Help the topic attract the right audience
Name the speaker, topic and intended audience. Explain what visitors can expect without guaranteeing an outcome you cannot deliver. Publish the start time, duration, venue and opportunity for questions. Use names, photos and materials only with permission. An admission ticket does not automatically provide a licence to presentations or recordings. Before purchase, explain whether the event will be recorded and where visitors can ask questions about the evening and its practical arrangements.
- Distinguish a talk from a workshop or accredited training course.
- Publish travel information and an accessibility contact.
Choose free registration or paid admission
For a free talk, use a zero-price ticket so visitors do not need to complete a payment step. For paid admission, a completed payment provides the basis for ticket issuance. Decide which approach fits your purpose and budget, and make the conditions clear. Free registration is not guaranteed attendance. Allow for that in your welcome plan, but do not issue more admission than the room safely accommodates simply because you expect some people not to attend.
- Check quantities, price and any sales period before publishing.
- Review current platform fees and provider charges for paid admission.
Prepare for a full room and cancellations
Agree capacity with the venue, allowing for the seating layout, equipment and organiser places. Set up a waitlist only when someone will follow up on cancellations. Make the cancellation contact visible, particularly for free events. A waitlist position is not an admission ticket. Offer a place only when it is genuinely available and ask the visitor to complete the agreed registration before treating that person as a confirmed participant rather than an expression of interest.
- State a response deadline for an offered place where applicable.
- Agree who handles questions about sold-out evenings.
Welcome visitors without interrupting the opening
Test the QR code and ask the welcome team to select the correct event. Agree who checks tickets and who helps late arrivals or people without confirmation. A check-in records admission; it is not proof that a person attended the entire lecture or earned a certificate. Keep additional participant communications separate from admission checking, and do not share visitor information with a speaker or partner without an appropriate arrangement and a clear reason for doing so.
- Test the camera and connection before the first arrivals.
- Handle booking questions beside the main entrance.