---
title: "How do you run a guest list for your event without a spreadsheet? | Ticket Fairy Guides"
description: "Issue each name on the guest list a ticket with a barcode, give each promoter their own allocation to hand out from, and see who came in and who has been before."
canonical: "https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/run-a-guest-list-without-a-spreadsheet"
---

1. [Ticket Fairy](https://www.ticketfairy.com/)
2. [Guides](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides)
3. How do you run a guest list for your event without a spreadsheet?

Solving event ticketing problems

# How do you run a guest list for your event without a spreadsheet?

If you run a club night, a guest-list ticket has a barcode like any paid one, so your door team checks in a guest as quickly as a buyer. Ticket Fairy issues one to every name on the list, and gives each club promoter a counted allocation to hand out. After the night you can see who came in and when.

Takes:  6 minutes

Issue guest tickets rather than keeping a list of names. Each guest gets a real barcode by email out of a ticket type you control, so your door team scans them like any other ticket and the count is right before you open.

Give each promoter a delegation rather than taking their names by email. They hold a counted allocation and their own link, add their own names, and cannot go past the number you set. Nobody has to be added to your dashboard.

Afterwards, the check-in report says who walked in and when. Guests who have also bought a ticket from you before show up in the brand Customers list; a guest who has only ever been comped does not, because that report counts buyers.

## How Ticket Fairy helps

- ### [A guest list that scans at the door](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/issue-guest-tickets)

  Name the people, pick the ticket type and send. Each guest gets a real ticket by email, out of your own stock, and your door team scans it like any other.
- ### [An allocation for each promoter](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/let-a-partner-hand-out-their-own-tickets)

  A delegation gives a promoter a counted number of guest tickets and their own link to issue them from, with no login to your event.
- ### [Who actually came in](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/scan-tickets-at-the-door)

  The check-in report shows arrivals by hour and lists each ticket as your door team scans it, so you know who turned up instead of guessing.
- ### [Who has bought before](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/understand-who-buys-tickets-across-your-events)

  Customers lists every buyer across your brand, so you can see which of the names on your list have paid to come in the past and which have only been guests.
- ### [The same setup every week](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/run-a-nightclub)

  Build one night the way you want it, then start each new date from it, so the guest-list ticket type and the door rules never have to be rebuilt.

## Set it up

- [Send the list their tickets](#step-1)
- [Give each promoter their own allocation](#step-2)
- [Watch the door as it happens](#step-3)
- [See who has bought before](#step-4)

## Before you start

- You're an owner, an admin or a **Curator** on the event. With any of those roles, you can send guest tickets and set up delegations.
- A promoter you give a delegation to needs no login of their own: you send them a link by email.
- You have a ticket type for the guest list. A free comp tier with its own allocation is what most clubs use.

1. ## Send the list their tickets

   Open **Guest Tickets**, name the people and pick the ticket type.

   **Note:** Add people one at a time, or upload a CSV of names and email addresses. Each person gets a barcode by email, so your door team doesn't need a printed list.

   ![The Send Guest Tickets form, with the ticket type, the guest's name and their email address](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-guest-tickets--send-guest-tickets.png)    
   *Guest Tickets.*
2. ## Give each promoter their own allocation

   Open **Delegations** and create one for each promoter, with the number they can hand out.

   **Note:** They issue their own names from their own link and stop at your number, so you no longer have to collect their guest lists yourself.

   ![The Delegations page of an event, listing three partners with a control to manage who holds each one](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-delegations--delegations.png)    
   *Delegations.*
3. ## Watch the door as it happens

   Open **Check-In** on the night and select **Hourly** for arrivals by hour.

   **Note:** It shows how full you are and whether the guest list is turning up.

   ![The check-in report of an event, with arrivals counted by hour](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-check-in--hourly-report.png)    
   *Check-In.*
4. ## See who has bought before

   Open **Customers** on your brand after the night.

   **Note:** A name on your list who has also paid for four tickets is worth a different offer from one who has never bought. The report counts buyers, so a guest who has only ever been comped is not in it.

   ![The Customers list of a brand, with how many tickets each buyer has bought](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-customers--customer-list.png)    
   *Brand, Customers.*

## Or have it done for you

Fai, your AI teammate, can check sales, update your event or change a ticket when you ask.

Fai issues the guest tickets when you name the people and the ticket type. She shows you the list before she sends anything.

### In your dashboard, with Fai

```
Issue guest-list tickets for <EVENT NAME> to these six names on the comp tier, and show me the list before you send
```

### From your own assistant, over MCP

Connect your assistant to [our MCP server](https://www.ticketfairy.com/mcp-server) and ask it:

Keep `--read-only` in your MCP configuration. This task only reads data, so your assistant does not need tools that make changes.

```
Pick the brand, find the event <EVENT NAME> and show its ticket types
```

## Questions you might have

**Does a guest-list ticket cost me anything?**

 It comes out of the allocation on the ticket type you choose, so it uses capacity rather than money. Use a free comp tier and the guest pays nothing.

**What if a promoter puts the wrong name on the list?**

 Open **Orders**, select the **Guest** tab and cancel that order. The barcode stops working and the ticket comes back to your stock, but you can't take back the email.

**Can a promoter see my sales if I give them a delegation?**

 No. A delegation is a link they use to issue tickets from one allocation, and it shows them nothing else about your event.

**How do I know whether the guest list actually turned up?**

 The check-in report counts scans by hour and lists each ticket as your door team scans it. Guest tickets scan like any other, so they are counted the same way.

**Does any of this work for a weekly night rather than one date?**

 Yes. Build one night with the guest-list ticket type and the door rules you want, then start every new date from it, and put the dates in a public series so regulars find the next one.

## Still have a question?

Book a demo and we will answer it on a call, on your kind of event. Or create your account and see it for yourself.

   [Book a demo](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo) [Create a free account](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/welcome)

No setup fees. No monthly fee. No credit card required.

## Related guides

- [More ways to use Ticket Fairy](https://www.ticketfairy.com/solutions/nightclubs-and-club-nights)
- [Run ticketing for a nightclub](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/run-a-nightclub)
- [Send free tickets to your guest list](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/issue-guest-tickets)
- [Let a partner hand out their own tickets for your event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/let-a-partner-hand-out-their-own-tickets)
- [Scan tickets at the door](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/scan-tickets-at-the-door)
- [How do you keep a high-demand on-sale running smoothly?](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/keep-a-high-demand-on-sale-running-smoothly)
- [How do you manage many events without repeating the same work?](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/run-many-events-on-one-platform)
- [Every Ticket Fairy guide](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides)

## Do this on your own event

Create your account, build your event and follow the steps in your own dashboard. You do not need to book a sales call.

  [Create a free account](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/welcome) [Book a demo](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo)

## Sell tickets with Ticket Fairy

Start free with unlimited events and no monthly fee, and choose a paid plan when you need more.

- Set up your event in minutes
- Free events are free
- Fai, your AI teammate, is built in

 [Create a free account](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/welcome)

No setup fees. No monthly fee. No credit card required.

## See it on a call

Book a demo and we will show you how Ticket Fairy handles your kind of event.

 [Book a demo](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo) [More ways to use Ticket Fairy](https://www.ticketfairy.com/solutions/nightclubs-and-club-nights)

### Tips for selling more tickets

Practical advice from working event organizers, and every new guide as it is published.

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---

This page is on Ticket Fairy, a ticketing, marketing and operations platform for live events and the venues that host them: festivals, club nights, concerts, conferences and tours, and night clubs, beach clubs and concert venues. It grows revenue with fan rewards that turn an audience into a sales channel, and runs the money side with payments and payouts, Vault business banking, and working capital advanced against ticket sales. [How Ticket Fairy ticketing works](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing) · [Ticket Fairy for AI assistants](https://www.ticketfairy.com/llms.txt)