Why check-in matters beyond the door
Check-in does two jobs. On the day, it lets the right people in quickly. Afterwards, it's your attendance record: who came, who didn't, and so who should get the "thanks for coming" email and who should get the "sorry we missed you" one. A check-in you skip because the queue got long costs you the follow-up too.
At a tournament or a game night it has a third job: the players who checked in are the ones you pair, so a late check-in can change the number of rounds or the bracket. Close tournament check-in a few minutes before the first round, and announce when.
The process, step by step
- Before: every registrant gets a ticket with a QR code, in the confirmation email and again in the day-before reminder. A wallet pass is a bonus.
- At the door: a volunteer scans the code with a phone. A green screen and the person's name means in. Anything else goes to a second person at a help desk, so the line keeps moving.
- No ticket: search by name or email and check them in by hand.
- Walk-ins: add them at the door with a name and email, so they're on the list for the follow-up.
- Badges: hand out pre-printed ones, or print each one as the person is checked in.
- After: the attendance list goes to your follow-up and your reports.
QR codes: what the ticket should be
A ticket QR code should open nothing private. If someone photographs a badge or forwards a confirmation, the code shouldn't let them see or change that person's registration. The safest design is a signed code: it carries an id and a signature the check-in app can verify, and on its own does nothing but show that it's a ticket. Also, a code made up by guessing should fail.
Mainstream platforms work this way. Luma, for example, puts the same ticket QR code in the confirmation email, on the event page and in an Apple or Google Wallet pass, and notes that hosts must scan with Luma's own scanner because a phone's camera app won't check guests in. It also offers an Express Mode that checks people in as soon as their code is scanned, and manual check-in by searching the guest list.
How many people at the door?
Arrivals bunch up around the start time, not evenly across the doors-open period. Plan for that peak, not the average. A rough way to size it: time how long one scan takes your volunteers on a test run (a few seconds when the ticket is ready, much longer when someone hunts for an email), and work out how many scanners you'd need to let your expected crowd in within about 15 minutes. Add one person who does nothing but solve problems: forgotten tickets, wrong names, walk-ins.
- Two lines, not one, as soon as there's any queue: "ticket ready" and "everything else".
- A sign at the entrance saying "have your ticket ready", with a QR code that opens their confirmation email search, or a short link to their ticket page.
- Charge the phones and bring a power bank. A scanner at 5% is a scanner you don't have.
Volunteer access without sharing your login
Volunteers need the door, not your account. Use a check-in link or a staff role that only opens check-in for one event, expires after the event, and can be revoked if a phone goes missing. It should show what the door needs (names, and enough of an email to tell two people apart) and nothing more.
Some tools charge for this: Luma's check-in staff need Luma Plus, for example. Check before the day, not at the door.
Self check-in kiosks
For a large event, a tablet on a stand where people scan their own ticket takes pressure off the desk. Two rules make a kiosk safe in strangers' hands. It should never show the guest list. And it should give the same answer ("please see the desk") to everything that isn't a clean check-in, so nobody can use it to find out who's registered. Typing an email at a kiosk is a weak check, since anyone can type anyone's address, so keep it off unless you need it, and don't print a badge from a typed email.
When the Wi-Fi drops
Venue Wi-Fi often fails at the moment the room fills. Plan for it:
- Use a check-in app that queues scans on the phone and sends them when the connection returns, so the line doesn't stop.
- Load the list on each phone before the doors open.
- Bring a mobile hotspot that isn't on the venue's network.
- Keep a printed list as the last resort, and mark it by hand.
Badges at check-in
If you print badges as people arrive, each one is for someone who actually came, and there's no table of unclaimed badges to search. You need a thermal label printer and a laptop or phone at the desk. If you pre-print, sort badges by last name and put the most common initials at separate spots. Our guide to name badge sizes covers the stock.
A checklist for the day
- Tickets sent in the day-before reminder, with the code near the top.
- A test scan of a real ticket on every phone that will scan.
- Volunteer links made, tested and sent, with an expiry after the event.
- Phones charged, a power bank, a hotspot.
- A help desk for problems and walk-ins, with blank badges and a pen.
- Signs: "have your ticket ready", and which line is which.
- Someone who knows the capacity, and what to do when the room is full.
Doing this in Programmable Talk
Each registrant's ticket is a signed QR code, in their confirmation and on their page, and in Apple or Google Wallet where that's set up; on its own the code opens nothing private. Scan it from the Check-in tab, search by name, add walk-ins or let in someone waiting. Give volunteers a door-only link that lasts from 12 hours to a week, works without an account and can be revoked, or put one in kiosk mode for self check-in, which never shows the list. If the Wi-Fi drops, check-ins queue on the phone and send in order when it's back. Badges print one at a time on a thermal printer as people come in, or as sheets beforehand. Attendance then feeds the follow-up. See name badges and check-in.