Behind the curtains of the theatre… Jen’s first blog

22 March 2012

 Jennifer Potter is one of 500 people who won placements with their chosen charities through the Vodafone World Of Difference Scheme.  She chose to support The Watermill and she’ll  be blogging regularly about her experience.  Keep checking back for future insights into life at The Watermill…

…there’s a lot lurking according to what I’ve uncovered in my first two weeks including Watermini’s, Encore, and the small matter of “Flat-Pat”. More of that later…

I have been throwing myself into volunteering for the last week and observing just what actually does go on behind the curtains of the theatre.  Last night I took on the role of Usher (dressed in black with my official “Usher” badge). I welcomed visitors with my dulcet Yorkshire tones, sold programmes for £2.50 (cheap as chips if you ask me!), helped guests to their seats, tried to think about Health and Safety in the auditorium (gulp), sold ice creams in the interval and breathed in the commentary from guests while they were leisurely hanging in the foyer.  Hilariously, I felt like I’d been thrown in to round three of The Apprentice pushing my honey and stem ginger ice-cream tubs to anyone who caught my cheeky eye contact….!

It’s so important to get up close and personal with your customers, your visitors, your guests, your patrons. It’s only when you hear or experience first-hand what your customers’ experience that you can truly understand where your efforts should be focussed.   “Brilliant performance”, “Isn’t she wonderful”, “Haven’t watched anything so entertaining for a while”….. to recall just a few of the comments I heard as our guests departed in to the chilly spring night.

To read more, click on the link http://worldofdifference.vodafone.co.uk/blogs/jennifer-potter/