There’s an old expression, wisdom whispered by the ancients, and written on a Post-It attached to my computer monitor: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Being prepared is always better than being caught by surprise, even if you have all the resources to help you recover. And that’s every bit as true on the night of your event.
How can you get ready for the big night?
- Make sure you have downloaded Check-In (for iOS and Android) to your devices, you have signed in, and your devices are fully charged.
- Understand how to check guests in and un-check guests (swipe on iOS, tap the checkmark on Android)
- If you want real-time syncing between devices, make sure the venue has strong wifi, or your devices have an active cellular plan and have good reception at the venue.
- Make sure check-in staff is comfortable with the app, and handling questions about guests. What if someone shows up who isn’t on the list? What if someone is on the list, but didn’t confirm their attendance? What if the guest didn’t answer all questions during the registration process?
- Have a back-up plan. Devices get dropped. Batteries get drained. Venue wifi goes kaput. How will you maintain the guest experience if one (or more) of these situations arise?
- After the event, if the devices were not connected to the internet, be sure to connect to wifi, open the app, and let it sync back to Event Farm.
You can learn more about using the Check-In apps before, during, and after an event here.
Check-in is the end of a long journey. And it’s so much fun! Guests are excited to be at your event, and there’s probably some adrenaline running through your team as you make sure the event goes off without a hitch. What’s more fun than excitement and adrenaline?
After the event, and after devices have synced to Event Farm, you can run a Guest List Summary report. This contains contact information for your guests, the Access Type they registered for or were invited to, answer to registration questions, and if they checked in (and the time they checked in) to the event.
Great work. You made it. Tomorrow you can rest. Or, more likely, tomorrow you can start the event cycle all over again.