Getting Started - Our Quick Start Guide

Your quick start guide to learning the system - in just 6 minutes!

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TicketSource's Quick Start Guide

This article will help you learn the basics, so you can start selling tickets quickly.

Here's what you will learn in this article:

•     How to create an event
•     How to start selling your tickets

•     Tips and Tricks

How To Create Your First Event

When you log in to TicketSource, you'll land in the Dashboard, the 'homepage' for all your events. It'll look a little empty at first, so let's create your very first event. Click Events in the menu bar, and select New Event. You'll see there are a lot of other options here, where you can create or modify seating plans, as well as areas for reports and settings. 

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The Event Designer 

Once you've done that, you'll find yourself in the Event Designer. This is where you can let your imagination take over and create the event of your dreams. The Event Designer is formed of a table with six areas to edit: 

• Event 
• Venue 
• Dates 
• Ticket Allocation 
• Sections 
• Price Categories 

If you're trying this for the first time, let's create a test event so you can see how the designer works and how easy it is to create an event. 

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Creating your First Event 

To help you understand the information below, we've added some image sliders to show an easy 'before/after' comparison of what your page should look like. 

Adding the Event Name

Click on add new event details underneath the Event heading.

Here, you can add your events name and other basic details. Every event must have a name and be sorted into a category with a subsequent genre, but adding a reference and a description is up to you. Remember, if you're creating a test event make sure you put the word 'TEST' in the event name somewhere. Once you're happy with these details, press save changes at the bottom of the page.

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Adding the Event Venue

Next, you'll need to add a venue to your event. Press add new venue underneath the Venue heading.

Every event will need the venues name, address and postcode, however, you can choose to add the box office contact details if the venue has them. Once you've added a postcode, the Location Map will automatically generate the location. Don't worry if the marker is slightly off, you can just drag and drop the location marker to the correct place. Once you're happy with those details, press save changes.

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Adding Dates

The next step is adding a date to your event. Press add new date underneath the Dates heading.

Every event must have at least one date, which shows a start time and when to start and end ticket sales. Here, you can also choose whether to advertise a 'Doors Open' time or when your event will end. Once you're happy with those details, press save changes. 

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Adding a Ticket Allocation

Up next is adding a ticket allocation to your event. This is where your event will start taking shape. Press add new allocation underneath the Ticket Allocation heading.

Depending on the type of event you have, you can choose either a general allocation or allocate tickets based on a seating plan. As we are creating a test event, let's choose Tickets are allocated from a general admission quota. To learn more about creating and adding a seating plan to your event, click here.  Once you've completed this page, press save changes.

Once you've added your ticket allocation, you'll need to add any seating sections and the admission quota for those sections. If you've added a seating plan option, you will not need to add any sections. Press add new section underneath the header Sections.

Here, you just need to add a description of your section, and the total capacity of that section. You can change this capacity later, however, you can't have a lower capacity than the total number of tickets sold. Once you're happy with how your section looks, press save changes.

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Adding Price Categories

The last thing you'll need to do to set up your event is to create your individual ticket prices. Press add new price category underneath the heading Price Categories. 

Every price category must have a description and a price, however, there are many more options to allow you to create Early Bird Tickets, Members Only Tickets and Time-Sensitive Tickets. Once you've completed this page, press save changes. 

You'll now see that your event is ready to go! You can now add new dates, different sections and price categories or even alternative venues to the same run of shows if you wanted. If you're happy with how your event looks, then it's time to press activate event!

Now that you've completed your first event, you can view it on your dashboard. Pressing the 'home' icon on the top left side of the page will take you to your dashboard.

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Selling Tickets and Publicising your Event

Your Unique URL

Now you've completed your first event (well done you!) it's time to start selling tickets. On your dashboard, you'll notice the name of your company, and underneath that a TicketSource URL. That URL is a specific 'home page' you can give out so people can buy tickets online. 

If you want to change your URL, then follow these steps:

1. Go to Account and select Account Settings
2. Find the section called Your TicketSource URL
3. Edit the URL in the text box

If the URL is good to go, the box will turn green and you'll see a tick mark appear next to your URL. If it's not a unique URL, it will appear red and you'll see a cross appear instead. The slider below shows the difference in those settings.

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Publicising your Event

If you have your own website, a WordPress blog or a business Facebook you can utilise the publicising options offered on TicketSource. To see a list of our options:

• Go to Events and select Publicise Events

To find out more about selling through Facebook click here, and for more insight on publicising events click here.

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Tips and Tricks

1. Your public listings page, or your unique URL, is the best thing to send to your customers to get bookings quickly!
2. More than you in the company? You can add extra users to your account by going to Account and selecting User Accounts. Read more here.
3. Did you know we offer a Telephone Box Office service? If you're more interested in utilising this service, head to the Question Mark at the top right of your dashboard and select Telephone Box Office Service Application, or read more about it here. 
4. TicketSource isn't just ticket selling software, it also acts as an in-house box office, where you can process cash bookings, make complimentary tickets and even make reservations!
5. Payments for events are usually processed the Monday after the final date of the event has passed, and it can take up to 3 working days for that payment to be processed - make sure you add your bank details so you get your money quicker! (Bank Holidays affect when we process payments)

There you go! You should be ready to jump in to setting up events and selling tickets! If you've got any questions or queries, give us a shout by emailing support@ticketsource.co.uk or calling us on 0333 666 4466 (Weekdays 9am-7pm, Saturdays 9am-5pm)

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