Each sign-up for a free event updates the seat count and sends a QR ticket. A day-before reminder carries a cancel link that passes the seat to the waiting list, staff scan tickets at the door, and attendees and no-shows get separate follow-ups.
Typical results
≈4 hrs/wk
Staff time on registrations and door lists saved
Under 5 sec
Door check-in per guest with a QR scan
100%
Events with a real attendance count
Figures reflect typical results for this kind of automation.
The challenge
Free events fill up on paper, then close to a third of reserved seats sit empty because people never come. Registrations arrive by phone, email and a form, the seat count lives in someone's head, and the door list is a printout. Nobody knows real attendance per event, and nobody follows up with people who came or missed it.
Before and after
Reserved seats left empty per 100 sign-ups
−25%Staff hours per week on registrations and lists
−80%Seconds to check in each guest at the door
−83%The automation
A sign-up on the association's Jotform for a lecture or workshop sends a confirmation email with a QR ticket, and the event's seat count in Google Sheets drops by one. The day before, a reminder with a cancel link goes out, and each cancelled seat passes to the first person on the waiting list. At the door, staff scan tickets with a phone to mark attendance. The next morning attendees get next month's events, and no-shows get a short note.
How it works
- 01
Sign-up on the form
A registration on the Jotform for a lecture, workshop or holiday event drops that event's seat count by one in Google Sheets.
- 02
QR ticket by email
The registrant gets a confirmation email with a QR ticket, the event details and an add-to-calendar link.
- 03
Reminder with a cancel link
The day before, a reminder goes out with a one-click cancel link, and a cancelled seat goes straight to the first person on the waiting list.
- 04
Scanned at the door
Staff scan tickets with a phone at the entrance, which marks each person as attended and flags tickets for a different event.
- 05
Next-morning follow-up
Attendees get a thank-you with next month's events, no-shows get a short note, and attendance per event is saved.
Starts from
- Jotform event sign-ups
- Event calendar and seat limits
Delivers
- QR ticket and reminder
- Attendance marked at the door
- Thank-you or no-show note
The impact
Empty reserved seats fall by about 25%, as people who can't come cancel from the reminder and their seats go to the waiting list. Staff stop keeping phone lists and printouts, check-in at the door takes seconds per guest, and the association sees real attendance for each event to plan the next season.
Questions about this automation
Do staff need special equipment to scan tickets?
No. Any phone opens a check-in page that reads the QR code with its camera and shows a green or red result: valid, already used or for a different event. Several staff can scan at once at a busy entrance, and a name search covers guests who forgot their ticket.
What happens when an event is full?
When the seat count reaches zero, the form closes for that event and offers a waiting list. A cancellation from the reminder email releases the seat to the first person on the list, who gets their own QR ticket by email. Phone sign-ups are entered by staff on the same form.
How is it rolled out alongside current events?
It is a multi-step build, usually rolled out in stages: sign-ups and tickets first, then reminders and door check-in, then the next-morning follow-ups. The association needs its Jotform account, the event calendar with seat limits and an email sender, and existing events can move over one at a time.