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Managing Guest Tickets for Live Events.

Andy Robertson

For any event goer getting on the guest list has always carried an element of prestige and something to brag about. In reality the management of guests for any live event is now a major element of almost all event planning and requires the same logistical planning as any other aspect involved in running a successful live event. 


Whilst those in receipt of a complimentary guest ticket for any live event will feel like they have received something for nothing this is rarely the case. The allocation of guest tickets is usually carefully planned and managed and is often the result of an exchange for something else like an artist’s fee package or a larger sponsorship deal package. 

A large-scale music event or music festival will have agreements with multiple parties including artists, contractors, vendors, sponsors and volunteers for example. The event organiser will usually make a pre-determined allocation of guest tickets to each group and this often used as a negotiating tool to obtain reduced fees or increased sponsorship funding.

Event organisers should factor in the number of guest tickets that will be allocated to each interested party plus an allowance for contingencies. An artist may automatically be allocated just four of five guest tickets whereas contractors and vendors may get just one or two. Meanwhile sponsors will be allocated the bulk of guest tickets, possibly in the hundreds depending on their level of sponsorship funding for the event. Typically, artists will never be happy with the number of guest tickets they get allocated so organisers can always offer additional tickets at a reduced price by way of a compromise.

The management of the guest list needs to be efficient and comprehensive to ensure the correct guests are admitted the the event. In days gone by it was not unusual for event goers to turn up and state that their name was on the guest list without any evidence of this, of course the names never matched the list that entrance staff had resulting in refusal of genuine guests and admittance to those not officially on the list. Technology can now help manage the whole process and guest tickets should be recorded in advance with the guest’s name and contact details with pre-event issuance of tickets in a similar manner to standard ticket buyers. Tickets can contain unique bar codes for scanning at the event entrance ensuring that genuine guests are admitted.

Ensuring that a good process is in place for managing guest ticket allocations, recording and issuing to known individuals is the key to successful guest ticket management and event organisers should no longer be using a manual process. 

Using an events software management platform like
FestivalPro festival organisers get all the functionality they need to manage live event guest ticketing. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The FestivalPro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features for managing event ticketing and the guest ticket module makes it easy and straightforward to allocate guest tickets and manage the entire process from planning through to ticket issuance and event entrance control. 

Photo by Wendy Wei from Pexels

Andy Robertson
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