Token-Gated Events are the future

No more fractioned experiences. Get rid of ticket scalpers. Eliminate fraud. We’ve just released a new version of NFT tickets, the one that glues everything together. We consider it to be the peak of our work so far. But what really matters is how this helps you shape new experiences.

Here is what this means to you and your community

Everything becomes an immutable token delivered to your customers’ wallets. The artwork created for your event, their access credentials, their perks and add-ons, are all packed up as the NFT ticket. Added to their wallets, these digital assets will allow them to control the full experience from one place.

Dynamic QR codes

print screen from a mobile app showcasing an NFT ticket generated with Oveit
within the NFT ticket, the QR code can be regenerated at any moment. By default, it will regenerate every 30 minutes

We’ve enhanced the NFT ticket with a dynamic QR that refreshes once every 30 minutes. Or as often as its owner likes. This way you’ll know for sure that each QR code you scan is legit, protecting the experience stakeholders against potential fraudsters. So yeah, although this is a real NFT ticket, the QR code above is useless now.

Perks and add-ons are embedded into the ticket. The benefits

extra benefits included in the ticket - print screen from a digital wallet
the benefits are displayed within the NFT ticket

Perks and add-ons (like VIP access, multiple entries, and pre-purchased merchandise) are embedded within the NFT ticket. Attendees can easily claim their perks by showing the dynamic QR, each having its own check-in option. This keeps their assets secure while giving you access to real-time data on how they claim these benefits.

NFT tickets can be easily (re)sold or gifted

Customers can easily sell or send the tickets

Buyers can sell their NFT tickets on non-fungible token marketplaces or share them as gifts. Unlike traditional e-tickets, these smart tickets are trackable in terms of authenticity & ownership, allowing 100% safe swaps. At the same time, you can protect your community from scalpers by setting up lower and upper reselling prices. Not to mention that you can tap into the secondary market gains by setting up royalties – so that each time a ticket is resold, a certain percentage finds its way back to you.

How will you handle check-ins and benefits for a token-gated event?

Just like you did before. Use our mobile apps to scan the QR codes and data will be instantly synchronized in your Dashboard. Pretty cool, right?

Contact us to learn more.

what is an NFT ticket?

What is an NFT ticket?

Although NFTs represent one of the hottest topics, it’s often difficult to define the exact benefits they come with. The same applies to NFT tickets, of course. So during this article, we will try to explain what an NFT ticket is by naming the main benefits it brings to the events industry. 

While an NFT is a digital record that comes with a computer program attached, in general, they are associated with what meets the eye. The (often not so) pretty pictures. But an NFT ticket is not just a pretty picture. It’s a pretty picture (or gif, or movie) that is disrupting the entertainment industry. And it does it providing utility through the use of blockchain ledgers. This makes it the perfect example of technology used right.

It’s very easy to set up an event and sell electronic tickets. Also for the buyers, the process is similar to buying any electronic ticket. They just need to add it to their digital wallets. Easy to use technology at scale. 

But once the NFT ticket is created (or minted), the opportunities become unlimited. This new technology is not just solving many of the current issues faced by the industry, it’s actually creating new experiences and opportunities. This is why we truly believe that NFTs in the form of event tickets provide one of the biggest opportunities and are the leading example of the utility provided by blockchain technology.

Now really, what is an NFT ticket?

NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are unique digital records created on a blockchain network. Meaning that once created (minted), they can’t be altered or changed. Physical or digital assets (basically anything you can imagine, such as an event ticket, a picture, a song, a video, etc.) are stored with proof of ownership and their entire transaction history. Smart contracts (small computer programs) are associated with NFTs, allowing them to act based on a set of predefined rules.

So an NFT ticket is a digital token stored on the blockchain and has the access credentials (and many other extra benefits provided by the event organizer) embedded within itself. It’s a smart ticket with superpowers that disrupts the entire event industry. And it does it by providing easy access to a complete set of benefits for all parties involved. 

The benefits of adopting NFT ticketing

To get a better understanding of what an NFT ticket is and how it improves the existing processes, let’s focus on the benefits it creates for event organizers, artists, and attendees alike.

NFT ticket issued by Oveit - print screen from Twitter
source: Twitter

An NFT ticket gives you full control over its distribution

One of the biggest problems in event ticketing is scalping – large numbers of tickets are bought with the sole intent of reselling them for a large and quick profit. This action has a high negative impact on the overall attendee experience and creates profit on the (more than) gray secondary market. 

But NFT tickets give the initial seller over the ticket distribution on both the primary and secondary markets. For starters, transactions can be checked on the blockchain and you can see if the same wallet is engaged in multiple transactions. 

Furthermore, as programmable digital assets, resale prices can be embedded into the ticket. So even if somebody buys numerous items, they won’t be able to sell them for a large profit.  You decide the upper and lower limits for which the event tickets can be resold. This way, you are protecting your attendees from those looking to make quick money from their passion.

Royalties and access to the secondary market

With an NFT ticket, you can even get access to the secondary market income. The smart contract of the NFT can be pre-programmed so that a specific cut from every resale is sent back to its issuer. 

Known under the name of Royalties, this benefit allows event organizers and artists to get paid for their work long after the event has taken place. Especially as NFT tickets are digital collectibles that don’t lose their value once the gig is over.

NFT tickets have collectible value

Photo by Dylan Mullins on Unsplash

Event tickets are very interesting items for collectors and they would often pay small fortunes to get their hands on them. Until now, it was extremely difficult to check the authenticity of a ticket. Especially long after the event was over. But the nature of an NFT ticket makes this process extremely transparent. The authenticity of the NFT, as well as its ownership and entire transaction history, can be checked, protecting the buyer against fraudsters and increasing the value of the item.

An NFT ticket protects your community from scammers

One of the downsides of electronic tickets is that they can be forged. And while you may prevent somebody from entering the event premises with a false ticket, it’s impossible to stop scammers from selling false tickets. Or to (re) sell the same ticket to tens or hundreds of honest buyers. One of the biggest problems buyers are currently facing is checking the authenticity of tickets bought from secondary markets. As event tickets come in limited editions. And after a certain period of time, they become available only at resale. Once an event is sold out, people are willing to pay extra just to get the opportunity to attend the event. But they often become victims of scammers that:

  1. Sell fake tickets.
  2. Sell the same authentic ticket more than once.

But as the authenticity of an NFT ticket can be verified on the blockchain network, the same ticket cannot be sold by two people at the same time. It also eliminates the possibility of creating fake tickets, making transactions from secondary markets as safe as the ones operated by the event organizer, thus protecting your community.

The nature of the ticket also makes it almost impossible to lose it. It’s stored in a digital wallet and can be easily accessed by its rightful owner. 

Create immersive experiences with NFT Tickets. Offline and online

Using digital technology to enhance a live event is a perfect opportunity for the events industry. Your event attendees can get first access to future releases, online shows, merchandise, and even digital artwork by purchasing an NFT ticket. Possibilities are endless as these smart assets are governed by programmable smart contracts. 

But as we were mentioning before, these digital assets can be used to represent both physical and digital assets. Merchandise can be easily prepacked within an NFT event ticket and claimed whenever your attendee finds it suitable. 

Is there anything else an NFT ticket can be? Yes, an NFT ticket can be even a payment tool used at your event. It can be programmed to store a monetary value that can be used at your events or throughout entire networks of partners.

Final words

While the scope of this article is to explain what an NFT ticket is, we are sure that it won’t take long before all tickets are going to be NFT tickets. The benefits powered by this technology are transforming the industry, making it safer and more profitable for those creating these experiences.

Furthermore, despite the technical complexity that stands behind them, NFT tickets are extremely easy to use. For issuers and buyers alike. With Oveit, you don’t need any technical know-how. It’s easy to set up your event and start selling NFT tickets. While we are taking care of all the technical aspects of the process, you can focus on creating the experiences everybody will talk about.

Customize Your Event Texts

We’ve always encouraged you to create customized experiences for your attendees. But in order to do so you need the right tools, right? This is what we are building here at Oveit – tools for live experiences, whether we are talking about selling electronic event ticketsNFT ticketing, or implementing cashless payments for your festival or venue. 

Today I want to show you one of our latest updates. The one that allows you to display your own Call To Action during the registration process. Whether you are selling traditional electronic tickets or have opted for NFT ticketing, you can now input your own CTAs during the registration process. 

Customize your event texts

Available in Step 3 – Checkout settings for PRO PLUS accounts, the step where you’ve always customized the follow-up emails,  this new feature allows you to change your Ticket Texts for your embeddable registration widget, on the confirmation page generated by Oveit, or/and inside the confirmation email. 

Your tone of voice is what your community reacts to. And this new update will allow you to customize the experience deep to the smallest, yet not unimportant, details.

Looking to test this new way of engaging your audience? Log in and give it a go. Or schedule a call to learn more about how to deliver better attendee experiences.

Oveit listed on Tekpon

The team at Tekpon recently tested and listed Oveit with an overall score of 9.1.

To mark the moment of our listing, they have invited us to their podcast. We had the chance to share some insights on how Oveit became one of the leading solutions for eTicketing, NFT tickets, and cashless payments for events and venues.

We really enjoyed being on the podcast and hope you will find the discussion useful.

Cashless Payments at events. The benefits

Imagine that your favorite artist starts playing while you are queueing at the bar. It takes ages as it seems that nobody has their cash ready. And when it comes to your turn, you find out that the seller is unable to give you a chance for your order. Sounds pretty annoying, right? If you haven’t experienced this lately it’s because of the technology that helps event professionals create better live experiences. In this case, we’re talking about using Cashless Payments at events. And their benefits. 

Implementing innovative payment solutions at festivals has solved many issues. For event planners and festival goers alike. The scope of this article is to focus on the benefits of implementing cashless payments for your events. While this is far from being the only use case for this technology, festivals have embraced it with the highest velocity. 

Later in this article, we will focus on some of the essential benefits this technology provides. Deploying a cashless payments solution at your festival will speed up transactions, prevent thefts or fraud, give you access to real-time reports, and generate new revenue streams. 

Getting started with cashless payments

But first, let’s better understand what we mean actually when talking about a cashless payment system. Especially when focusing on the ones used for festivals and smaller events. 

We’re all familiar with the RFID wristbands used at events. They’re used for access control and payments, allowing people to control their experiences with a simple tap of the hand. Do attendees need to pay for a beverage? A simple tap of the hand is enough Or, in a more sophisticated yet easy-to-use environment – scanning a dynamic QR will provide the same result. Do they want to access a specific area and does the support team on-site need to check their access credentials? A tap of the hand is enough. Have they pre-purchased their favorite band’s T-shirt as a ticket add-on? Yes, a tap of the hand is all they need to claim their perk. The all-mighty festival wristband guides attendees through their experience, right? Well, not really.

While I’ve showcased a journey similar to the ones available for most festivals, the wristband itself is not that mighty. But the technology that stands behind it – enabling cashless payments (and more) – is. 

Going beyond just payments

The phrase “Cashless payments at events”, in its complete understanding, refers to so much more than a way of accepting payments that are not made with cash. When we talk about a festival and its payments operated through a cashless payment solution, we are actually talking about a local economy. A special ecosystem, where the event itself is the central bank of what happens within its borders. And sometimes even outside its gates. 

Within the festival, there are multiple companies with economic activity. Simply put, vendors or sellers. And there is a legit need for them to accept the same payment method. To do it fast and transparently. At the same time, regardless of how many different vendors operate onsite, the organizers need to have a live overview of the economics of the event.

At festivals, depending on their size, the total number of transactions can range from a few thousand to over a million, often in less than 72 hours. You need to have a system that is fast, secure, and stable. When it comes to festivals, not being able to serve customers is probably worse than losing power at the main stage. 

The “customer journey” of an event-goer

displaying the customer journey of an event-goer

The journey for a festival goer starts long before the first note is played by their favorite band. From an operations point of view, it starts when the ticket is bought. Because, for most festivals, the ticket itself is, in fact, the digital wallet that allows attendees to pay, access special areas, claim their perks, and much more. The RFID festival wristband, used by organizers from all over the world, is the gateway that gives them access to this virtual wallet.

When buying the ticket, attendees can also opt to pre-purchase merchandise, special access, addons or top up their digital wallet. 

When arriving on-site, they can pay for food, beverage, or merchandise using the cashless payment system, can add money to their digital account, and once the event is over they can withdraw their remaining funds. 

Benefits of using cashless payments at events

Now that we have gone through the entire process, let’s go further and pinpoint the exact benefits of using cashless payments at events or venues. We’ll be listing the benefits one by one, while still keeping one eye on the big picture.

Cashless payments at events are fast. Very fast.

A crucial aspect of a closed-loop cashless payment system is its speed. Because the confirmation message is not required to follow the same steps as for a traditional online payment, these transactions are processed way more quicker. How much quicker? According to reports from American Express, cashless payments transactions are 63% faster than ones including cash and up to 53% faster than classic card payments.

graph showing that cashless payments at events are faster than other payment methods

But these differences can be even higher, as cashless payment solutions for events offer edge payment capabilities. This means that through our proprietary technology, transactions are processed locally, at the edge of the cloud, secured by a distributed ledger system, and synced online afterward.

They are easy to implement and use

Implementing a closed-loop cashless payment solution is easy. For both vendors and festival goers. 

Vendors can accept payments using mobile points of sale while attendees have a payment method they are already familiar with. Vendors can easily create product catalogs, add and change prices, or remove products from sale.

With Oveit, vendors receive an invite to your experience. They can then proceed on setting up their menus and use a mobile POS to get paid when the festival starts. From their dashboard, they can check their sales, better understanding how customers 

Cashless payments are secure

With no cash changing hands within your festivals, fraud is completely eliminated from on-site transactions. At the same time, it becomes close to impossible for attendees to lose their assets. Especially when allowing them to pay with the RFID festival wristband. The data attendee’s data is securely stored in a private digital wallet, allowing them to easily access their balance and transaction history.

Creating a safe environment for your attendees is crucial. You want them to be able to enjoy the experience without having to worry about the safety of their financial assets. 

While the payments are 100% secure, human errors may still appear. But with a local payment system, you can easily repair any such error. Unlike traditional online payments, where any error could be fixed by a third-party institution, like a bank, here you have the authority to fix anything. You can easily refund a client or cancel a payment in a transparent manner, keeping all stakeholders happy.

Generate new revenue streams for your events with cashless payments

You can easily onboard third-party venues in your festival economy and generate new revenue streams for your business. As food, beverage and merchandise are extremely important to any festival, using a cashless payment system helps you add new sellers while still having everything under control. 

As the owner of this closed economy, you have instant access to sales data from all vendors. Adding new businesses into the space generates new income opportunities for all stakeholders. The vendor gains access to new customers and the organizer can take a cut from those sales. And attendees benefit from a more diverse experience. 

Instant access to real-time data

Unlike other businesses, festivals are extremely time-sensitive. Hundreds of people work one year to create an experience that lasts just a few days. But during those few days, each second has so much weight attached.

Cashless payments real time reporting

This is why real-time data is crucial for event organizers. This way, they adapt depending on what actually happens at the event. As mentioned above, a smart cashless payment tool keeps track not only of the payments but can also display relevant data on the customer journey. 

Based on access credentials and pre-purchased perks, you can see what people are interested in buying, what areas they like to spend most of their time, and what perks they have already claimed.

Improved customer experience

Each and every benefit mentioned above increases the overall customer experience. But this is a great example of when “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”.

Looking at the customer journey, it’s easy to understand that we can now personalize the customer experience. As a matter of fact, we can allow them to create the experiences they have always dreamed of. 

Customers can create their own tickets, with special access credentials or pre-purchased merchandise, depending on their needs. They can decide how much money they will spend during the festival, where they will hand out, and which brands they decide to share their data with. 

And as we all know by now, a cashless payments solution does way more than just allow people to pay. Based on the data recorded, you can better understand what people actually enjoyed and what not. And you can use that information to create new, engaging experiences. 

Final words

Beyond internal processes, vendors, merchandise, and bands, festivals are about creating memories. Are about offering unforgettable experiences to your attendees. But in order to support these experiences, your operations need to run as smoothly as possible. And this is what cashless payments do to your event-goers. 

They allow you to streamline the process, onboard countless new vendors, ensure fast and secure payments, and assist the entire customer journey of your attendees. And while everything runs in the background, festival goers can concentrate on one thing: having the time of their lives.