Sports event organisers face many different challenges to put on a safe, efficient, and exciting event, no matter the type of sport event you are talking about, the size of the event arena, and the number of attendees expected.
There are many different methods on how you can boost your time management, ensuring that it is as effective as possible, and one of the major players with this is with your choice of ticket management software to assist with ticket sales and deployment.
There are a few steps that you need to take as a sports event coordinator to ensure that the event runs smoothly, efficiently, and safely. The idea is always to place the attendee and the customer at the heart of everything that you do.
The following steps can all include the latest technology in terms of ticket management and eticketing software management platforms, helping you to create an efficient event that is well timed and well managed.
Table of Contents
1. Be Clear With Event Objectives
Before the event, during the planning stage, you need to be clear about the objectives of the event. This might seem like it might not be needed, but it always helps to have a clear and concise document that outlines a few aspects of the sporting event and makes it clear about different responsibilities.
This includes the type of sporting event to take place, the format of the event, how long it will take place and where. Just these simple details outline a few key concepts of the event itself and help the management to organise effectively.
2. Budget And Funding
You’ll need to consider the various aspects of the event and where you need to allocate resources and costs. This involves finding the funding for the event, such as whether sponsors will be looked at for potential funding or if there are other sources of funding available to event organisers.
There is a requirement to look at costs relating to the stadia and venue, stewarding and event organisation costs, energy consumption, ticket scanners, merchandise stores and food vendors, health and safety provisions and equipment.
There are so many different areas to consider, and an event management software can be used to input data and provide alerts for scheduling.
3. Health and Safety Standards
It is important to be clear on what the local regulations and health and safety standards that you must adhere to within the arena. You’ll have to give notice of the event to the local authorities and implement key processes and protocols that ensure health and safety are a priority throughout the event.
4. Sales And Registration
One of the biggest ways to ensure that you are efficient with your time management when coordinating a sports event is to ensure that the sales and registration process is exceptional. Your choice of ticket management software will go a long way to determining how successful you are with this.
Modern sporting events require robust, smooth, and secure ticketing platforms with online sales and registration that allow for fast and seamless purchase of sports tickets, online registration, and easy allocation and deployment of tickets direct to digital wallets in the customer’s smartphone.
This makes the initial phase of ticket sales and registration much faster than in the old method of paper tickets, postage and collection, saving both time and money.
5. Secure Payment Protocols
With online ticket purchasing and management, it also allows you to take payment there and then. Installing a ticket management software from a supplier with a reputation of success helps to build trust between you and your customers, collecting and storing data in a secure way that follows GDPR and other data protection regulations.
This same payment system, or similar, can be used to manage payments on site too, especially if you have decided to be a cashless sports event, which many now are. This helps you to streamline the whole merchandise and food vendor options on-site, allowing customers to purchase in advance and beat the queues, or have a cashless payment process that speeds up the situation and limits queuing.
6. Clear Communication
Communication is key for all stages of managing a live sports event. With good communication, you can increase time management efficiencies, limit downtime and disruption, and minimise instances of miscommunication.
Communication is key to attracting the attendees and sports fans to the event itself, finding them through social media channels, press, TV and radio, depending on the type of sport and size of event.
The best management systems also allow clear communication and clear lines of responsibilities for everyone involved in the event, from the ticketing staff to on-site stewards and health and safety personnel, food and merchandise vendors, and all other employees.
7. Track And Analyse Attendee Data
One of the key concepts of good ticket management software is that it allows you to collect and analyse all sorts of data on the attendees (as long as you have consent and follow all data protection regulations and GDPR).
What this does is help you to not only tweak aspects of the event management as the event is going on, but it helps you to view where things can improve for future events, whether that be with ticket registration and sales, deployment of tickets, access to the event venue, or any other areas.
Final Thought
Utilising ticket management software from a reliable provider helps an event organiser to have a clear view of the entire operation in terms of attendance and customer safety.
By following the simple steps above, it does help to improve time management, having a clear idea of the schedule and calendar of the event from months and weeks in advance, right through to the event day or weekend, and beyond.
Pairing with reliable, robust providers of ticket management software could become the key decision you make in terms of event success and the perception of your event brand as a trustworthy partner for long-term attendees to the sport in question.
