How Event Ticketing Software Works- From Setup to Check-In

Most large-events need a third-party event ticketing software. There it is. We’re starting out this blog with a cold fact. Not a suggestion, not a nice-to-have add-on but a necessity. Unless your team has the time and technical skills to build a  native event ticketing software for your event, from scratch, then you will need n a ticketing platform to support your operations. And don’t even think about: Well, can I just not manually sell these tickets? 

You can try, sure. But we can promise that it is not going to be smooth in the aftermath. You’ll find yourself picking up the pieces until the day of your event. And even well into your event because one of your attendees has forgotten to print their ticket. As a result of which you now have to go back into your spreadsheet that you had just wrapped up last night. We’re tired even writing this down. 

Selling tickets today is no longer printing physical stubs, managing cash at the door and then hoping for the best. It is no more about praying that your headcount does not exceed your venue’s capacity. It is no more hoping you don’t get in trouble with the authorities because you forgot to document your estimated number of attendees in prior.

Probably because you couldn’t get an estimate yourself either. The good news about this is that those days are largely behind us. The bad news is that some event organizers are still clinging on to these outdated ticketing ways. We hope you are not one of them. Well, if you are then read on. We may have a compelling case for you.

In this guide, we’re walking you through how modern event ticketing softwares like Dryfta work, what organizers need to configure before launch and what happens on event day when 1000s of people are trying to get in at once.

What Event Ticketing Software Actually Does

At its core, event ticketing software is a transaction and access management system. It lets organizers create ticket types, set prices, collect payments and control who enters the venue. But that description understates how much the software actually touches.

A fully featured online ticketing platform manages the entire attendee journey. Someone discovers the event, lands on a registration page, selects a ticket type, completes payment, receives a confirmation email with a QR code and then presents that code at the door on event day. Each of those steps involves a different part of the software stack working together as easy as ABC. 

For event organizers, the platform also serves as a live operations dashboard. It shows you how many tickets have sold, which categories are running low and where buyers are coming from, or even how your actual revenue is tracking against projections you made earlier.

The Configuration Phase of An Event Ticketing Software

The first stage of using any ticketing platform is configuration. This is where organizers define the structure of their event before a single ticket goes on sale.

Creating Ticket Types: Most events need more than one ticket type. A typical conference might offer the following:

• • Early bird pricing
  • Standard registration 
  • VIP passes with additional access

An event ticketing software lets you create all of these tiers simultaneously and at once. You also get to set inventory limits for each of the types and place automatic price changes when a tier sells out. Some capacity controls are integrated at this stage as well. Herein, organizers can cap total attendance, limit specific ticket categories, and set minimum or maximum purchase quantities per transaction. 

Building the Registration Page: The public-facing registration page is often the first branded touchpoint an attendee has with an event. Good ticketing platforms give organizers control over the look and feel of this page, including logo placement, color schemes and custom descriptions for each ticket type. 

Payment Configuration: Payment setup is the most important part of the configuration phase. Most event ticketing software connects to major payment gateways and lets organizers set their currency, tax rates and refund policies before going live. Some platforms hold funds until after the event, while others release them on a rolling basis. 

Going Live and Managing Ticket Sales

Once the configuration is complete, the event goes live, and the sales phase begins. This is where event ticketing platforms earn their keep through automation that would be impossible to manage manually at scale. 

• • Immediately after going live, confirmation emails go out to ticket buyers upon sign-up instantly. 
  • The attendee gets their QR code or digital ticket, a receipt and any event information you set up to include.
  • For larger events, particularly in entertainment, waitlist management is also activated automatically as and when a specific ticket category sells out. Attendees join the waitlist with a single click and receive an automatic notification should spot opens up through a cancellation or when capacity is increased.

The Difference Between Self-Hosted vs. Cloud Event Ticketing Software

One of the most consequential decisions an organizer or institution makes when choosing a platform is if they must use a cloud-hosted service or opt for an event ticketing software self-hosted on their own infrastructure.

• • Cloud-hosted platforms handle all maintenance, security updates and server scaling on the provider’s side. The organizer pays a subscription fee or per-ticket charge and gets a fully managed service in return. This is the right choice for most event teams that want to focus on running events rather than managing software infrastructure.
  • Online event ticketing software with self-hosted deployments gives organizations full control over their data, their branding and their infrastructure. Universities, large nonprofits and government bodies often prefer self-hosted solutions because they can integrate directly with existing IT systems, keep all attendee data within their own network and avoid ongoing per-ticket fees. The trade-off is that self-hosted solutions require internal technical resources for installation, maintenance and security patching.

What Are Open Source Options?

Open source ticketing tools give organizations access to the underlying codebase, meaning they can customize the platform to their exact requirements, add features that proprietary tools do not offer, and avoid vendor lock-in entirely. The honest trade-off with open source is the support model. There is no vendor help desk to call when something breaks at 9 PM the night before your event.

Organizations choosing open source ticketing platforms need either in-house technical capability or a reliable development partner who knows the codebase well. For technically capable teams, the freedom and cost savings are substantial. For teams without that resource, a managed cloud platform is a safer choice.

Check-In Is Where It All Comes Together

It is when your attendees finally check in that all people involved get to see the event ticketing platform in full action. This is the point when the efforts you’ve put into configuration, set-up, and activation will either earn you 5-star reviews or poor credibility. With a well-configured ticketing setup, your attendees will have checked in before they even realize it. It is fast and frictionless and renders your customer service staff useless. 

A poorly configured one, on the other hand, will just have your team working overtime. You’ll be fighting to keep queues in check, making sure attendees’ grievances are heard and resolved and overall build yourself a poor first impression before your event even begins.

Most modern event ticketing platforms have a dedicated check-in app that event staff can use on their smartphones or tablets. Staff can scan each attendee’s QR code and the system will confirm their registration instantly. Sometimes, your staff will not have to involve themselves in the process at all.

For larger events, self-check-in kiosks let attendees scan their own codes and collect their badges without staff assistance. Badge printing integrations then connect to the check-in flow such that when an attendee’s QR code is scanned, their badge will print itself automatically via a printer that is wirelessly connected nearby. 

Picking the Right Event Ticketing Software for Your Events

The right event ticketing software depends on the scale of your events, your technical resources and how much customization your attendee experience requires. Whatever platform you choose, invest the time to configure it properly before going live. The hours spent getting ticket types, pricing rules, registration forms and check-in settings right before launch pay back many times over in a smoother event day for your team and a better experience for every attendee who walks through the door.

Dryfta is an all-in-one event management platform that’s purpose-built to handle every part of the ticketing hassle at your event. While we are a third-party event ticketing platform, our software’s ability to integrate with your in-house website or other tools will make you wonder if it really is. Dryfta’s integration with other tools is tried and tested. We have flexible ticket types, built-in payment processing, customizable registration pages and a powerful check-in app. We invite you to test it yourself too. Visit our website and sign up for a free demonstration today.