The Event Day Check-In Checklist

The first ten minutes of an event happen at the door. A queue that moves tells guests the rest will be well run; a queue that does not is what they talk about afterwards. Check-in goes wrong for predictable reasons, and nearly all of them can be dealt with before the day.

A week before

• Decide how many entry points you need. One person scanning tickets can only move so fast. If hundreds of guests arrive within the same half hour, plan more than one scanning point.
• Choose who is on the door. Name them, and tell them what time to arrive. It should not be whoever is free.
• Send a reminder to everyone registered. Include the date, the time doors open, the venue and city, and a line telling them to have their ticket ready.
• Check the venue's network. Stand at the entrance with the phone you will use and see whether it has data. If it does not, bring a second network.

Two days before

• Print your attendee list. Export it and print a copy sorted by name. If a phone dies or the network drops, the door keeps moving.
• Print badges if you are using them. Sort them alphabetically by surname, in trays or boxes, so finding one takes seconds.
• Decide the answer to “I am not on the list.” It will happen. Agree in advance who makes the call, so the person scanning does not have to argue.
• Brief exhibitors, vendors and volunteers separately. Give them their own arrival time, earlier than guests, and their own entrance if the venue has one.

The night before

• Charge everything. Phones, power banks, and a spare of each.
• Sign in on every device you will use. Do not discover a forgotten password at the door.
• Do a test scan. Scan your own ticket on each phone and watch it check in.
• Lay out the entrance. One line for people with tickets ready, and one desk to the side for problems. A single guest with an issue should never stop the queue.

On the morning

• Open the door team's check-in page before guests arrive. Have it loaded and ready on each phone.
• Put up a sign that says “Have your ticket QR code ready.” People who have it open on their screen take a few seconds each.
• Start early. Open the door before the advertised time. The first guests are always early, and clearing them first shortens the peak.
• Search by name when a code will not scan. A cracked screen or low brightness can defeat a scanner. Looking the guest up by name or email is quicker than trying again.

For events that run more than one day

Check guests in each day, not once for the whole event. You will know how many people actually came on each day, which matters for catering, for sponsors, and for planning the next one.

Afterwards

• Compare registrations with check-ins. The share who came tells you how many to expect next time from the same number of sign-ups.
• Write down what slowed the door. Do it that evening, while you remember.
• Thank the people who came. A short message the next day, with a link to your next event if you have one.

On TavernCentral every ticket and registration has its own QR code, the check-in page works on any phone, and check-ins are recorded per day. Badge printing is part of the Premium plan.