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You probably work at a non-profit organization. And you are planning to organize a charity event to raise funds for the cause.
As a responsible event organizer, you want to ensure that the event is organized smoothly and seamlessly. To do that, you will have to provide a hassle-free experience for the attendees.
To begin, you need to ensure that the guests get entry to the charity event only after secure verification of their tickets.
In addition to secure verification, you'd also want to validate the entries fast to ensure no queues at the entry gate.
And to do all that, you're looking for a smart and fast solution. This is where an online ticketing system can help you out.
It serves two purposes. First, it will help you create, manage, and design event tickets online. Second, it will save a lot of your time, money, and effort.
In this article, we'll explain online ticketing. And not just ticket generation and design, we'll also discuss how these tickets can do much more for you. Keep reading.
A. Traditional ticketing system
As the name suggests, the traditional ticketing system is designing, adding details, and downloading tickets separately. And if you want to create tickets for your event the same way, here's how you can do it:
1. Select the design
First, you'd have to select an appropriate design for your ticket. To do it, you can use any online software tools such as Canva, Adobe Photoshop, or Illustrator.
For this step, you can either hire a professional. But that would weigh quite heavy on your pocket. So, if you have budget constraints, consider doing it yourself. And trust us, you can do it yourself in a matter of minutes.
2. Add details
Once you have finalized the design, you'll have to add relevant details to the tickets. These could include event time, location, guest name, seat number, and other details.
3. Download tickets
Now that your tickets are ready, you need to download them in any format such as PDF, PNG, SVG, or EPS.
4. Distribute tickets
Once downloaded, it is your responsibility to distribute the tickets to your guests. You can do it via e-mail or by delivering the printed tickets to the guests' doorstep.
The traditional method is quite tedious and time-consuming. And what you get at the end is a generic ticket with no major benefits.
This system, in fact, has many challenges:
- Unauthorized entries: Unauthorized entries are a common problem faced by every event organizer from time to time. And you wouldn't want such a nuisance in your event. That's because it not puts your charity event at security risk but also harms your event's reputation
Hence, you need to make sure that no unauthorized entries are granted to the charity event. - A secure and fast check-in: Since you are organizing a charity event, you'd want to ensure a fast check-in. But traditional tickets require plenty of time as one has to manually verify the ticket details. This can deteriorate your attendees' experience
- Analytics: Traditional methods have no means to offer analytics. These include event attendance, peak time, and the number of tickets validated per coordinator
And for an event organizer, they are very crucial as they allow him to plan future events more effectively.
However, don't worry. An online ticketing system can solve these problems for you.
In the next section, we will detail online ticketing for charity events.
B. Online Ticketing a brief
As the name suggests, online ticketing helps create entry tickets for guests online.
While you may wonder that validating each guest will take a lot of time, that's not true! You will be able to do that for each guest in less than 2 seconds.
And the best part is that all of this will be done while ensuring secure check-in.
The foremost step in this process is to find suitable online ticketing software for charity and other events. Here are some factors that you can consider while selecting one:
1. Fast ticket generation
Since it's a charity event, the headcount may range from hundreds to thousands. So, you will need an online service provider that allows you to generate all the tickets in bulk.
In addition to this, it should also allow you to add unique information to them. For example, the guest's name or seat number.
Once generated, you need to share tickets with your guests. Ensure that your online ticketing for charity events allows you to distribute these tickets via both digital (email or SMS) and print channels (PDF).
One such provider is the Ticket Generator. It offers all these features. Moreover, every ticket generated via Ticket Generator comes with a unique QR Code. This QR Code adds strength and security. Let's talk more about it:
2. Strengthened security
You probably don't want any unauthorized people at your charity event. And to ensure that, you need a safe and secure validation process.
Here, a QR Code-based ticket can help you out. These tickets are impossible to duplicate.
Each QR Code comes with a unique ID. As the event coordinator scans it, he will see the ticket status valid, invalid, or duplicate.
3. Quick turnaround time
You know how manual verification of each charity event ticket can take a lot of time. This can lead to long queues at the entry gate. This can make guests lose precious time too.
So, you'd want an online ticketing system that offers easy and quick ticket validation.
Here, Ticket Generator can help you out. This tool allows you to generate QR Code-based tickets in a matter of minutes. And the best part is that they come alive within seconds of you holding your phone over them.
Hence, you don't need to worry about long queues at entry.
Moreover, it allows you to appoint multiple coordinators to ramp up the validation process even further.
4. Assistance in case of emergency
Say you have some guests waiting outside your charity event and you to start validating the tickets. But you somehow face some technical errors.
In that case, you should be able to contact customer service. And they should be able to assist you there and then.
That's right. A good online ticketing system should offer you the same 24/7 in case of any issues or problems. It could be via email, call, or both.
5. Analytics
Analytical data is a valuable asset. It provides valuable information about your event and its attendees.
This could include attendance, the total number of new, used, expired, invalid, duplicate tickets, and tickets validated per coordinator.
C. How to create event tickets
You now know why it makes sense to use online ticketing for charity events. Let's see how you can use one to create event tickets for your event.
Using Ticket Generator, here's how you can do it:
1. Create an Event
a. Go to Ticket Generator and sign up for an account
Here, you don't have to submit any credit card details. And once you're done, you'll get the first ten credits for free. Each credit will help you create one ticket
b. Now, click on Create New Event option.
c. Add event-related information such as event name, date, description, venue, and time. Once you're done, click on Create.
Once you've entered all the details, click Create.
2. Design tickets
d. The next step is to add designs to the tickets. Here, you can either go with the Upload Own Design option or select a pre-designed template from a number of templates. Ticket Generator offers option to design the tickets from scratch as well.
Upload Own Design: This option allows you to design your ticket using your own ready-made design template.
With this option, you can superimpose the QR Code and unique ID on the ticket.
Moreover, it also allows you to add variable information (which would be different for each ticket) by clicking on the + button. It could be the guest's name, row number, seat number, etc.
Here's an example of a ticket created using a readymade template:
Edit Design: Here, you can use the Ticket Generator's standard design to create tickets from the scratch. It gives you the option to add a logo, change the background color, or add a background image to your ticket.
Once you've designed your tickets, click on Preview to see how your ticket design looks.
Choose from templates: If you don't want to design the entire ticket but you still want to give it a fancy look, this option is right for you. Simply click on Choose from templates option to access this feature.
e. Once clicked, you will see a number of pre designed templates to choose from. To select a template click on Select Template button right below the chosen template and that's it, your ticket, with all the information, will turn into a designer ticket.
Once you're through with designing, click on Preview to see how your ticket design looks.
3. Delivery method
e. After finalizing the design, click on Done. Now, specify the Delivery method. This means you need to select a way to distribute your tickets to your guests. You'll see the subsequent four options to choose from:
i. Generate form link
This option allows you to create a mobile landing page to get event registrations. You can customize it by adding images, event description, form fields, and even customize the button text
ii. Generate and download
Here, you can generate and download the tickets in a printable format (PDF). This is often the most common method of delivering tickets to guests.
iii. Generate and send
In this option, you will further see three options to choose from:
a. Send tickets by email only: This feature allows you to email the tickets (up to 1,000) to the guests. To do it, you only must upload a file containing the emails in CSV, XLS, or XLSX format. Or you can even manually type the emails in the given fields
b. Send tickets by SMS only: In this option, you can send tickets to your guests via SMS (up to 1,000 phone numbers)
c. Send tickets by both email and SMS: Here, you'll be able to send tickets both by SMS and email to your guests
iv. Generate via API
Ticket Generator API can be integrated with your own registration system. Once done, you can generate event tickets programmatically in real time.
f. Once you specify all the details, click on Generate
All the tickets will be generated and you'll be notified via email. This way, you can use an online ticketing system to generate tickets for your charity events.
Now is the time for you to know how to validate these tickets on the day of the event.
D. Validating the tickets
Here's how you can authorize guests' entries at charity events:
1. First, download the Ticket Validator app from the App Store or Play Store
2. After you install the app, log in using your credentials
3. Now, select the event you want the validate the entries for
4. Now click on the Scan QR Code button
That's it. You can now start scanning the tickets.
Note: you can also add various coordinators to help you speed up the validation. To do it, you simply have to follow these simple steps:
1. Go to Ticket Generator and click on the Manage Event section from the dashboard
2. Select the specified event and click on three horizontal dots under the More option
3. Now click on Add/Edit Coordinator
Here, you'll be able to specify the e-mail address of every coordinator. The coordinators will then receive an email invitation. Using this, they'll log in to the Ticket Validator app on their phones and begin validating tickets.
That's it. You now know everything about how online ticketing can benefit charity events. From creating charity event tickets to validating entries, it's an easy and effective tool for all your needs.
