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3 NEW RULES FOR
PRICING RIGHT
Hosted by
Lindsay Homer
Director of Consulting
TRG Arts

Copyright © 2013 TRG Arts
All Rights Reserved
TRG’s next webinar
Wed., Nov. 20, 2013 at 2 ET / 11 PT

Launching Loyalty
from a „Second Date‟
with Patrons

Sign up at www.trgarts.com
Who’s Here Today
My organization sells tickets primarily for:
78%

15%
4%
Reserved seat
events

2%

General
Turnstile
Turnstile
admission seated (museum, cultural (museum, cultural
events
orgs) general orgs) Timed-ticket
admission
admission
Update Pricing Annually
When did you last update
your pricing strategy?
47%

25%
20%
9%

In advance of
the current
season/year

Last
season/year

More than two
seasons/years
ago

Don‟t know
The Right Strategy?

Per Capita Rises
As Ticket Sales Increase
Your Strategy?
Was the average amount paid for a ticket to
your most popular event last year more or less
than other events in the same year?

More, 45%

Less, 4%

About the
same, 41%

Don’t know,
10%
Pricing

The end, not
the beginning.
Pricing is emotional
political
reactive
Pricing is emotional
political
reactive
Rule 1

Pricing should drive
patron behavior.
Taking Your View
Not the patrons’ ?

BEST
SEATS
???

BEST
TIME TO
VISIT
???
Follow Data
To What Patron’s Value
Programming
Seasonality

Day of Week

Opening &
Closing Dates

Time of day
Available
Seats
Museum Price Table
Full Adult Price
Member Price
Always Available Discounts

Seniors

Students
Young People

Military

Coupons, Special Offers
Museum Price Table
Drive patron behavior when…
1. Promote value
Members save? Say so.
2. Simplify
Consider visitor‟s ability to navigate options
3. Provide real-time help
Train visitor services to motivate behavior
Make buying online easy, intuitive
Behavior Drivers
1. Entry level prices
Are they available, affordable?
2. Top ticket prices
Are they data-informed, competitive?
3. Price jumps or spread
Are differences between prices reasonable?
Price Table: Seated Event
Pricing Table: Seated Event
Pricing Table: Seated Event
$25

$23
Pricing Table: Seated Event
Price Table: Seated
Drive patron behavior!
1. Provide clear value options
Affordable “starting at” price
Top is competitive, “worth the price”
Sweet spot in the middle
2. Reasonable differences between prices
Comfortable jump from low to middle
Middle to top is upgrade from good to best
3. Keep it simple
Complexity motivates “no thanks”
Rule 2

Curate when and how
many tickets go on sale.
Managing Inventory
Empowers you to
manage behavior
Which seats or admissions do you

allow
patrons to buy?
To sell or not to sell
YOU decide
leveraging

Demand
Either you’ve got it…
or you don’t
Inventory & Demand
On sale date
High Demand
Higher Yield
When?
Early as possible

Low Demand
Lower Yield
When?
Early as possible
When Do Yours
Go On Sale?
How far in advance of the opening date
of your most popular events do single
tickets go on sale to the public?
67%

22%
11%

Seven to 12 months

Two to six months

A month or less
Inventory & Demand
On sale date
High Demand
Higher Yield
How?
VIP advance priority

Low Demand
Lower Yield
How?
Planned strategic pricing
Inventory & Demand
Complimentary Tickets
High Demand
Higher Yield

Low Demand
Lower Yield

How many?
• Few or none

How many?
• Strategically limited

To whom?
• Artists
• Venue
• Obligated by contract

How?
• Voucher
• No hard tickets
• Fulfill at ticket window
Inventory & Demand
Hold and Release
Stage
Inventory & Demand
Hold and Release
Stage
Unsold
Sold
Seats

Unsold
Sequenced Release
Stage
Rows AA-H
Initially open for sale.
361 Seats
Sequenced Release
Stage
Rows AA-H
Initially open for sale.
361 Seats
Next release
156 Seats
Sequenced Release
Stage
Rows AA-H
Initially open for sale.
361 Seats
Next release
156 Seats
Remaining release
68 Seats
Inventory Management
How do we manage it?
Sales Pacing Meetings
Rule 3

Nothing beats
a "full" house.
leveraging

Demand
Either you’ve got it…
or you don’t
Got Demand?
When you don’t
Scale-of-House Case Study
Where Patrons Actually Sit

Stage
Why? The Scale Plan
Price D

Price B
Price A
Price C

Stage
New Scale-of-House Plan
Price A

Price B

Price B
Price A

Price C

Stage
Scale-of-House Case Study
Where Patrons Actually Sit

Stage
Where Patrons Sit Now

Improved Gross
Potential:
$15,000, or 40%

Stage
Pricing

Summary:
3 New Rules
1

Does your strategy
Drive Patron Behavior?

Do: Take the patron‟s view
Don‟t: Let internal biases, assumptions rule.
And do:
• Follow data to find what patrons value
• Mind your bottom, top, and middle price
• Streamline your price table
2

Does your strategy
Curate your inventory?

Do: Take control
Don‟t: Rely on technology alone
And do:
• Earliest possible on-sale date
• Plan incentives: VIPs and hard-to-sell
• Strategically limit, distribute comps
• Develop good inventory release plan
3

Does your strategy
Create “Full” Houses?

Do: Scale based on demand facts
Don‟t: Assume
And do:
• Demand analysis annually
• Refresh or re-scale every year
• Build desired fill patterns into scale plan
• Price increases as more inventory sells
www.trgarts.com

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TRG Webinar: 3 New Rules for Pricing Right

Hinweis der Redaktion

  1. Pricing is one of those evergreen topics that is constantly evolving. Even if you’ve heard us talk about pricing before, there are new challenges to face with in each year’s market conditions, programming and ever-savvier patrons. That’s why we’ve come up with a few new rules that can help you price right today….and under any circumstances. But before I go forward, I know we have some folks on the line today who have never been to a TRG webinar before. Let me say a few words about TRG and our approach to pricing for arts organizations.
  2. Mark your calendar for our next webinarIt’ll be held Wednesday, November 20th at 2 p.m. Eastern, 11 a.m. Pacific.We’ll welcome our friends from the Seattle Repertory Theatre, and hear their patron retention success story that we’re calling: Launching Loyalty from a Second Date with Patrons.You can sign up for the webinar on www dot T-R-G arts dot com.
  3. At TRG, we use data to helpclients achieve results. TRG Arts was founded in 1995 by our late founder,Rick Lester.Our firm’s ground-breaking strategies in PRICING, along with loyalty strategies, are the basis for proven results among our clients.We’re based in Colorado Springs, Colorado with 35 team members, and each of us is focused on providing guidance and solutions that are patron-based….By patron we mean: ticket buyer, member, donor, event attendee…any PERSON engaged with an organization.Our patron-based solutions seek sustainable loyalty of patrons and sustainable revenue from those patrons. Pricing is a big part of that, because pricing can drive loyal behavior… or not. Driving loyal behavior is a key aspect of our discussion today.We recognize that arts consumer behavior plays out differently in different types of organizations. For context….
  4. The biggest proportion of participants in our webinar audience today represent seated event institutions. Know that the principles we discuss today were built on your circumstances because that’s where the preponderance of data and transactional evidence exists.And for our webinar audience members from museums, cultural and other organizations that have turnstile admissions -- today we’re focusing on success factors than can benefit you as well – starting with this…
  5. At TRG, we’ve counseled thousands of organizations on pricing for more than nearly two decades and we have a bias: Pricing strategy must be updated every year.Our webinar survey tells us that 47% of you re-examined your pricing strategy for the 2013-14 season. Today, we’ll ask you to listen for productive tweaks – refinements that can make your plan more successful.The survey also indicates that more than half of you haven’t updated your pricing strategy in a year or more. With today’s webinar , we hope you’ll find fresh thinking, particularly in the areas that we see as the most important strategies for you to embrace.
  6. Whether or not you’ve updated your strategy regularly, the bigger question is: How do you know if you’ve adopted the right pricing strategy? There’s no one simple answer, but there is one metric that ‘s a good barometer of how well you’re doing. That metric is per capita revenue… defined as… the average price paid for a ticket. In a successful pricing strategy, per capita rises as sales increase. That means your best selling events yield more revenue per ticket than other, less well-sold events.Too often, however, this is what we see: ticket sales --- represented by the red bars in this chart– increase while per capita revenues – the black lines --actually go down. You DON’T want this negative trend to happen because of your strategy. That’s why we asked you about your per capita revenues….
  7. When you registered for this webinar, we asked you about the average amount a patron paid for a ticket to your most popular event last year. Was it more, less or about the same as other events that same year?As you can see, 45% of you say your most popular event last year earned more per ticket than other events – That could mean a number of things, including the fact that you’re probably charging more for popular events. In general, that’s a step in the right direction. Today I hope that those of you in this 45% find ways to sharpen your strategy and reduce bad outcomes from guessing wrong. For the rest of our audience today, there appear to be other factors at play. Your per capita revenue for popular events is the same or less than other events. Or, you just don’t know what’s happening with this metric. In our experience, this can mean that you may be leaving money on the table in your pricing decisions. Or, you may be focusing on a set of tactics that aren’t serving you as well as they could be. We hope you’ll hear something today that can get your per capita revenue moving in an upward direction.……With that introduction, let’s start at the beginning…..
  8. Pricing [ ] is the end of a strategic process, not the beginning.The process of setting prices is what happens in a successful revenue plan after you’ve built a foundation. Today we’re going to talk about 3 principles that BUILD that foundation…. ( ) AND lead you to sound price setting.
  9. We know pricing decision-making can be subject to emotional, political, and reactive forces within an organization – none of which can be denied, BUT…
  10. None of which is productive, especially if STRATEGY is built on fear that your prices are too high or too low OR, worse yet, based on assumptions about what you believe patrons will or won’t do….that leads us to Rule #1.
  11. Pricing should drive patron behavior.Intuitively, most arts managers understand this rule. Too often, however, using price as a patron motivator gets lost in those emotional, political, and reactionary forces we just talked about. WHY?
  12. Too many organizations take their own view, and not the patron’s view.Allow me to illustrate.Think about your performing venue.Or your exhibit space.Now, go to the best seat in the house.Or choose the perfect date and time to see your museum’s special exhibit.….What would you choose?...How would you respond?How would your colleagues? Your Board Trustees?Were I to take a poll right now, I’d KNOW every one would have a slightly different personal view.That’s why ….when personal views are allowed to guide pricing decisions, you end up with bad strategy.If you stick to your internal biases….or internal assumptions about what patrons value, you’ll never be able to motivate patron behavior.Instead… To drive patron behavior, you must understand the patron’s view – not your own. What you THINK or ASSUME can miss the point and end up derailing your strategy. For instance:Internal price resistance.It shows up in statements like this: People will NEVER pay this amount. You can probably think of many other statements like this you’ve heard.TRG would tell you: unless you’ve looked at your ticket purchase history and your market standing, you must not assume you know what patrons will or won’t pay. Then there’s this:Internal biases.Everyone in your organization has an opinion on what’s best and what’s not.We hear it like this:If we all went on a trip to your venue, and I asked you to pick the best seat in the house, everyone would choose a different seat. When we say “These are the BEST seats in the house or the BEST time to see an exhibit”, that’s a bias.Or, the opposite:Nobody wants those seats in the back of the balcony ORNobody wants to come at that hour or on that date.The truth is: These are YOUR internal opinions. Unless you have data that tells you what the patron thinks is the best or worst, you’re just guessing. And, if pricing is going to drive PATRON behavior, you …must…not… assume.
  13. Follow your event sales history data to find out what patrons VALUE. In data, patrons tell you what they are willing to buy, and that’s how you learn what factors will help you drive patron behavior.Value – or what arts consumers are willing to pay for – depends on many different factors.Especially programming…and time of the year ---your holiday or big summer events, for instance….but also….dates….times…and yes…available SEATS.All of these factors affect what a patron is willing to pay. When you use data to understand how these factors create or diminish value for your patrons, then you can use price to drive patron behavior.Now let’s look at how patrons get information about your pricing…... Your price table….
  14. First, let’s review the components of a museum price table, which is generally comprised of many parts.There are full price, adult tickets and special admission for members – sometimes admission is free for members.Then there are discountsMuseums often have discounts that are always available…For senior citizens….for students and young people….and for military.Pricing at museums also often includes coupon prices and other discounted admissions that are not on the published price table. Rather, they’re offered separately through advertising or online media. Take a step back from this array of price options and imagine what it’s like to walk up to the visitor’s service desk and try to digest these options.No matter how beautifully you’ve displayed your prices, there’s a whole process involved in figuring out which type of ticket Iqualify for. If I’m attending with myfamily, ticket purchasing in real time requires doing some math. I’m forced to react to multiple variables. Are you motivating my behavior?
  15. Your museum price table can drive patron behavior when:You want your price table to promote value in the eyes of the visitor.Make clear what your best value is. If members save—say so. Don’t just make your pricing signs look beautiful, simplify them. Your mission likely dictates that you must offer a range of price options or “always-available” discounts. So, consider ways you can make it easy for visitors to navigate those options.One way to do that isProvide real-time help at the point of purchase.Your visitor services team needs to be trained on how to quickly and courteously calculate admission in a way that motivates behavior.If you want visitors to become members, teach visitor services how to suggest membership as a value option.Do you want them to come back again? Ensure that your visitor services team makes every encounter with a visitor a good one.Remember too that visitors of all ages are increasingly making ticket purchases online. Your online ticket purchase option must be easy and intuitive.Let’s take a look at a good example.
  16. This is an online price table for one of our museum clients. You can see that everyday general admission for adults – with ages clearly specified – is $20.The eligibility discounts for seniors, students, military and young people are also clearly delineated.What you can’t miss in the hot pink is that members get in for free. To underscore that point and to motivate membership buying, the website takes you instantly to a membership signup with one .Now, let’s look at another behavior this museum wants to motivate: buying online.With any ticket purchase, the visitor saves by buying online.Why? This museum wants to collect patron contact information – they want to use that contact information to develop a future relationship with their visitors.So, they motivate that behavior by offering a discount for buying online.Now, let’s look at driving behavior in price tables for those of you in seated event organizations.
  17. As we’ll see in moment, things get complicated for seated-event organizations. But there are three key patron behavior drivers you’ll want to consider in your pricing.The first is Entry-level prices.Think of this as your everyday standard lowest price.In a theatre or concert hall, some seats need to be available at this low price at every performance.The price you choose needs to be accessible to most people – meaning, low enough to be considered a deal. In some markets, that might be $10 or under. In others, it might be around $25. A good entry level price can motivate patrons to buy – maybe to come see you for the first time, or to try a program they aren’t sure about.Your top ticket price drives behavior too.For those patrons looking to get the best seats, or the most popular program, your top ticket price must seem “worth it.”Here’s where data comes in: your sales histories can show you what your patrons are will to pay for the best experience.When patrons get to see something they really want to see from seats they value, they’re willing to pay top dollar.What’s the right top price? In addition to a review of your own data, a competitive sanity check is in order. The top prices other arts and entertainment organizations are getting in your market can help you decide your top price.A third behavior driver is the difference between prices you offer. We call these price jumps or the spread betweenprice points.When the difference between your low, medium and high prices vary enough and by a reasonable amount, they help patrons differentiate and decide to buy. For instance, if your lowest price point is sold out, and the next available price is double the price, you might lose the sale. A patron may not see the difference as reasonable. But, if the next available price feels like a good value for “better” seats, you’re more likely to motivate that patron to buy the more expensive seats. Now, let’s take a look at a price table where all of these behavior drivers play out.
  18. Remember, I said it would be complicated. This happens to be a price table for a theatre company. It is no longer in effect so we’re using it today as an illustration to make a point.It includes a lot of variables and options that make a price table hard to understand.When a price table is confusing, it cannot drive patron behavior in any meaningful way.  There’s a LOT here, so let me focus your attention on a few key points.First, there are two different sets of pricing:  one for non-musicals and another for musicals. The top adult price is higher for musicals -- $5 higher to be exact.The choice to price musicals higher assumes that patrons will value any musical more than any non-musical.If you are among those who choose in advance to make some programs higher priced than others, take note.Our experience tells us that in today’s arts programming, consumer demand is not that predictable.A blockbuster title on Broadway or in another market might not be a hit in your market.The same goes with a ballet, opera, or orchestral programs.  So, the question becomes: Does any organization need to differentiate between types of programs and price?Let’s imagine that with this price table in effect, tickets go on sale and the season-opening musical doesn’t sell well.  What happens then?Typically– discounts.  Lots of them, right up to curtain time.A better strategy would be:  Use data – sales and competitive analysis -- to set one standard top price. Open sales with that price.Then use the tools of our trade to adjust the top price – upward through dynamic pricing when a show is a hot-seller, OR…… downward through strategic discounting when a program or performance date or seat section does not find an audience.  Now let’s look at the entry level price.
  19. In this example, there are two adult prices, a top price and this one. It’s $39 or $46 – that’s their lowest price ticket.Would a $39 or $46 ticket motivate a value-conscious patron to try a production they’ve never heard of before? Or, is that price capable of motivating a value-conscious patron to come at all?Our experience tells us: No, it wouldn’t.In this example, the lowest price ticket is reserved for “children.” Why the limitation to children? Having some seats at the every day low price of $19.50 or $23 could drive ADULT patron behavior, and that’s really the goal…..Now what about the difference between prices?
  20. In this example, the difference between the low price and top price is $25 or $23 dollars.If all the $39 or $46 seats were gone, would patrons pay another $25 to see a show?That could be a pretty steep jump, especially when there’s no entry level price.Price differentials can seem more reasonable when there are options. A better strategy is to follow the data to find optimal low, middle and top prices with reasonable differences between them.AND, we’d encourage simplification.
  21. Now, look at all the variables offered:Non-musical. MusicalPrime nights and week nightsMatinees and Wednesday evening discountsAnd…Price plus fees.A better choice is to develop the simplest price table possible ….one that offers clear choices and shows true value to the patron.In short….
  22. To drive patron behavior, a seated event price table must firstprovide clear value options, including an affordable “starting at” low price,offer a top price that consumers regard as locally competitive and worth paying for the seats and program they’re getting,and include mid-level prices at some data-informed sweet spot in between the top and bottom.The patron must see reasonable differences between prices.The jump from the lowest to the middle price should be comfortable for value-conscious patrons, andThe jump from a middle to top price should be perceived as an upgrade…going from good seats or dates to the best.Keep that price table simple.Our experience tells us that all of those variables you think are important adds complexity to ticket-buying. And complexity motivates behavior you don’t want to encourage. Patrons say “no thanks” and walk away.That brings us to Rule number 2.
  23. You get the most from your pricing strategy when you manage (or curate) when and how many tickets go on sale.Whether your tickets represent seats or a time and date of visitation, they represent your “inventory.”Why is this rule important?
  24. YOU decide what to sell , what not sell …. and when to sell it.Inventory – your seats or the times and dates of your exhibits – is your most valuable asset.The key to pricing success is how well YOU are managing and leveraging your inventory. There’s no fancy piece of technology or operational plan that can, by itself, be responsive to sales patterns or unpredictablechanges in patron behavior. Only you can do that.How?
  25. Survey says: Not so much. We asked: How far in advance do you put your most popular events on-sale? Two thirds of you said 2-6 months in advance and another 11% said a month or less in advance. That’s likely too late, especially for events you expect will be your most popular. …. And yes,….we’ve heard all the reasons why you wait, but none of those reasons address the fact that a significant portion of patrons WANT to buy early. They PLAN to buy early. That’s why we advocate launching sales campaigns as early as possible, and being active curators of your ticket inventory from that moment on.Next, let’s look at …
  26. In the new plan, this theatre put on sale… …only rows, AA-H – that’s about 360 seats or half the house. They divided these 360 seats into three price points:- The two front rows - in yellow - were changed to the theatre’s new lowest price.Value-conscious patrons were motivated to sit in seats that used to go empty most of the time.- The middle-level price - in red - was assigned to seats on the edge, where demand had been luke-warm.- And the top price - in purple - was assigned to seats that were the hottest, most likely to sell.So even when this theatre was half-full, it appeared to be well-sold from front-to-back and side-to-side.More often than not, this theatre was better than half sold, and when the first half of the house was substantially full,The next block of 156 seats was released. Since demand for the performance had increased, only the top two price levels were available.When sales neared sell out, the remaining block of 68 seats were released – all at the top price. As sales volume increases, more seats are released.As demand increases, the available price increases.This theatre is following demand, driving patron behavior, and improving its per capita revenue with this sequence of hold and release.The corollary for museums is sequencing that adds visitation availability around your peak times, dates, and seasons. Sequencing works especially well when you sell admission for specific dates and times, but it can work for general visitation as well. Several museums we’ve known actually ADD inventory through more dates or extended hours of operation for their biggest peak demand.
  27. In the new plan, this theatre put on sale… …only rows, AA-H – that’s about 360 seats or half the house. They divided these 360 seats into three price points:- The two front rows - in yellow - were changed to the theatre’s new lowest price.Value-conscious patrons were motivated to sit in seats that used to go empty most of the time.- The middle-level price - in red - was assigned to seats on the edge, where demand had been luke-warm.- And the top price - in purple - was assigned to seats that were the hottest, most likely to sell.So even when this theatre was half-full, it appeared to be well-sold from front-to-back and side-to-side.More often than not, this theatre was better than half sold, and when the first half of the house was substantially full,The next block of 156 seats was released. Since demand for the performance had increased, only the top two price levels were available.When sales neared sell out, the remaining block of 68 seats were released – all at the top price. As sales volume increases, more seats are released.As demand increases, the available price increases.This theatre is following demand, driving patron behavior, and improving its per capita revenue with this sequence of hold and release.The corollary for museums is sequencing that adds visitation availability around your peak times, dates, and seasons. Sequencing works especially well when you sell admission for specific dates and times, but it can work for general visitation as well. Several museums we’ve known actually ADD inventory through more dates or extended hours of operation for their biggest peak demand.
  28. In the new plan, this theatre put on sale… …only rows, AA-H – that’s about 360 seats or half the house. They divided these 360 seats into three price points:- The two front rows - in yellow - were changed to the theatre’s new lowest price.Value-conscious patrons were motivated to sit in seats that used to go empty most of the time.- The middle-level price - in red - was assigned to seats on the edge, where demand had been luke-warm.- And the top price - in purple - was assigned to seats that were the hottest, most likely to sell.So even when this theatre was half-full, it appeared to be well-sold from front-to-back and side-to-side.More often than not, this theatre was better than half sold, and when the first half of the house was substantially full,The next block of 156 seats was released. Since demand for the performance had increased, only the top two price levels were available.When sales neared sell out, the remaining block of 68 seats were released – all at the top price. As sales volume increases, more seats are released.As demand increases, the available price increases.This theatre is following demand, driving patron behavior, and improving its per capita revenue with this sequence of hold and release.The corollary for museums is sequencing that adds visitation availability around your peak times, dates, and seasons. Sequencing works especially well when you sell admission for specific dates and times, but it can work for general visitation as well. Several museums we’ve known actually ADD inventory through more dates or extended hours of operation for their biggest peak demand.
  29. So, how do we mange the practice of curating our inventory? Thisis a practice that involves a whole team of colleagues. You can’t just turn the plan “on’ and watch it go.You need to talk about it as a team. That’s why we advocate Sales Pacing Meetings. These are weekly staff meetings that include representatives from each department that has a role in sales or inventory management – that could include executive leadership, marketing, development, and the ticket office.You bring in sales reports and watch sales progress….the volume of tickets sold…the pace at which tickets are selling…the patterns of how seats or day parts are filling up with ticket purchases. Then you take actions to feed or stimulate demand – through promotional activities, and through the various inventory management practices we’ve just discussed.Every time you follow the data and watch your pacing, you’ll make better decisions that optimize revenue on what your patrons value.And that brings us to today’s 3rd and final rule…
  30. I know pricing strategy isn’t a game or a gamble, but let me poke a little fun here.Nothing beats a full house.We’re talking about a full-lookinghouse…nothing optimizes your strategy more than having your patrons attend with lots of other people.Your house can look full, even when it isn’t. That comes from good inventory management as we’ve just discussed AND a good scale-of-house strategy -- that is, the number and distribution of price sections in a theatre or the assignment of price to days and times of visitation. Your goal is to create full-looking houses, or as we call it: A perception of success. Again….
  31. You know –right now -- which events are going to sell and which aren’t. Your sales history tells you and your internal expertise can corroborate which events will be blockbusters and which will have difficulty finding an audience.So plan for it.Low demand? There’s magic in making it look like you have it…And, that’s where the scale of house plan comes in.
  32. Let’s summarize
  33. Thank you so much for attending.There will be video of the webinar on the TRG website posted in the next week. We will send you an email with the link once it is posted.