Organising an event or an activity with free entry requires mastering certain essential points, just like for events that charge for entry, including attendees present on site, the concentration of people in the queues and in certain areas of the event, and more. This is even more important in the current context of the pandemic. With Weezevent, organisers of free events have access to tried and tested solutions that can be adapted to all types of organisations, be they public — e.g. schools, local authorities, charities, etc. — or private — e.g. companies, sports clubs, theatres, foundations, and so on. Discover them now and learn how to manage your events’ attendee limits and queues.
Summary
1. Manage your attendee limit prior to the event
Create an online registration module
Managing your attendee limit to respect the maximum capacity of an event venue is child’s play for organisers who know in advance how many people are planning to attend their event — whether entry is free or not. To do this, all you need to do is ask future attendees to register online in advance in order to access the event.
This has several advantages for organisers:
- Limiting the number of tickets issued;
- Reducing the queue on site;
- Collecting attendees’ email addresses to keep them informed and build loyalty.
Create your first event in just a few clicks, then integrate your registration module to your website, a mini-site and social networks in order to attract an optimum number of attendees. Then configure a free rate with a quota adapted to your venue’s capacity.
Notes: Weezevent takes no commission on free tickets.
Limit the number of registrations with quotas
When you set up your registration module, there are two types of quotas you can use to limit the number of people who attend your event. Let’s take the example of an event with 100 people:
- Quota of 100 registrations available online
- The maximum attendee limit will not be exceeded, but it’s inevitable that a certain number of people won’t show up at the event. This means that your venue won’t be completely full.
- Quota of 100 registrations available online + option of registering on site
- The maximum attendee limit will not be exceeded, and you can compensate for any attendees who haven’t shown up by offering on-site registration. To do this, communicate about the requirement to register online, but set up an on-site Weezevent box office all the same in case any attendees have missed the information. Contact our advisers to choose the type of box office that best suits your event.
If your event is an all-day event, plan for a quota that’s higher than your attendee limit. You’ll be monitoring the number of attendees coming in and out of your event so you know exactly how many people are in your venue — see part 2.
Track registrations in real time
Track the number of registrations in your module as soon as it’s online. Go to ATTENDEES > Statistics for real-time monitoring of the number of registered attendees and the fill rate of your quota.
Anticipate the number of attendees and prepare your access control plan accordingly, taking into account queues for scanning, the number of access control staff and devices, and so on. You also have the option of using an on-site box office in case registrations have trouble taking off online.
Communicate important information
By collecting registrations, you can retrieve valuable information through the registration form. The most crucial data is email addresses. They allow you to communicate important information to your attendees, including practical information reminders, the health and safety systems in place, instructions to be respected, and so on.
Above all, they allow you to build up a database that you can use for all your future activities. Further down the line, and after your event, segment your attendees with WeezTarget, our CRM specially designed for event organisers.
2. Limit queues on site
Scan tickets at the entrance
Manage attendees’ tickets by choosing a scanning solution that’s adapted to the number of people expected at your event, be it our professional scanning terminals or our free mobile application. With either type of system, you can check the validity of tickets presented in just a few moments and prevent queues from forming.
Tip: Scanning tickets is essential at the entrance to your event, but it can also be needed in certain specific areas — e.g. the catering area, conference room, workshop area, etc. Wherever capacity is limited, you can set up access control. This allows you to manage your attendee limit by area and, above all, find out who’s taken part in which activities. This is useful for building loyalty among attendees!
Scan tickets at the exit
Our solutions also allow you to scan attendees leaving your event, meaning you can find out exactly how many people are actually inside your venue. This is hugely helpful for organisers of day-long events where attendees only stay for a few hours.
Organising a free event deserves just as much preparation as an event that charges for entry. Our solutions can be adapted to these specific aspects and our teams are used to juggling between these different configurations. Prepare your future free event and discover all the features of our solutions for ticketing, access control, cashless payment and CRM by clicking on the button below:
