On behalf of SUSU I would like to apologise to all of you who encountered problems when trying to purchase tickets for the Graduation Ball 2010 on Monday.
I am pleased to confirm that both dining and non-dining tickets are still available for Thursday 10th June, 2010 from the box office in the Union [opening times Mon-Fri 11am until 3pm] and non-dining are also available from the Box office website, here.
2,400 tickets were available for this year's Graduation Ball which is to be held at Southampton Guildhall over two nights, Wednesday 9th June and Thursday 10th June, 2010. We have to hold the ball over two nights because there is not a venue in Southampton large enough to accommodate an event of this size. We know students would love to have one large event and we are continually striving to secure a venue large enough to give you what you want.
We currently sell dining tickets at the box office in order to arrange seating plans. Non-dining tickets are sold online for the convenience of all. On Monday, we opened the box office at 10am for dining tickets and promised to put the online tickets on sale at 5pm.
Due to the popularity of the event, many people queuing for dining tickets were not able to purchase their first choice, despite having queued for many hours. We decided to sell these few people a non-dining ticket for the night of their choice ahead of the advertised time. Unexpectedly, this sent a message out that non-dining tickets were already on general release — they were not.
When the non-dining tickets went on general release at 5pm, the demand on the box office website was so overwhelming the site couldn't cope with the initial demand.
Tickets are held in an online basket before purchase. So many tickets were held at one point that the event appeared to be sold out. It was not. After a time, the system adjusted and unsold tickets were released from the basket. By then, word was out that the event had sold out, creating rumours and disappointment.
We want to reassure all students, especially final year students, that your Graduation Ball is something we take great care over. We will shortly be announcing the acts and entertainment, so keep an eye on the Grad Ball website for details.
Once again I apologise for the frustration this experience may have generated and I look forward to welcoming you all to the Graduation Ball.
Best wishes
Steve O'Reilly
Union President