How to set up a token-gated event

The event ticketing market has seen fantastic progress over the last few years. And the development of Web3 allowed us to use emerging technologies to deliver better, safer experiences to our communities. So the improvements come not just in the number of sold tickets, but also in the technologies used for them. During this article, we will see how NFT tickets are changing the entertainment industry by focusing on how to set up a token-gated event. And, of course, why you should do it.

Simply put, token-gated events rely on a verification method based on Web3 tokens – instead of a classical e-ticket, the access is based on a non-fungible token. This makes it extremely efficient as it allows you to use it not just for one event, but also for other activities as well. 

People love live experiences, and it’s expected that the event ticketing industry will have an annual growth of 3.5% in the next 5 years. According to Statista, the projected market volume for 2027 is US$82.45bn, a 54% growth from 2019. Our bet is that by 2027 the vast majority of events will rely on NFT tickets. Let’s see why.

What are token-gated events?

Token-gated is an expression that became popular with the rise of Web3. To access these experiences, you need a non-fungible token – like a cryptocurrency or an NFT.  And the most popular form of token-gating an event (or any other type of content) is through NFTs and NFT ticketing.

For an event, this means that access management is done by checking attendees’ digital wallets for a specific token. While this is basically the equivalent of NFT tickets, let’s not forget that they are in fact smart tickets. And you can use it for so much more than just checking access credentials at the gates of your event.

So in this case, a token is gating the event – you don’t own a specific token, and you cannot access the specific event. Simple as that. 

Initially, as the NFTs were generally used as collectibles, the access to the events they allowed you entrance to was issued separately. So all holders of a specific NFT collection (or a cryptocurrency) would receive their access codes before the start of the event.

Now, you can create flawless processes through NFT ticketing. You can create an NFT that, besides other perks, grants access to a specific event. So it’s a token-gated event where a specific NFT becomes a smart ticket. Unlike a traditional ticket, an NFT ticket’s utility is not limited to a specific event. The token used for admission control is also a limited-edition collectible, can be resold for profit, has different perks and add-ons (like VIP access) embedded, and offers many other benefits. 

Why Use Token-Based Access for Your Event?

Setting up token-based access to your events will provide multiple benefits. For you and your community alike. 

You may have heard of tokens before, like NFTs or cryptocurrency. For token-gated events, they’re not just simple access codes. They’re special digital smart contracts that can do a lot of different things. For example, they can store information about different access rights, have economic value, and offer other benefits too.

The great thing about these tokens is that they can help create new, exciting experiences. For example, imagine you have a community of people who are all interested in the same thing. With tokens, you can set up a variety of experiences that everyone in your community can access using the same “event pass.” And because tokens can be pre-programmed, they can also act as event passes, loyalty program cards, and even a way to make payments. So whether you’re using an existing token or creating a new one just for your event, tokens can make the experience even better for your attendees, not just during the event but even after. 

Benefits of setting up Token-Gated Events

There are several benefits for setting up token-gated events, benefits that we have covered in the article covering the benefits of NFT tickets at large. But there are a few points that we should cover in this article in order to better understand why this type of token-gated event can make the overall experience better for your community.

Exclusivity

Besides security, token-gated events also add the feeling of exclusivity. Just those that have claimed a specific token have access to that event – so they will feel like part of something really special. 

Stronger community

This will tighten your community. Traditionally, those joining a specific event are part of a specific community. But unfortunately, until now it was complicated to empower that community as the event ticket would lose all of its powers once the event is over. But now, with the help of token-gated events, the token-based authentication allows you to use the tokens to strengthen your community. The same tokens can be used for gating exclusive digital content, venues, access to limited-edition merchandise, future events, and so on.

Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up Token-Gated Events

Web3, NFTs, cryptocurrencies; it may sound complicated but it’s remarkably easy to set up token-gated events. With Oveit, each ticket issued by our ticketing platform can be a non-fungible token. Stored on the blockchain, this ticket is in fact a smart contract between you and your community. One that will grant your attendees access to the event, but will also allow you to customize the experience furthermore to the exact extent that you want.  

Create your account

The first thing you need to do is to create your account. You’ll just need to set up billing information and choose one or more payment processors. We work with direct debit for both traditional and NFT (e)tickets, meaning that each time somebody places an order money will go straight into your account.

Also, even for token-gated events, you can allow your community to pay with both fiat and cryptocurrencies. We support multiple payment processors for both types of payments, allowing you to serve your customers regardless of the way they choose to pay.

Setting up your event for tokenized tickets

With Oveit, you can easily set up your next event in just a few minutes. You set up the event details like the name of the event, time and place, and what data you want to collect from your attendees.

Oveit Dashboard - how to set up token-gated events using our ticketing solution

Setting up NFT tickets categories

For the NFT tickets, you can select the artwork that you want to be associated with the tokenized access credentials. You can choose from different formats like .pgn,.jpeg, or .gif, and the artwork will be minted for each of the tokenized tickets your customers will buy. 

You can opt between uploading a single artwork for the entire ticket category or using entire collections. It’s up to you to create the experience your community wants.

Oveit also allows you to set up different perks and add-ons for each ticket category. They can be anything that you want, like special access, merchandise, beverage or food, or even access to future gigs. By using this option, you encourage your attendees to create their own, personalized journeys.

With our software, everything is under your control. Furthermore, you can customize the follow-up email, delivering the message in your exact tone of voice. Once you finish setting up your event you can start selling smart tickets on your website. Using a simple copy-and-paste implementation.

Yes, with Oveit you can sell tokenized tickets on your website. Just like you did with regular (e)tickets. And the great part is that we take care of all the complicated technical requirements, you just need to focus on delivering a great experience.

Getting on hold of an NFT ticket has never been easier. While we recommend MetaMask as the go-to wallet, we support a variety of digital wallets. Your attendees can choose the one that best suits them.

Caption: print screen for Oveit – confirmation page for an NFT ticket order

Once the NFT ticket is actually minted, buyers will receive a confirmation email. They can now sign it to their wallets, becoming the owner of the NFT. It’s also available on marketplaces like OpenSea or Rarible. Your community is now ready to access your token-gated event.

Managing event access at a token-gated event

We’ve kept event access management as simple as possible. Using our proprietary scanning app, you can check the access credentials for each ticket. The blockchain-based tokens contain a dynamic QR code used for scanning. Inside the app, you will see the benefits included in that particular smart ticket. 

ticket issues by Oveit for a token-gated event

The dynamic QR code will regenerate every 30 minutes, making it impossible for anyone to copy it. This makes the experience safe for your attendees, as nobody can in fact steal or copy their event passes.

Final words

Token-gated events open new doors for live experiences. Online and in-person. Unlike traditional tickets, non-fungible tokens allow your community to be part of something special. Even long after the initial experience has ended.

January 11, 2023 Access management, NFT ticketing No comments yet

How to successfully market an event

Marketing an event is neither innately or self conspicuous; a lot of patience and knowledge is required in order to properly promote it.

-POP

How do you make sure that your consumer keeps bonding with your brand?

Many businesses have the possibility to immerse their consumers in whole physical experiences through their products, promotions, show-rooms, shops, etc.

What about the brands that have no physical product to wow their consumer with, or stay hidden behind a blog and the social media channels. How do they engage with their customers?

The answer is events. The creation of promotional events through which brands can bring awareness and bond with your customers is definitely the success key.

Even knowing how important events are, many businesses don’t take full advantage and fail in delivering a good event. It is impractical to organize a surpassing event and offer top quality products and services if you are failing to promote it. Who will know or attend your event if you don’t sell it properly?

Event marketing is essential in order to attract the right audience

Event marketing is the best opportunity to bring your community together and spread the word. Best of all, the most effective forms of event marketing will get people talking, writing, and reading – all about your brand, products or services.

The best way of understanding your most effective forms of marketing is putting yourself in your attendee’s shoes. So let’s imagine you are your future event’s attendee.

What are the steps you undergo from the moment you hear about the event till you get to participate:

  1. Ways you could find out about the event:
  • A friend – word of mouth
  • A poster/ flyer/ TV/ Radio – Traditional Marketing
  • Social Media/ Email – Digital Marketing

It is important that both Traditional and Digital marketing channels are used properly. Sometimes first impression is the last impression and this is the time you can attract your future attendees with perhaps just a glance of a look.

Depending on the type of your event and audience segmentation you will decide which marketing mix will be appropriate.

With a poster or a flyer your purpose is to create eye-catching print that will attract people to participate in your event and offer the necessary information about it. If you are interested in finding more about how to create an attractive poster here are some tips & tricks how to do that, offered by Venngage.

Email marketing has the same purpose as the print material; catch the eye in a short time frame, inform and redirect to your digital channels.

TV and Radio Advertising are most of the time effective though they are pricey. If you are creating an event for tens of thousands of people big media spending is definitely worth it. Otherwise – maybe stick to something more cost effective.

Social Media is the most effective and affordable slew of tools you can use to market your event

The purpose of Social Media is not only to advertise your event before but also create an online community that will help maintain the interest in your event in between happenings.

It is important to know how to keep your attendees engaged before, during and after your event. According to a study conducted by Buffer in 2014 nearly as many attendees are talking about the events as during the event.

Therefore, it is important to create the excitement before the event, during and after:

Pre-event

The objective is to create excitement of the up-coming event, engagement on the Social Platforms and enroll those who are not decided yet if to participate or not.

How to do that?

  • Through posts that include questions, information, tutorials, etc.
  • Create an unified hashtag to use across all social channels –  even if it doesn’t seem important, using it well in advance to your event and on all Social Platforms can result in a successful tool in order to centralize all of the posts regarding your event
  • Don’t forget to add your hashtag in all your Social Media’s bio – once you have a link to your event, update your Bio section, and then people have a very simple way to find out more
  • Distribute your events on discovery sites across the web in order to reach a more targeted audience
  • Use Facebook, Instagram ads to re-market to prospects – show ads to people who have already visited your website.

During the event

The main objective is to make your attendees talk about and share your event :

  • Engage in live streaming with the peaks of your event
  • Encourage people to check-in, like your Social Media pages and post photos from the event

“In this fast-paced, noisy online world, visual content is the best way to not only capture the attention of fans, but also to have them take action on your content.” – Donna Moritz of Socially Sorted

Post-Event

The target here: keep them coming back next year. It is still important to continue promoting the event but the marketing will come from a place of knowledge and top of mind recognition, rather than having to refresh their memories.

  • Keep engaging with customers and create new possible leads for your future events by posting regularly and keeping the community updated
  • Harness the Power of Visual Testimonials – show the excitement and vibe of your speakers, attendees or the event in general
  • Share and leverage the user generated content since this will bring more authenticity and credibility to your posts.
  • Make use of all content produced during the event and post regularly

  1. When looking up for the event, your search engine will hopefully display the following:
  • Event’s website
  • Discovery sites
  • Social Media Pages

Search engines are making people’s life easier by guiding them in their search. But getting your websites to appear at the top of the search result is no easy thing. Your website needs to have a high ranking in order to be displayed at the top and this is possible only through Search Engine Marketing.

Another important aspect is the reliability of your website because it represents the portal to your event and the first step in your attendees’ immersion. This experience has to be appealing, concise, user friendly, up-to-date and synchronized to all of your pages.

Lastly, don’t forget to create a mobile website too, since many web users are doing their research from their smart phones.

  1.   While doing the research you will be looking to find out:
  • More information about the event
  • Who else from your friends are attending the event
  • Other people’s impressions and reviews

Your attendees are searching for more information because they want to rest assure that your event is what they are looking for. It’s a good opportunity not only to offer them all the information they are seeking but as well connect with them and make them feel part of the community.

Some of the information that you can offer them:

Insides (e.g., special contests during the event, special photo or autograph sessions, sweepstakes etc.)

Details (who else is attending the event, weather, location map, etc.)

Assurance (other people’s testimonials and comments)

  1. Decision time:
  • If happy – attend the event and ask friends to join
  • If not happy – don’t go, and even more, persuade others in not going

At this point your only hope is that your attendees are happy and desire to participate along with their friends and family. The only way to get here is by following the previous steps.

  1. Final step – Register online and buy the ticket
  • If 100% sure + flawless registration = ticket is bought
  • If 100% sure + unfriendly registration = there is a small chance that the ticket will not be bought
  • If 50% sure + unfriendly registration = big chances that the ticket will not be bought

And when you thought that might be all, guess what? – it’s not!

A registration process that it is complicated and slow it’s the worst turn out for your future attendees. The payment process has to be the easiest step from the whole journey.

Ticketing and event registration software comes in handy when in need for an efficient payment process. Using our event management and access management platform, Oveit, will not only significantly simplify the payment process but can help you bring more added value to your overall planning, such as:

  • Registration forms enable you to collect data in the form of text (name, company, position) dates (birth date, arrival date), emails, files (PDFs, PPTs, images and more)
  • Personalized badge design – just use data attendees filled in, drag and drop, add graphics and your personalized badges are ready to send by email or print
  • Mobile apps for ticket scanning, available on iOS and Android.
  • Support for Smart badges, NFC bracelets, access cards, and NFC tickets
  • Seating design for seat-based events

In order to sell tickets and achieve a successful consumer journey, attendees need to be kept engaged at every stage of the process. Providing a memorable pre, live, and post-event experience will make your attendees more connected to your brand and will become, if not already, loyal. Consequently, by trusting you, they will innately recommend and share their experience with others both online but as well direct; word of mouth is still the most valuable marketing tool that has the highest conversion rate.

May 26, 2017 Event management, event marketing, Event professionals, Events, Oveit Features No comments yet

Embrace technology for a great event

You have crafted a plan for the perfect event. A well-known influencer/artist is the keynote speaker/leading star, you have a long long list of sponsors, great venue, excellent catering and a perfect weather forecast (ok, this in fact is a myth, but you get the picture). So, as a friend of mine likes to say, you are “jacked up and good to go”.

But the work is only half done (to say the least) and here are a few things that can go terribly wrong of surprisingly well (luckily today’s event management technology can help you).

Delivering tickets

Tickets. Maybe you have the perfect marketing plan and everyone hears about your event but, if your attendees need to go the extra mile to buy them, then you have a problem. If you use social media for marketing make sure that the ticket is only a few clicks away from your fb/twitter/instagram account (better said a few screen touches away). Every extra step that the customer has to take to buy your ticket decreases the chances that he will actually finish the process. Here’s a hint: use an event registration software that allows you to sell tickets on your personal site/blog.

Check-in and registration

One of the most annoying things in the world is waiting in the line with a paid ticket in your phone (3 years ago i would’ve said pocket). Today you can use a simple application (downloaded on your personal phone) to check-in your guests and have real time access to relevant data about who arrived when. Don’t disrespect your customers by making them wait while you verify printed check-lists.

Do more with a ticket

Help attendees do more with just one ticket. For example,at a concert, the VIP tickets can include a free t-shirt, a backstage pass and 2 bottles of water, all in the same QR code. The same e-ticket (stored on your client’s phone) will be used at the front gate, at the bar, at the souvenir shop and at backstage entrance.

Embrace technology, offer a memorable experience to your clients and the word will spread like wildfire.

April 21, 2017 Events No comments yet