ROH to discontinue its booking "leaflets"

[Orlandau]

I just had a letter this morning from the ROH telling me that they will no longer be producing what they call the Information leaflet and I think of as the rather attractive information booklet.

 

Apparently they are trying to cut down on paper usage and postage costs and are encouraging people to use their website for the booking information. I shall miss the booklets as I've been collecting them for a long while now, they're beautifully produced and full of marvellous photographs, I suppose they're like my little ROH archive of performances!

 

Having the information online is not the same - I can't keep it and I certainly wouldn't be able to look back on it in say 10 years time.

 

There is of course the ROH Collections website, which I do enjoy perusing.  If only they would update it on a more regular basis, as far as I'm aware nothing appears to have been added for at least the past 5 years or so!

 

 

[MAB]

Hurray!!!!!!!!!

 

The single sheet that opened out with opera in black and ballet in red was ideal for design and convenience.  How the ROH got away with such extravagant waste of paper in an ecologically minded society is beyond me.  Still, it was only the public's money to squander.

[alison]

6 hours ago, Orlandau said:

I just had a letter this morning from the ROH telling me that they will no longer be producing what they call the Information leaflet and I think of as the rather attractive information booklet.

 

Apparently they are trying to cut down on paper usage and postage costs and are encouraging people to use their website for the booking information. 

 

Yes, but the trouble is that you can't write all over a website   I admit that it could be heavily cut down on, but I think that something is still needed.  Will anybody ever learn that not everybody is plugged into the internet 24/7?  Not to mention that the last time I used the ROH website for public booking because they hadn't sent me a copy I missed out on lots of the MacMillanfest events because the filter had filtered them out ...

[Coated]

I wish other arts organisation would ditch their printed brochures as well (sorry Alison), the amount of stuff that goes straight from my letterbox to recycling is ridiculous at times. 

 

Perhaps they hey could provide a PDF brochure for home printing for people who prefer paper.

[bangorballetboy]

7 hours ago, Coated said:

Perhaps they hey could provide a PDF brochure for home printing for people who prefer paper.

 

Something the Barbican gets right (so far as the classical music season is concerned).

[bridiem]

7 hours ago, Coated said:

I wish other arts organisation would ditch their printed brochures as well (sorry Alison), the amount of stuff that goes straight from my letterbox to recycling is ridiculous at times. 

 

Perhaps they hey could provide a PDF brochure for home printing for people who prefer paper.

 

I would prefer it to be possible to choose - if you don't want printed brochures, it should be possible to opt out of receiving them; if you do, it should be possible to receive them (with possibly a small charge involved towards printing and postage). I think these brochures used to be known as 'throw-aways'; actually, they're a very useful and attractive record of activity. (Not that I receive or keep them myself, nowadays - I don't have the space.)

[alison]

22 hours ago, Coated said:

I wish other arts organisation would ditch their printed brochures as well (sorry Alison), the amount of stuff that goes straight from my letterbox to recycling is ridiculous at times. 

 

Can't you just unsubscribe from their mailing lists, Coated?  I've done that.  I spend so much time in front of a screen that it's nice to have something which isn't electronic, and frankly, I know the information is online, but I rarely bother to actually look or read it (look at all those unread Sadler's Wells emails in my inbox, for example) - and in the case of that useless flyer that SW produce (not nearly enough pricing or content info), I don't bother using it to book with because it doesn't contain the information I need.

 

I think I'm going to move all this into a separate thread, as it's clogging up the Spring casting thread now.

[alison]

Done.  Follows on from this thread:

 

[alison]

Having had a look at the Spring "leaflet" (how anything that big and hefty can be a leaflet, I don't know!), I reckon 50% of it could easily be filleted out by cutting down adverts, restricting the production information to only those programmes which are specifically put on sale during the relevant period, and so on.

 

Orlandau is right, though: they do prove a valuable historical resource in terms of RB members, pricing and seating bands which can't be deleted, unlike everything on the website.

[bridiem]

11 hours ago, alison said:

Having had a look at the Spring "leaflet" (how anything that big and hefty can be a leaflet, I don't know!), I reckon 50% of it could easily be filleted out by cutting down adverts, restricting the production information to only those programmes which are specifically put on sale during the relevant period, and so on.

 

 

I suppose the problem with cutting down adverts is that they provide income for/towards the cost of the 'leaflet'.