This article will provide a step by step guide for setting up your ticketed events from scratch. The calendar page is part of your PCS subscription, and can be accessed from the 'Ticket Calendar' option in the navbar.
Ticket Calendar
The calendar page for ticketed events is mostly self-contained; everything you need to get started with and manage ticketed events can be found on this page. It provides options for creating ticketed events, filtering available events, and accessing customer orders.
When you first arrive on this page, there won't be any slots available, as you won't have any events created yet. It should look something like this:
Resources
The first step in creating your ticketed event is to create a resource to represent the capacity of the event. This resource is the limit of how many tickets can be sold for a single instance of your event. Resources can be shared between multiple events. Start by clicking 'Resources' from the calendar page, and then select 'Create Resource' on the drawer that appears after.
Important: You must create a resource before creating your ticketed event.
Resources are the limiting factor in how many tickets can be purchased for an event. There are two types of resources, Area and Equipment.
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Area- The primary resource; every ticketed event needs at least an area associated with it. This area can be unique to a single event or can be shared between multiple events. An event can only have one area associated with it at this time.
- EX: If you have a play area that can host up to 50 kids, then you could make a play area resource with a limit of 50.
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Equipment- A secondary, optional resource; multiple pieces of equipment can be assigned to a ticketed event.
- EX: If you have 20 laser tag vests, you can create a vest resource of 20. This will ensure that you don't sell more tickets at a given time than you have vests.
If a resource is completely used up for an event, then tickets for that event can no longer be purchased. When an event concludes, any resources used from that event are automatically freed.
Resources can be shared across multiple events. In this case, events with overlapping times will take resources from the shared pool.
For now, you simply need to give your resource a name, a limit, and choose a type for it. Once that's complete, click 'Create Resource' to make it available for your ticketed events.
When you're done, you should see your resource in this drawer. This will list which events it is associated with, and allow you to edit the characteristics of your resource.
Important: A resource can only be deleted if it is not assigned to any events. You will need to remove your resource from any events if you need to delete it.
Add Event
With your resource created, you can now click 'Add Event' to fill out the information for your ticketed event. There are several steps that need to be completed.
- Event Name- The name for your ticketed event. This name will be displayed on the calendar page and online ticket page.
- Description- An optional description for your event. This will be shown to customers on the online ticket page.
- Active- Controls whether an event is active and whether tickets can be purchased for it. Marking an event as inactive will hide it from the calendar page and online ticket page. Existing orders for this event will still be shown on the calendar, but new tickets will not be available until the event is reactivated.
- Discountable- Controls whether discounts can be applied to tickets sold for this event.
- Display on Invoice- Controls whether tickets sold for this event will show on the customer's invoice. This should almost always be enabled.
The next step is creating the tickets that will be sold for your event. You can create multiple ticket types to sell for your event (EX: Tickets for kids and tickets for adults). Click 'Add Ticket Type' to get started.
Each ticket type will need a name and price. The price is the cost of a single ticket, along with any taxes associated with it (Taxes must first be configured in the Facility Info page if they have not been created yet). You can choose whether a ticket is available for purchase online as well. If a ticket is not available online, it can still be sold through the calendar screen. Click 'Add Ticket Type' when you are finished.
Ticket Redemption
Ticket redemption is an optional feature allows you to keep track of whether individual tickets have been redeemed for an event. With this enabled, each ticket sold for an event has a status of 'Issued' or 'Redeemed'. An issued ticket has been sold, but has not been marked as redeemed. Tickets can be marked as redeemed on individual orders.
There is no functional difference between 'Issued' and 'Redeemed' tickets beyond allowing facilities to keep track of individual statuses for an event.
Online Time Restrictions
This menu lets you control how far in advance tickets can be purchased online. The minimum purchase window lets you set a minimum time before a ticket can be purchased (EX: 24 hours), in the case that you want to prevent customers from purchasing tickets too close to the event date. The maximum purchase window lets you set a maximum time in advance a ticket can be purchased (EX: 30 days) in the case that you want to prevent customers from purchasing tickets too far in advance.
This step is optional.
Calendar Availability
This lets you configure which days and times your event will be available. You can also change the color of the event for how it will appear on your calendar page.
Date Range
If you are creating an event for a specific time period (EX: A seasonal event running from June-August), you can toggle the date range. You can then select the beginning and end months from this section.
Individual Day Configuration
For each day that your event will be available, you can select the individual day from the week menu and toggle 'Available on X-day'. This will allow you to set the start and end time for the event on that particular day.
- Event Cadence- The cadence is the duration of the event. The customer will see the duration on the online ticket page.
- Buffer Time- The buffer time is the additional time between events needed to clean/prepare for new events of the same type.
The event cadence + buffer time = how often your event is available on a particular day. For example, let's say your event has a cadence of 1 hour, and a buffer time of 30 minutes. It starts at 8:00am and ends at 5:00pm. This makes the first event instance available at 8:00am, the next available at 9:30am, the next available at 11:00am and so on until 5:00pm.
You will need to repeat this step for each day your event is available. If a day has a green dot in this menu, then there is some availability on that day.
Apply to All Days
If your event is available on every day of the week with the same hours, you can select 'Apply to All Days' to save time. After that, you simply need to choose a start time and end time, as well as the cadence and buffer time. This will apply the universal schedule to each selected day.
Manage Resources
Now, you'll apply the resources you created earlier to this event. Each event must have at least one area, and any number of equipment is optional.
An event will always be limited by the fewest available resources. If your event has an area with a limit of 50, and an equipment with a limit of 15, then only 15 tickets will be able to be sold for this event.
Click Add Area to assign a resource to this event. Each ticket purchased for this event will consume one of these resources.
Images
You can add and preview images for this event here. Images are recommended for any event that is going to be sold online, as it will add some personality and unique flavor for your event; this is your opportunity to show off any images in the gallery or thumb nail.
This step is optional.
Managing Events
Once you have completed all of the above steps, you can click 'Create Event'. If any step was incomplete, you should receive a notification on which step needs to be completed first. Once your event is created, it will automatically be displayed on your calendar.
If you need to make any changes to your event, you can do so selecting 'Manage Events'. This will let you change details or delete an event that is no longer in use.
For information on using the calendar page, please check this article.
Permission Settings
Now that you have some ticketed events set up, you'll want to configure your user permissions so employees can manage and sell ticketed events. These can be accessed from Admin > Company > User Groups. From there, select your user group > Permissions
Important: All of these permissions are automatically added to the Administrator user group.
Ticket Orders- These permissions pertain to the ability to manage/sell ticket orders.
- Add/Remove Tickets- Allows a user to add or remove tickets from existing ticket orders
- Manage Tickets- Allows the user to update the ticket quantity or time for existing ticket orders
- Reopen Close Ticket Orders- Allows the user to reopen a closed ticket order
- Create Ticket Orders- Allows the user to create new ticket orders. Functionally, this allows users to sell tickets through the calendar page.
- View Ticket Orders and Scan Tickets- Allows the user to see ticket orders and scan tickets. Functionally required for the other permissions to apply.
Ticket Events- These permissions pertain to the ability to manage ticket events
- Create/Edit Events- Allows the user to create, edit, and delete ticketed events
- Create/Edit Resources- Allows the user to create, edit, and delete resources
- Restrict/Unrestrict Availability- Allows the user to restrict availability from the calendar page
- Override Capacity Limit- Ability to lower a resource's capacity limit below its current scheduled usage, causing affected orders to become overbooked
Page Access-
- Ticket Calendar- Allows the user to access the tickets page. Required to create ticket orders/events.
You can read our article on Using the Ticket Calendar page to familiarize yourself with its functionality.