Congratulations! You have created your TicketsCandy account and are now ready to set up your first event. We have created a step-by-step guide for a basic event setup to help you get familiar with our different tools and options.
Step 1: Create an Event #
On the left-hand side of your Organizer Dashboard, there is a menu. Select “My Events.”
In the top right-hand corner of the “My Events” page, click “Create Event.” This will open a new page where you can enter the details for your event.
Event Name #
The Event Name is a critical field that represents the title of your event. This name will be prominently displayed to your customers on your event page, tickets, email confirmations, and all other correspondence.
Enable/Disable Booking Calendar #
Below the Event Name, you will need to choose between “Enable Booking Calendar” and “Disable Booking Calendar” by clicking on the box you would like to select.
- Select “Enable Booking Calendar” – if your event has specific days and time slots people need to buy tickets for. It is ideal for recurring events or when multiple booking options are available.
- Select “Disable Booking Calendar” – when your event occurs on a specific date and within a set timeframe, without the need for multiple booking options.
Event Start Date & Event End Date #
Next, you will need to select the Event Start Date and Event End Date.
For Timed-Entry events (enabled Booking Calendar) #
“Event Start Date” – is the day that the appointment calendar will be available from. All dates before the “Event Start Date” will be hidden.
“Event End Date” – is the last available day in the appointment calendar. All dates after the “Event End Date” will be hidden. If you do not select an end date, the calendar will continuously repeat the daily time slots without an end.
For Open-Entry events (disabled Booking Calendar) #
“Event Start Date” – this is the official start day of your event. It will appear in the event details and on tickets as the event’s starting point. Keep in mind that ticket sales begin as soon as the event is published, regardless of the Event Start Date.
“Event End Date” – this represents the event’s closing date. It is displayed on the event details and tickets and serves as the cutoff for ticket sales. If no Event End Date is set, the event details will show only the Event Start Date with no defined end.
Timezone #
Be sure to select the appropriate Time Zone. The Time Zone plays an important role in ensuring your timeslots begin and end at the correct times as well as that your sales start and end at the correct times.
Venue Information #
Next, you will be asked to give the Venue Name. This is the name of the location where your event will take place. Please be sure to enter the correct Address Details for the event.
The Venue Name and Address will be shown on the event page and are required. You can click on “Enter Address Manually” to enter custom details such as if the event is online.
Organization Information #
Please enter the name of your organization. By default, it will be the primary name on your account. If you would like to add a new organizer, select “Add New Organizer.”
The section will update to allow you to enter the new Organization Name, Organization Email, and Organization Phone number.
If you clicked this button by mistake, you can go back to the default organization by clicking “Choose From Existing Organizer.”
Organizer details are required and will be displayed on your event. The email address will be hidden. However, visitors will be able to communicate via a contact form on the event page that will send messages to the specified email.
Taxes #
If you need to charge taxes for your event, select the check box next to “Do you want to charge taxes?” Then enter the tax rate you would like to charge your customers in the “Tax Rate” box that appears.
Create The Event #
Fill out the fields with the correct information for your event, then click “Create Event” in the bottom-right corner of the page.
Step 2: Create Tickets #
Once your event is created, it will appear as a card on the “My Events” page. Click on the event title or the “Manage Event” button to access the event management panel.
In the event panel, navigate to Items > Tickets to access the tickets page, where you can create and manage your tickets. Click on the “Create Ticket” button in the top-right corner, and a new page will open for you to enter the ticket details.
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Step 3: Create Time Slots #
Time slots are available hours for your customers to book the appointment. You can set an individual number of spaces available per time slot to control capacity and reduce long lines and overcrowding.
To find your time slots and calendar, go to Your First Event > Time Slots.
The “Default Calendar” will automatically be selected since this is your first calendar.
There are two types of time slots you can create: Time Slots (recurring) and Custom Time Slots (custom).
“Time Slots” are recurring events. Creating a time slot for Monday will make those time slots available every Monday. Learn more about Time Slots.
To create time slots, start by picking the day of the week to create time slots for. Each day of the week has the options “Clear” and “Add Timeslots.”
To create time slots, you will select “Add Timeslots.”
A drop-down menu will appear with the option for either “Single” or “Bulk” at the top.
“Single” time slots are used if you want to add a single time slot to the day, or multiple time slots one by one.
“Bulk” time slots allow you to enter multiple time slots for the day at once.
For our example, we are going to use “Bulk.”
Then select the start time of the first time slot of the day. Select the end time of the last time slot of the day. If you want time in between your time slots, select the amount of time (some businesses need time in between time slots to prepare for the next group, if you want 5 minutes or an hour between slots, here is where you can add it). If you don’t want time between, leave the “Time between slots” field empty. Then select the interval the time slots will be generated with and type in the number of spaces. Be sure to click “Add Time Slots” when you are done.
For example, If you want 1-hour time slots from 11 am – 3 pm with no time in between slots and 50 spaces available for each time slot, here is what you should select:
Repeat this for the days of the week you are going to be open.
Then lets create a custom schedule just for one specific day. Learn more about Custom Time Slots.
For example, if you need to change your recurring schedule on Dec 24 only, you would need to go to “Custom Time Slots“, select Dec 24 from the calendar and create a custom slot under it. This will override your regular slots you set up earlier.
Step 4: Check Event Settings #
Each event has its own set of settings attached to it. This is where you can control things like event visibility, taxes, website widget, ticket scanner API, and more. You can get to “Event Settings” by going to Your First Event > Event Settings.
The key information you need to look for here is that under the general tab, “Event Visibility” is set to “Make Event Visible To The Public,” so that people can buy tickets.
You also need to make sure the “Event Start Date” is set to the correct day. “Event Start Date” is the day that the appointment calendar will be available from. All dates before the “Event Start Date” will be hidden.
So, if you want to start selling tickets today, you need to set the “Event Start Date” to today.
Next, check the “Taxes and Fees” tab. If you would need to charge taxes to your customers, select the box “Do you want to charge taxes?” A tax field will appear asking you the tax rate you need to charge. Enter the tax rate into the box.
The “Fees” section lets you change the default “Pass fees on” settings. “Pass fees on” is a standard settings where merchant fees are added on top of the ticket price you set, and are passed on to your attendees, so you would not have to pay them. However, we also give you an ability to change it to “Absorb fees“, where merchant fees will be deducted from your sales at the time of your payout.
Step 5: Add Ticketing Widget To Your Website #
You will need to install the ticketing widget into your website for the customers to buy tickets from. You can find your widget code under the Your First Event > Event Settings > Website Widget tab.
Just copy the code and paste it into the section of your website where you’d like the widget to appear. Please make sure you paste the whole piece of the code. If you are using a website builder, add the widget code with a custom code or HTML code module.
Learn more about adding the ticketing widget to different website builders.
Step 6: Activate The Ticket Scanner App #
All customers receive an automatic email after they purchase tickets containing their ticket QR codes. This QR code is what you can use to easily check them into the event. To scan the QR code, you will need to download our iOS app and activate it with the API key you find in Your First Event > Event Settings > Ticket Scanner.
Step 7: Connect Merchant Account #
The last step is to connect your merchant account, so people could start purchasing tickets live.
On your Organizer dashboard, go to Payments and click the blue button that says, “Connect Square.”’
This will bring you to a sign-in page. If you have an account with Square, input your email and password. If you are new to Square, click “sign up” and fill out the form.
Once signed in, you will be brought to a page that says, “TicketsCandy wants to access your Square account.” Click the “Allow” button in the bottom right corner.
Finally, select your location from the dropdown menu and click “Save.”
Learn more about payment processing.
Once your account is connected to Square and the widget is installed on your website, you will be able to start selling tickets right away.
