

As a Participant of the SCF, your show will be incorporated into our generic Festival Marketing Campaign. However, the key word is ‘generic’, and you have an obligation to develop your own marketing and publicity campaign for your show which expresses an individual identity and stands out from the crowd. The best way for you to achieve results from your own marketing and publicity is to develop a campaign which works along side the generic Festival campaign, thereby taking full advantage of the Festival’s profile as Sydney’s biggest comedy event.

 FESTIVAL LOGO & BRAND

As an SCF event, you are obliged to incorporate the Festival Logo on all collateral that you issue in marketing your show. Please ensure that you consider this when designing your art. If you need a copy of the Logo, please contact tristan@sydneycomedyfest.com.au. 

MARKETING SUPPORT

The Festival will execute a comprehensive generic Festival marketing and publicity campaign aimed at driving people to the website and other detailed marketing collateral. To this extent, you will see generic Festival poster, flyer, print, outdoor, radio, online and digital campaigns. Specifically, your show will receive the following:
Festival Program Guide: Image and 300 character listing in Festival Guide. Over 200,000 copies of the Festival Guide are printed and distributed in a variety of ways including: directly mailed to over 30,000 homes, via street teams throughout the city, and in distribution campaigns to retail, cafés, venues, hotels, etc. The program is released in March.
Festival Website (www.sydneycomedyfest.com.au): Dedicated event page on the Festival website linked to the ticketing website. Your page can include an image, a longer description, reviews, video, links to your own website and social media.
Ticketek Website (www.ticketek.com.au): Dedicated event page on the Ticketek website with online ticket purchasing. Your page can include an image, a longer description, ticket prices and purchasing.
Venue Website: Dedicated event page on the Venue website linked to the ticketing website. Specific inclusions are dependent on each venue’s website capabilities. However, most would include an image, a longer description, and possibly video and links to your own website and social media.
Festival eNewsletters & HTML Emails: Inclusion in one of the Festival branded HTML Emails. The Festival has developed a sophisticated customer database that it will use to promote all Festival shows. Subject to the overall marketing strategy, your show will receive either a listing and/or a feature article in the Festival eNewsletter and/or a dedicated show(s) HTML email.
Festival iPhone App: Dedicated event page on the Festival iPhone App linked to the ticketing website. Your page can include an image, a longer description, and links to your own website and social media. Download the Festival iPhone App here: http://road.ie/sydneycomedy.
Festival Podcast: In 2013, we launched a very successful podcast that aimed to interview EVERY comedian performing at the Festival. We will be doing this again in 2014. To register your interest to be interview, please contact tristan@sydneycomedyfest.com.au.
Festival Social Media: Online Campaigns & Platforms. The Festival maintains active audience interaction and initiatives on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Feel free to liaise and coordinate your online campaigns with us to help spread the word.
Facebook: facebook.com/sydneycomedyfestival
Twitter: @syd_comedy_fest
Instagram: @syd_comedy_fest
Youtube: youtube.com/sydneycomedyfest
Start Your Marketing Campaign Now – By listing and linking your Festival show’s webpage on your own website will help kickstart your campaign by making it easier for your followers to purchase tickets. Once your show is on sale, please announce it to your Twitter, Facebook, Email, etc. Your show’s webpage with ticketing link can be found in the shows section at www.sydneycomedyfest.com.au. 
Posters & Flyers: Poster and flyer distribution in Festival Managed Venues. You may send up to 30 posters and up to 1500 flyers for use in our Festival Managed Venues. If you are also performing at other Festivals, we recommend saving printing costs by including your Sydney dates, venue and SCF Logo to these posters and flyers. Please arrange for these to be delivered to the following address by no later than 17 April 2014. Also, please email tristan@sydneycomedyfest.com.au to let us know that your posters and flyers are on their way so that we can confirm once we have received them.
Attn: Marketing Coordinator
Sydney Comedy Festival
105 Victoria Road
Marrickville NSW 2204
In addition, Ticketek will happily distribute a small number of flyers and posters to their various agencies. There are 17 Sydney based agencies and 14 regional agencies across NSW that will accept 40 flyers and 2 posters for any individual show. This means a total of 1,240 flyers and 62 posters could be freely distributed around the state. Any flyers or posters received before 4pm Tuesday will be distributed that Friday.
Attn: Ticketek – Roshini Kumar/ Network Services,
Unit 2B, M5 Industry Park,
1 Moorebank Ave,
Moorebank NSW 2170

OTHER MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES

Festival Program Guide Advertising: The Festival Program Guide has a very limited number of ad spaces available in quarter, half and full pages. These are in addition to your listing and are a great tool in ensuring your show stands out from the crowd. Prices are very reasonable:
Full Page: $3,500+gst
Half Page: $1,900+gst
Quarter Page: $1,050+gst
Bookings are due by Friday 21 February 2014 and artwork is due Monday 24 February 2014. All bookings are subject to availability. To make a booking, please contact Hannah: hannah@sydneycomedyfest.com.au or 02 9519 9231.
Poster & Flyer Street Distribution: Our good friends at Mainwaring Group Advertising are offering Festival Participants a 10% discount for poster and flyer distribution (payment for the job must be made upfront). When you book, please mention that your show is in the Sydney Comedy Festival to access the discount. To make a booking, contact Tom: tom@mainwaring.com.au or 02 9565 5433.
Drum Media Guide to the Festival: Each year, Sydney’s most prominent free Street Press, Drum Media, produces and excellent Unofficial Sydney Comedy Festival Guide that is distributed in the first week of the Festival. Advertising rates are very reasonable and it is a great way to reach out to an audience that is renowned for attending live entertainment. Please contact tristan@sydneycomedyfest.com.au for more information. 

PUBLICITY

The Festival enlists the comprehensive services of Kabuku PR to manage the generic Festival PR Campaign. Kabuku are not to be seen as your dedicated publicists. However, they are available to liaise with your publicist to maximise media opportunities. Please contact, Lisa Barnes: lisa@kabukupr.com.au or 0417 366 081.

SYDNEY COMEDY FESTIVAL AWARDS

BEST OF THE FEST AWARD [INTERNATIONAL]
Description: This award is provided to the visiting artist or group who is judged by the selection committee to have presented the best show at the 2013 Festival.
Eligibility: Artists or groups residing outside of Australia.  This includes Australian artists based overseas.
Prize: $1,500

BEST OF THE FEST AWARD [LOCAL]
Description: This award is provided to the locally based artist or group who is judged by the selection committee to have presented the best show at the 2013 Festival.
Eligibility: Artists or groups residing within Australia.  This includes non Australian artists based permanently in Australia.
Prize: $1,500

BEST NEWCOMER AWARD
Description: This award is presented to the artist or group who is judged by the selection committee to have been the most outstanding debut at the Festival. 
Eligibility: The award is to be presented to emerging artists presenting their first complete show at the Festival.   Artists with established international careers presenting in Sydney for the first time are not eligible for this award.
Prize: $1,500

THE DIRECTORS CHOICE AWARD
Description: Selected by the Festival Director
Eligibility: All Festival Artists and groups are eligible
Prize: $1,500

PARTICIPANT SERVICES

The Festival offers a number of services for Festival Participants to make your stay as enjoyable as possible.

PARTICIPANT TRANSFERS

For those of you arriving from overseas or interstate, we are once again offering a free transfer service. Transfers are available from the Airport to your Hotel and where possible from Hotel to Venue.

For airport transfers, please forward your flight details to logistics@sydneycomedyfest.com.au and include the following info:
Email Subject: Transfer Request
Arrival Date:
Arrival Time:
Flight Number:
Terminal Number:
Number of People Traveling:
Contact Number of Person Traveling:

Please Note:
If you do not send through a request with at least 48hrs notice, please do not expect a transfer.
We will send you a confirmation of your transfer. If you do not receive a confirmation, please email logistics@sydneycomedyfest.com.au or call our office on 02 9020 6919 at least 48hrs before your flight departs.
We will endeavour to accommodate every request we can however, should we not be able to, we will let you know in good time so that you can make alternative plans.
Finally, Hotel to Venue services are prioritised as follows:
1. Festival Partner Hotels (Adina, Vibe and Travelodge) to venue
2. Other Sydney CBD properties to venue
3. Other properties to venue

ACCOMMODATION

Our partners at TFE Hotels are offering Festival Participants discounts. 

Sydney Comedy Festival’s Accommodation Partner, TFE Hotels, is offering special rates to all Festival Participants across April and May. See below for rates and to book simply contact Michael Forster at mforster@tfehotels.com.

Adina Apartment Hotel Chippendale
• Studios at $142.00 per room per night
• 1 Bedroom at $164.00 per apartment per night
• 2 Bedroom at $270.00 per apartment per night

Adina Apartment Hotel Sydney, Central
• Studios at $170 .00 per room per night
• 1 Bedroom at $194.00 per apartment per night

Adina on Crown
• 1 Bedroom at $199.00 per apartment per night
• 2 Bedroom at $265.00 per apartment per night

Vibe Hotel Sydney
• Guest rooms at $149.00 per room per night

Travelodge Sydney
• Guest rooms at $142.00 per room per night

PARTICIPANT PASSES

Your Participant Pass will be given to you by your Back of House Manager on the first day of your event. If you wish to pick up your pass earlier, please visit the Festival HQ at the Factory Theatre, 105 Victoria Road Marrickville, Mon-Fri 10am-6pm. Your Participant Pass gives you access to the following:
Discounts at Festival Bars – Your Participant Pass entitles you to discounts at the following venue bars: Enmore, Metro, Factory, Comedy Store and Seymour Centre.
Access to Festival Events – Participant Pass Holders are offered access to other Festival events (where agreed to by the show’s producer). Access is only available 5mins before the start of the show and is subject to availability. If you wish to restrict access to your show for Participant Pass Holders, please indicate this in your Event Registration.
Access to Participant Events – The Festival will be holding number of fun social events for Participants.

SPECIAL EVENTS

The Festival produces a number of events that showcase and unearth talent, and generally add to the Festival vibe and colour. These include:
Preview Night: 14 & 15 March 2014 – A month before the Festival, Preview Night is a sneak peek at a broad cross section of the coming Festival. An excellent opportunity to get in front of an audience, Preview Night is filled with comedy lovers and Festival Subscribers.
Sydney Comedy Festival Gala: 22 April 2014 – Kicking things off in grand style at the Sydney Opera House, the Gala features the biggest stars and the hottest acts of the coming Festival.
Cracker Night – International Comedy Festival Showcase: 28 & 29 April 2014 – Sydney’s biggest night of comedy, the infamous Cracker Night will be held  at multiple venues across Sydney and provides an opportunity for performers to present a glimpse of their show in a massive showcase event.
60 in 60: 17 May 2014 – Sixty comedians each perform 60 seconds of their funniest material in a show lasting exactly 60 minutes. 60 in 60 is the Festival’s closing night event and one most comics want to be a part of.
The Festival Showcases – The Festival Showcase runs every Thursday-Saturday at the Comedy Store during the Festival in addition to special one-off events a various venues around the city.
Secret Shows – We’d love to tell you more, but they’re a secret…

CONTACTS

If you have any questions or need assistance, please feel free to contact us:
Festival Office: 105 Victoria Rd, Marrickville, NSW 2204. Office hours are Mon-Fri 10am-6pm.
Festival Phone: 02 9519 9231
Festival Fax: 02 9550 2990
Festival Website: www.sydneycomedyfest.com.au  
Festival Box Office Number: 02 9020 6966. Please note: if you are in a Non-Festival Managed Venue there may be additional or different booking details. For a full list of booking details for each venue please refer to the Ticketing section of this FAQ.

Box Office & Ticketing: boxoffice@sydneycomedyfest.com.au 
Marketing – Tristan Ap: tristan@sydneycomedyfest.com.au 
Production – Ben Turner: production@sydneycomedyfest.com.au 
Participant Services – Sime Knezevic: sime@sydneycomedyfest.com.au  
Artist Transfers – Caroline Tully: logistics@sydneycomedyfest.com.au
Everything Else – Shane Smith: shane@sydneycomedyfest.com.au