With any event comes a lot of planning, strategizing, and organizing (see chapters 1 through 6), but in the end it all comes down to what happens on the day-of (by the way, congratulations - your hard work is about to pay off!).
In this chapter, we dig into the most important aspects of the on-site and check-in process, which includes:
Being an event planner on the day-of the event is hard enough. These tips are here to help make the process as easy as possible so you can avoid running to the green room to cry (hey, we've all been there).
Check-in is one of the most crucial parts of an event. Think about it: if your check-in process is quick, seamless, and efficient, your guests will walk in already having had a great experience with your brand.
But if there are hold ups at the door, fumbling around for name badges, or endlessly flipping through guest lists, your guests may walk in flustered, annoyed, or worse – not impressed by your event right off the bat. Let's try to avoid those angry tweets...
While this may sound straightforward, there are a lot of small details to consider when it comes to the door (especially if you’re throwing a big event).
Here are some key questions to think about ahead of time:
If your event doesn't have any different tiers (VIPs, press, etc.), organizing the line at the door can be pretty simple.
Things get a little more complicated once VIPs get involved.
VIP events require an extra level of perfection (after all, it's really them that matter at the end of the day). Our best advice is to have an entirely separate program for your VIPs.
Here are our tips:
Here’s an example of a VIP door set-up that has worked well for our customers (it's best when the VIP line is hidden enough that GA guests won't wander over - trust us, it happens a lot):
Once your boxes of lines are created, think of the flow as a conveyor belt. Have 3 different people working this rotation in shifts with these 3 stages:
Make your VIP event run as smoothly as a duck. Don't know what we mean? Get more expert door tips specifically for your VIP events.
The last thing you want at the door is a long line, angry guests, and a frazzled staff (thank u, next).
Enter: an event check-in app. We know that no event is perfect, but a check-in app helps eliminate or alleviate a lot of the hassle of the check-in process.
Don’t believe us? Here’s why we think every event organizer should use a check-in app:
You can capture walk-ins and last-minute guests. Did someone forget to RSVP but still showed up? You got this. A check-in app allows you to capture on-site registration and even print name badges right then and there.
You’ll never lose data again. Stop sifting through old business cards the next day. Collect data and sync it with your system of record (like your CRM or MAP) in real-time.
Your check-in app can also act as a single point of communication for your team, and you can also alert your guests of any last-minute changes in real-time (more on this below).
Are you a Splash customer? Our Intro to the Splash Host App (iOS) course walks through how to optimize check-in, walk-in registrations, and more.
Are you team Android? Intro to the Splash Host App for Android is also available.
Picture this: you spent hours pre-printing and organizing guest badges for your event, only to realize that when you're actually looking for someone’s badge, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack (the pressure!).
But don’t worry, we’re here to help you avoid that nightmare. With on-site badge printing, you can print someone’s name badge the instant they check-in – no shuffling through piles of badges or awkwardly writing them by hand required.
This gives guests more time to enjoy your event, and you and your team more time to connect with people inside. Win-win?
The behind-the-scenes of your event may feel hectic (spoiler: it definitely will), but you never want your guests to feel like they don’t know what’s going on.
And while we can’t help you prevent a torrential downpour or stop your keynote speaker from unexpectedly getting the flu, we can share some tips to help keep your guests informed.
Here are some of our favorite ways to do it:
Set up information signage or visuals: provide your guests with on-site information right when they walk through the door. Set up signage or TV visuals that remain in the same place and provide relevant information for the event (i.e. a map of the venue or breakout session times) that they can refer back to at any moment.
Send instant updates to their inbox (see example below): need to send your waitlisted guests an email about your event reaching capacity? The easiest and surefire way to do this is to use the Splash Host App and send a text email to guests directly from the app.
An example of sending text emails through the app to update your guests:
You can put Splash’s Host App in Kiosk Mode and let guests register or check themselves in (hint: less door staff required = more time to mingle with guests inside).
Splash's Host App makes check-in easy with one swipe, so you can quickly capture attendance info while automatically syncing your event data across devices and to your CRM in real-time.
We covered putting together your event marketing team (which includes an on-site lead, venue manager, and production manager) in Chapter 3, but what about who to put at the door?
Sure, you may be tempted to put just anyone at your door. But how an attendee, or more importantly, a VIP, interacts with your staff can make or break their experience.
This might sound like the opposite of what you should do, but you need to get the best on your team running the door – whether it’s the director of communications, your best salesperson, or a marketing executive. These are the people who know the VIPs and customers over the outsourced staff.
Just as important as communicating with your guests is communicating with your team. Before your event, think about how you're going to communicate with your event staff on-site. Here are some of our best team communication tips:
Whether it’s with walkie talkies (our least favorite method), in-person syncs, group texts, or Slack (our favorite method), your first priority should always be to decide which communication channel you and your staff will be using on-site.
If there’s a place where you never want to underestimate communication, it’s at the door. You should always, and we mean always, be in contact with the team that’s running the door at your event.
No one likes walking into an event without feeling welcomed. The instant an important guest walks through the door, your sales team should be right by their side, greeting them with their favorite drink.
So, how do you make sure your team knows who’s at your event? Here are three ways we love to do it at Splash:
Set up our Host App to automatically send push notifications the moment your clients, prospects, or VIP guests arrive.
Integrate Splash with Slack, and automatically send customizable, real-time updates on who’s checked in straight to a designated Slack channel (that way you can flag key prospects, and ping account owners).
Integrate Splash with Twilio via Zapier, and send SMS event notifications to your Sales team when guests RSVP to an event (you can map to a specific event or list).
Unfortunately, it happens often – partners, speakers, or sponsors will arrive at your event with no idea where to go, where to set up, or what to do. Before your event, don't forget to provide them with one central point of contact so they can easily communicate with your team on-site.
Want the full rundown on day-of communication best practices? Our Director of Education, Zach, walks through 7 ways to streamline on-site communication with your team and your guests.
Unfortunately, you can’t — it’s impossible to predict problems like bad weather, traffic, talent not showing up, or electrical issues.
The best possible thing to do is to think of everything that could go wrong (this will get easier the more experience you have) and put a contingency plan together. Then, make sure your team knows about it.
Want to make sure you cover your bases? Learn from others' mistakes! Here are the biggest mistakes event planners made in 2018 included forgetting about gratuity, taxes, and printing costs.
Our Intro to Badge Printing course has all the info you need to set up your devices and format and print name badges on the spot.
As event planners, we always want to ensure every guest has an amazing experience. Jeffrey Huang (Sr. Manager, Employee Engagement at Salesforce) shares firsthand tips for making your events inclusive and welcoming to all sexual orientations and gender identities. Check ‘em out here.
