Event organizers can leverage Time Slot Ticketing to not only increase revenue but also enhance safety protocols during COVID-19 or other health-related restrictions. Even if you believe that COVID-19 capacity restrictions will no longer apply by the time your event takes place, it’s still a wise idea to have this as a Plan B to manage crowds effectively.
What is Time Slot Ticketing?
Is a system where events are divided into specific time blocks or sessions, allowing attendees to select and purchase a ticket for a designated time slot. This approach helps you manage crowd flow, maintain social distancing, and maximize event revenue.
Instead of an all-day event with attendees coming and going at any time allows you to “sell out” your event’s maximum capacity multiple times throughout the day. For example, rather than everyone arriving at once, families may arrive early, while millennials or party-goers may arrive later. By offering time slots, you can better accommodate these different attendee groups.
Why Should You Consider Time Slot Ticketing?
While COVID-19 remains a driving force for many event organizers to adopt this, it’s a great option for any event aiming to increase capacity while ensuring safety and optimal revenue. If your state enforces capacity limits to encourage social distancing it can help you make the most of reduced attendance numbers.
For example, if your event can only sell 50% of its usual capacity, Time Slot Ticketing can allow you to sell tickets for multiple sessions, increasing overall ticket sales and helping cover base costs even with restrictions.
Example: How Time Slot Ticketing Can Maximize Revenue
Imagine you’re organizing a Brew Festival with a pre-COVID venue capacity of 5,000 people. Due to government restrictions, your state mandates that you limit capacity by 50%, reducing the maximum attendance to 2,500 people.
In the past, your event started at 11:00 AM and ended at midnight, with attendees free to come and go as they please. With Time Slot Ticketing, you can divide the day into three time slots:
- Ticket Tier #1: 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM
- Ticket Tier #2: 3:45 PM – 7:45 PM
- Ticket Tier #3: 8:30 PM – 12:00 AM
Now, you can sell out each time slot with 2,500 attendees, and instead of being limited to selling only 2,500 tickets, you can sell 7,500 tickets in total—ultimately increasing your revenue by 50% this year.
Top Tips for Using Time Slot Ticketing Effectively
- Allow Adequate Time Between Sessions: Ensure you leave enough time between time slots for cleaning, sanitizing, and ensuring that all attendees leave the event before the next group enters.
- Handling Open-Air Events: If your event is not fully enclosed, distribute colored wristbands to each attendee based on their ticketed time slot. This helps security easily spot attendees who remain past their designated time and reminds them to exit the venue.
- Dynamic Pricing for Popular Time Slots: Maximize revenue by pricing the most desirable time slots at a premium. For instance, the 8:30 PM – 12:00 AM slot may sell out faster, so increase the price for that slot by $5 or $10. Conversely, you can offer a discount for less popular times, like the morning session.
- Allow for Multiple Time Slot Tickets: Dedicated fans may want to attend multiple time slots throughout the day. Allow them to purchase tickets for different slots, ensuring that attendees can still enjoy the event for as long as they want.
- Expand Your Event to Maximize Capacity: Some event organizers are taking advantage of Time Slot Ticketing by adding an extra event day to increase capacity and provide attendees with more options to buy tickets.
Choosing the Right Ticketing Platform for Time Slot Ticketing
Selecting a ticketing platform that seamlessly supports Time Slot Ticketing is crucial for a smooth event experience. If your chosen platform is not intuitive or user-friendly, it could frustrate attendees and lead to lost ticket sales.
Fortunately, Afton Tickets provides the perfect solution for Time Slot Ticketing. With features like grouped events and an easy-to-use interface, Afton Tickets lets attendees select the exact date and time slot for multi-day events, ensuring a hassle-free experience for both event organizers and guests.
Attendees then can see the Ticket Tiers and time slots for that specific day. With our system, you can clearly explain in the Ticket Tier name and Ticket Tier Description itself how time slot ticketing works so attendees know when to arrive.
Our laser scanners have custom valid-scan in dates/times so that the system knows when someone brings a ticket from the wrong time slot. You can then choose to turn them away so they can come back during their original time slot, or if ever needed you can override scan to make an exception and let them in.
Interested in scheduling a Demo of the Afton Tickets platform and to gain more insight into how Time Slot Ticketing can work for you? If so, Click Here to Book a Demo.
Time to Start Planning!
We hope you can integrate Time Slot Ticketing into your events for 2021 and beyond. Even after events resume as normal with full capacity, Time Slot Ticketing is a great way to maximize your revenues if your event ever “sells out” too easily and you want to be able to sell more tickets throughout the day.
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Meet Ryan Kintz, the visionary CEO behind Afton Tickets, Afton LiveStream, and Afton Shows. With a rich background in event organization, concert promotion, and entrepreneurial ventures, Ryan is a prominent figure in the entertainment industry.
Afton Tickets: Elevating Event Experiences
As the co-founder and CEO of Afton Tickets, Ryan serves a diverse clientele, including fairs, festivals, beer/wine/food events, and concerts of various scales, from 500 to 100,000+ attendees. His commitment to excellence shines through, providing tailored ticketing solutions that enhance event experiences and streamline ticket sales.