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    Check-in

    Check-inThe on-site process when a person arrives at your event: confirming their ticket and handing over their badge and any items they ordered. Check-in is the in-person counterpart to registration. is what happens when an attendee arrives at your event. An operatorA staff member or volunteer running a station on the day. Operators usually sign in with a temporary session rather than a full admin account, and only see the tools their station needs. finds the attendee, confirms who they are, hands over anything they ordered, and marks them as arrived. This page explains the parts of check-in and points you to how to set each one up.

    What always happens

    Section titled “What always happens”

    Every check-in follows the same core path, whether you run it from a single laptop or across a room of desks:

    1. Look up the attendee. The operator scans the attendee’s ticket code or searches by name, email, or badge name.
    2. Confirm or update their details. The operator checks the attendee’s details on screen and corrects anything that has changed.
    3. Check what they ordered. The screen shows any items the attendee is due, such as merch, so nothing is missed.
    4. Check them in. The operator marks the attendee as arrived.

    You can run this core path with nothing to set up: check-in works in a web browser out of the box. See Set up check-in.

    What you can add

    Section titled “What you can add”

    Everything below is optional. Add only the parts your event needs.

    • Check-in questions. QuestionsA single prompt with an answer of a chosen kind: a text box, a number, a checkbox, a dropdown, a date, and more. Questions are a shared building block used across EventDrake, for example on registration forms and at check-in. Each question has an input type (how it is answered) and a render type (how the saved answer is shown). the operator answers for each attendee. Use them to record information (an ID number, a wristband colour) or to force a step to happen (a required “Checked ID” box). See Check-in questions.
    • Badges. A printed badgeThe credential a ticket-holder receives at check-in, used to identify them at your event. A badge can be a printed card, a sticker, a wristband, or another format you choose. The "badge name" is the name shown on it. for each attendee. There are three common approaches, and you can combine them: printed in advance, printed automatically at check-in, or printed on demand by the operator. Separately, if you print a barcode or QR code on the badge, an operator can scan it at handover to confirm the right badge went to the right person. That is especially useful for pre-printed badges, where attendees with similar names are easy to mix up. See Badge printing.
    • NFC. Writing an attendee’s details onto an NFCA short-range wireless chip that can be built into a badge and read by tapping it on a reader. EventDrake can write an attendee's details onto the chip during check-in. What gets written is set by an NFC template. chip inside the badge as they check in. See NFC badges.
    • Queues. Sorting attendees into queuesA named group that tickets are placed in so you can direct people to the right check-in desk, for example General, Priority, or Escalation. A queue is a label and a grouping, not a physical line: you decide which tickets go in it and which desks work from it. A ticket can be moved between queues by a rule or by an operator. so you can send each group to the right desk. See Check-in queues.
    • Merch pickup. Handing over ordered merch when an attendee arrives. This can be a dedicated table that prints a picklistA printed list of the merch an attendee has ordered, used at the merch table to gather and hand over the right items. A picklist can print automatically when an attendee is sent to the merch queue. for each attendee, or, at a smaller event, handled from the same desk by reading each attendee’s items off the screen. See Merch pickup.

    Where each part is set up

    Section titled “Where each part is set up”

    Check-in spans a few areas of the admin. Here is where each piece lives:

    Operations → Station Profiles

    Define each kind of desk: a standard check-in desk, a priority desk, an escalation desk, a merch table.

    Operations → Check-In Questions

    Define the questions operators answer for each attendee.

    Registration → Queues

    Create queues and the rules that decide which attendees go in them.

    Registration → Badge Templates, NFC Templates

    Design what prints on a badge and what gets written to an NFC chip. Covered in their own pages.

    IoT → Devices

    Register the terminalsA physical device running EventDrake's on-site software, such as a check-in tablet or a countertop unit. A terminal can have hardware attached, for example a badge printer, a receipt printer, or an NFC reader. Terminals are registered once, then paired to a station at the start of a shift. used at each desk and enable their printers and readers.

    Registering hardware (terminals, badge printers, print servers, NFC readers, receipt printers, scanners) and getting it working is covered in Physical Hardware.

    From simplest to fullest

    Section titled “From simplest to fullest”

    Start small and add as you need to:

    • Simplest. Nothing to set up. Open check-in in a browser and start looking people up and checking them in.
    • No dedicated hardware. You can still use some features without terminals or printers: an operator can print a badge by hand when one is needed, and NFC badges can be written from a mobile browser on a supported phone.
    • Add badge and NFC hardware. Attach a badge printer and an NFC reader to a terminal to print and encode automatically.
    • Add queues. Route priority, general, and escalation attendees to different desks.
    • Add merch pickup. Hand over ordered goods at the desk, or run a dedicated table.

    Next steps

    Section titled “Next steps”