Check-in that survives a queue
Check-in is a QR scan at the door: the attendee shows their pass, a member of your team scans it in the console, and the arrival is recorded against your guest list. Scanning the same person twice returns already checked in, which is information rather than a failure.
What this looks like in the product
Four outcomes, each one legible from arm's length by someone who has been standing up since seven.
- QR badge check-in
- Scan the attendee's pass at the door from the console on any device with a camera.
- Idempotent scans
- A repeat scan returns already checked in rather than an error or a duplicate arrival.
- Live arrivals count
- Arrivals against the invited guest list, for the desk and as a console widget.
- Apple Wallet pass
- The same pass lives in Wallet and is refreshed by the backend while the event runs.
- Role-scoped access
- Door staff can be per-event moderators rather than full organisation admins.
The door
- Scan a pass
- Checked in, with the name
- Already checked in, with the time
- Not on the list
- Arrivals so far against invited
The repeat scan is the whole design problem
Every door queue produces the same event: somebody gets scanned twice. They stepped out for a phone call, the volunteer was not sure the first scan took, two doors were open and nobody was tracking who went through which.
A system that treats the second scan as an error makes that person's problem into everyone's problem. The volunteer has to decide whether to believe the screen, the queue stops while they ask a supervisor, and at eight-forty in the morning that is the difference between a smooth open and a line out of the building.
So the second scan in event67 returns already checked in, with the time of the first one. Nothing is duplicated, the arrivals count does not move, and the volunteer waves the person through in the same second they would have anyway. The operational property is idempotency; the operational benefit is that the queue does not stop.
Running a door
Invite your list
Import attendees from CSV. The invite carries the claim link, and the claim is what turns a row in a spreadsheet into a person with a pass.
Attendees carry their pass
In the app, or in Apple Wallet, which is the version that works when the phone is nearly dead and the attendee cannot face finding an app.
Your team scans at the door
Check-in runs in the console, so any phone or tablet with a camera and a login is a scanner. There is no dedicated hardware to hire and nothing to configure per device.
Watch the arrivals count
Arrivals against the guest list update live, so the person running the room knows whether to hold the keynote for five minutes or start on time.
- scan to admit an attendee
- 1scan to admit an attendee
- extra arrivals recorded when the same person is scanned twice
- 0extra arrivals recorded when the same person is scanned twice
- phone or tablet with a camera can be a door device
- Anyphone or tablet with a camera can be a door device
What the organizer controls
- Who can scan
- Door staff can be given a per-event moderator role rather than organisation-wide admin, so a volunteer for one day does not get access to everything else.
- How many doors
- Any number of devices scan against the same list at the same time, and the idempotent scan is what makes multiple doors safe.
- What the desk sees
- Live arrivals against invited, on the console and as a widget, so the number is available to the person who needs it without asking the door.
- Who admitted whom
- Worth knowing before you rely on it: check-in records that a person arrived, not which member of your team scanned them. If you need to answer who admitted someone who was not on the list, the product cannot tell you today.
What check-in will not do
This is a door-scan and an arrivals count. It is not onsite registration, and the gap is the single most common misreading of the feature.
- No badge printing. There is no printer integration, no kiosk, and no on-demand badge stock anywhere in the product.
- No walk-up registration or payment at the door. Someone not on the list has to be added to the list.
- No dedicated scanner hardware support. It is a camera and a browser.
- No offline mode. A scan writes to the backend, so the door needs connectivity.
- No session-level scanning for attendance tracking or credits, which is what accredited programmes usually mean when they ask about check-in.
- No lead retrieval for exhibitors, which is a different scan with a different purpose.
The one to plan around is connectivity. If your foyer has no signal, get a hotspot for the door before the day rather than discovering it with a hundred people waiting.
Where door scanning is worth setting up
Any event where knowing who actually turned up matters afterwards: internal events where a budget owner asks for the number, association meetings where attendance is reported to a board, and anything with a room capacity a fire officer cares about.
It is also the fastest way to end the argument about no-show rates, because the arrivals count against the invited list is the number, rather than an estimate assembled from the catering order.
Last updated
What it costs
- Free up to 50
- activated attendees, on one live event
- $5
- per activated attendee beyond 50
- $4,750
- the most one event can ever cost, whatever happens past 1,000
Activated means the person claimed their invite and opened the app. Not when you import them, not when the invite is delivered, and not if they register and stay home.
Questions people actually ask
What happens if an attendee is scanned twice?
The second scan returns already checked in, with the time of the first. Nothing duplicates, the arrivals count does not move, and the queue keeps going. This is deliberate: at a busy door the repeat scan is normal, and treating it as an error costs more than the mistake it prevents.
Do we need barcode scanner hardware?
No. Check-in runs in the organizer console, so any phone or tablet with a camera and a login can be a door device. Multiple doors scanning the same list at once is safe because a repeat scan is harmless.
Can event67 print badges?
No. There is no printer integration and no kiosk. If your event needs printed badges on arrival, keep the badge supplier you have and use the app for the door scan and the arrivals count.
What if someone arrives who is not on the list?
The scan tells you they are not on it, and somebody with console access adds them. There is no walk-up registration flow and no payment at the door, so an unplanned attendee is an admin action rather than a self-service one.
Does check-in work without internet at the door?
No. Scans write to the backend so that every door sees the same state, which means the door needs connectivity. Foyers are frequently the worst-covered part of a venue, so treat a hotspot at the desk as part of the kit rather than a contingency.
Does check-in count towards what we pay?
Only indirectly. The meter counts activated attendees, which means someone who claimed their invite and opened the app, not someone scanned at a door. Checking in a person who never opened the app does not create a charge.
Keep reading
Features at the door
Event types that lean on this
See it in your own event
Your first 50 attendees are free on every event, so the smallest version of this costs nothing to try.