Running a trivia night, a ball, a careers evening or a weekly meetup for a uni club is mostly about getting people through the door. The tickets should be the easy part. Here is how most clubs and societies set it up, and the questions to settle before you pick a tool.
1. Ask your student guild or association first
Before you choose a platform, check two things with your student guild, union or association:
- Does it have an official ticketing system or approval process? Some universities want events listed or approved through them, even when you sell tickets elsewhere.
- Where does the money have to go? Many guilds require club income to be paid into the club’s own account, or to go through the guild. Ask which bank account details you are allowed to give a payment provider.
Getting this right at the start saves you from refunding a whole event later.
2. Decide what kind of event it is
| Kind of event | What you need | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| A free talk, meeting or info session | A free ticket for each person | Ticket numbers help with room capacity and catering |
| A low-cost social night | One paid ticket type, or free with a limit | Set a capacity so you don’t oversell the venue |
| A ball, formal or trip | Several ticket types, such as member and general | Different prices for different people |
| A weekly or term-long group | A repeating event | Sessions are made for you instead of re-creating the page each week |
3. Member and general ticket types
Most club events have two prices: a lower one for members and a full one for everyone else. There are three common ways to handle it:
- Two ticket types. Create a member ticket and a general ticket with different prices, and say clearly on the event page who the member price is for.
- A hidden member ticket. Some ticketing tools let you hide a ticket type behind an access code. You share the code in your members' group chat or newsletter, and only people who enter the code on the event page can see that ticket. One Ticket supports this: give a ticket type an access code, and share the code with members.
- A promo code. A discount code for members, shared the same way, works if you would rather keep one ticket type on the page.
If student status matters, say what you will check at the door, such as a student card. A tool can’t confirm who someone is for you, so plan the check yourself.
4. Taking payments
For a paid event you need a way to take card payments. With One Ticket, paid tickets are paid through Stripe, which pays out to the account you connect, and setting up the event itself is free. Free tickets carry no booking fee. On paid tickets the buyer pays a small booking fee on top of the ticket price, so the price you set is what your club receives. Check the pricing page before you set your prices, and check with your guild that the connected account is allowed.
5. Spread the word
A clear event page gets shared more than a photo of a poster. Put these on it: the name, the date and time, the venue, the price for each type of ticket and who each is for, and one person to contact. Then post the link where your members already are:
- the club’s social pages and group chats
- your newsletter and the guild’s event listings
- lecture shout-outs and stalls on campus
- the faculty or school’s student noticeboards
6. On the night
- Tickets arrive by email with a QR code. People can show the code on their phone.
- Check people in with a phone. Whoever is on the door scans each QR code. A volunteer can have their own check-in link, so they don’t need your login.
- Keep a guest list. For people who couldn’t find their ticket, search for their name.
- Sell at the door if you want to. You can add cash or free entries for guests from the box office page, so your counts stay right.
7. After the event
Export your orders to a spreadsheet (a CSV file) for your treasurer or your guild’s end-of-event report. If you ran several events, the reports page lists tickets booked, tickets sold at the door and sales for each event. It shows the last 30 days; longer periods need a Pro plan.
A quick checklist
- Ask your guild about approvals and the club bank account.
- Pick the ticket types: free, member, general.
- Set a capacity.
- Write a clear event page with one contact person.
- Share the link in the places your members already look.
- Decide who is on the door and how you will check them in.
If you want to try One Ticket for your next event, create your event. Setting up is free, and you can connect payments when you are ready to sell paid tickets.