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Attendee Based vs Ticket Based Event Registration
Attendee Based vs Ticket Based Event Registration
Melisa Smith avatar
Written by Melisa Smith
Updated over 2 years ago

Ready to create a new event? Great! You'll want to consider which of the two Novi registration paths makes the most sense for registration: Attendee Based or Ticket Based.

The registration path determines which order registration steps happen in - are users filling in who's attending first and then choosing tickets for each person, or choosing how many tickets they need first and then assigning people to the tickets?

Attendee Based (Step 1)

Ticket Based (Step 1)

In this article, we'll walk you through the difference and some scenarios of when you might use one over the other.

If you're still unsure which setup is best for your event after reading, test them both out! This setting can easily be changed after tickets are created, so you can walk through either setup and determine which is best for your event and your members.

Let's dive in!


Setting Your Registration Path

First things first... where to update this setting! On each event, in the Settings tab, you'll find the Registration Options section.

From there, you'll be able to mark an event as Attendee Based or Ticket Based.


Attendee Based Registration

In an Attendee Based event registration, registrants choose the attendee(s) first, then select each person's applicable tickets on separate pages specific to each attendee.

Great for scenarios where...

  • You expect most registered attendees to be registered for multiple ticket types or with Product Add-ons specific to each attendee.

- OR -

  • You expect most registrants to only register themselves, regardless of how many ticket types they'll purchase.

    Example:

    • Complex conference with conference ticket(s), optional pre-conference breakfast, optional social hour, etc.

See it in action:

Please Note! When your event is set up as Attendee-Based, the attendee's "Name" field is always required on the Attendee Form in each Ticket's settings.


Ticket Based Registration

In a Ticket Based event registration, registrants first choose how many of each ticket they want, then add each Attendee's details to each ticket type.

Great for scenarios where...

  • You expect most registrants to register two or more people, and you expect each attendee to be assigned to only one or two tickets.


    Example:

    • Simple conference or webinar with one or two ticket types applicable to each attendee.

See it in action:


Updating Text on Attendee and Ticket Selection Pages

Whether you choose attendee-based or ticket-based registration, you can provide users with any additional information or instructions needed on the registration pages.

From the backend, head to your event > Settings tab > Registration Options section. Here you'll find the two sections to customize the content at the top of the attendee step and the ticket(s) step during registration.

You can also edit this content directly on the frontend event page! Navigate to your event, click to register, and once you get to the different steps in the process, you'll see the editable content regions at the top of the page.

Here's an example of where these appear in attendee-based registration:

Attendee page:

Ticket page(s):

Novi tip: Try not to make the content too long, so that the registration steps on the page don't get lost!


Additional Considerations:

  • You can change whether your new events are Ticket Based or Attendee Based by default in Association Settings (on the Events tab). Ticket Based is the default unless you swap the setting.

  • Note that in order to allow users to register other staff members within their organization, the setting to allow this must be checked in in Association Settings (on the Events tab).

    • This setting is ON by default.

    • When enabled, the “Enable Company Signup Protections” must also be enabled. This is to prevent access to private personal information by new, unapproved user accounts when registering staff for events.

  • Your choice in Ticket or Attendee Based registration does not affect what collected registrations look like for you (admins) on the backend.

  • The checkout (third) step is the same with both paths - both allow you to click on the name of an attendee to edit their information before checking out at this step.

  • While our scenarios are recommendations, keep in mind that either setting (Attendee Based or Ticket Based) will offer all the same event and ticket features, it's truly about the registration workflow that makes the most sense for your event and members.

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