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Invitations and guest lists

Take act and trader applications for your event

When you book acts, market traders or crew for a festival, a form on your event collects every application with the same questions answered. You read them in one list, email each applicant your decision, and send the people you accept a ticket or an invitation to buy.

Build a form for your event that asks acts, traders or guests what you need to know, read every application in one list, accept or decline each one, and send the people you accept a ticket.

For
Choosing acts, traders or guests from the people who apply
Takes
12 minutes

Before you start

  • You need an owner or admin login for the event. If Forms isn't in your event's menu, ask the event's owner to make you an admin.

  1. Start a form

    Open your event, select Forms under Interact, then select Create Form. On an event with no forms yet, the button is Add New Form.

    Note: One event can run several forms at once, so acts and traders can each get their own questions.

    The Forms page with an artist application form and a market stall form, each showing its dates and its public address
    Forms.

  2. Name the form and set when it takes answers

    On the Details step, enter the Title, then choose the Start Date and End Date the form takes answers between. With both dates empty, the form takes answers from the moment you create it.

    Note: Applicants see the title as the form's heading, with Subtitle (optional) and Description under it.

    The Details step of the Create Form dialog, with the title, subtitle, description, both dates and the public address of the form
    Create Form, Details.

  3. Check the form's address

    Check the address in Form Link, which fills itself in from the title and the start date until you change it.

    Note: It can hold lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens, and no other form on Ticket Fairy can have the same one. Settle it before you share it, because an address you change stops working.

  4. Enter the message applicants see after they apply

    Select Next, then enter the Success Message applicants see when they send the form.

    Tip: Say when you'll answer, so applicants know when to look out for your decision.

    The Content step of the Create Form dialog, with the success message, the two images and the two decision emails
    Create Form, Content.

  5. Add a background image and a social image

    Optional: Add a Background Image to show behind the form and a Social Image to show when someone shares the form's address.

  6. Choose the emails applicants get when you decide

    Choose an Approved Email Template and a Declined Email Template from your event's email templates.

    Note: Create Email Template opens your event's Email Templates page in a new tab, and a template you save there appears in both lists. Leave a list empty and that decision changes the application's status without sending an email.

  7. Add a question

    Select Next, then select Add Field, the plus button under the list of questions.

    Note: Every form starts with an email question that you can't edit or delete, because your decision emails go to the address applicants enter there.

    The Fields step of the Create Form dialog, listing the email question and two questions added for this event
    Create Form, Fields.

  8. Name the question and choose its type

    In the Add Field dialog, enter the Label applicants see, then choose its Type.

    • Text Field: A short answer on one line, such as an act name.
    • Text Area: A longer answer over several lines, such as a biography or a stall description.
    • Email Field: Another email address, such as an agent's. Decision emails go to the answer to whichever email question comes first on the form.
    • Radio Buttons: One answer from a short list, with every answer on show.
    • Select Field: One answer from a list that opens as a dropdown.
    • Multi-Select Field: Any number of answers from the list, such as every day an act can play.

  9. Enter the answers for a choice question

    If you chose Radio Buttons, Select Field or Multi-Select Field, enter each answer applicants can pick in its own box. The dialog starts with two boxes, and the add button under them gives you another.

    Note: A choice question needs at least two answers, and no two can be the same.

  10. Save the question

    Turn on Required if every applicant has to answer, then select Add Field at the foot of the dialog.

    Note: Pre-filled Answer (optional) puts an answer in place that applicants can change. The list shows each question under a short name made from its label, and that name heads its column when applications arrive.

  11. Put the questions in order

    Drag each question by the handle at its left until the list is in the order you want to ask them.

    Note: On a phone, the up and down arrows above each question move it instead.

  12. Create the form

    Select Create Form at the foot of the dialog. You see Form created successfully! and the form joins the list on the Forms page.

  13. Open the form the way applicants see it

    Select Copy Form Link in the form's row menu, then open the address in a new browser tab. You see the title, the description and your questions in order, or Sorry, this form is currently unavailable or invalid. until the start date comes round.

    Tip: Ask applicants to sign in to Ticket Fairy before they send the form, because you can accept or decline only an application sent by someone signed in.

  14. Read the applications

    On the form's row, select Submissions. Each application is a row with its status, the email address, your tags and one column for each question.

    Note: A form with no applications yet shows Edit there instead.

    Tip: Select the refresh button at the top of the dialog to load applications that arrived while it was open.

    The applications for an artist form, four rows showing each status, email address, tags and every answer given
    Forms, Submissions.

  15. Accept or decline each application

    Select Accept or Decline on the application's row. The status changes and the email you chose for that decision goes to the address the applicant entered.

    Note: Both buttons stay dim on an application sent by someone who wasn't signed in to Ticket Fairy, so ask that applicant to sign in and send the form again.

Or have it done for you

Fai, the assistant inside your dashboard, can read the forms on your event and every application in them, then list the applicants who match what you ask for. She reads here and changes nothing: build the form, and accept or decline each application, in the dashboard.

In your dashboard, with Fai

Show me the new applications on the artist applications form for <EVENT NAME>, with each act name and email address

Let Fai do it for you

Fai works inside your Ticket Fairy dashboard. Create your account, open Fai and paste the prompt above.

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

Send an accepted applicant a free ticket

  1. Open the guest ticket form

    On an accepted row, select Issue Guest Tickets. The form opens with the applicant's email address filled in.

    Note: If the form shows No issuable inventory, the event has no ticket type or table to issue yet, so add one to the event first.

  2. Choose the ticket and issue it

    Choose the Ticket Type, enter the name on each ticket, then select Issue Tickets.

    Note: Each ticket comes out of that ticket type's stock like a sold one. The application stays at Accepted, and the ticket shows in the issued list on the Guest Tickets page.

Fai can send guest tickets to the applicants you accepted. She reads their names and email addresses from the form, and shows you the recipients, the ticket type and the count to approve before anything is sent.

In your dashboard, with Fai

Send one Artist ticket each to the applicants I accepted on the artist applications form for <EVENT NAME>, and show me who gets what before you send

Invite an accepted applicant to buy tickets

  1. Open the invitation

    On an accepted row, select Invite to Buy Tickets. The Send Invitation dialog opens with the applicant's email address and name filled in.

  2. Enter the invitation email

    Choose a template under Select from Email Templates to fill in the Subject and Invitation Content, or enter both yourself.

  3. Set the limits and send the invitation

    Choose the Maximum number of tickets and Maximum number of transactions, then select Send. You see Successfully sent! when the invitation is on its way.

    Note: The applicant gets their own ticket link by email and can buy up to that many tickets in up to that many orders. Both limits start at 1.

Send this invitation from the applications list in the dashboard, which fills in the applicant's email address and name for you.

Work through a long list of applications

  1. Tag the applications you want to come back to

    In an application's Tags box, enter a tag such as Headline shortlist, then press Enter.

    Note: Tags are for you and your team, and applicants never see them. A tag saves without sending the applicant anything.

  2. Filter the list

    Select Show Filter, then choose a status, a tag or an answer to show only the applications that match.

    Note: Each choice question gets its own filter, so you can show every act who picked Saturday.

  3. Export the applications

    Select Export CSV at the foot of the dialog. The file holds the applications the filter is showing, with columns for the status, the email address, the tags and each question.

    Tip: Clear the filter first to export every application.

Fai can read the applications on your form and list the ones that match what you describe, such as every act who picked Saturday. Tag, filter and export the applications in the dashboard.

In your dashboard, with Fai

Go through the artist applications form for <EVENT NAME> and list the acts who picked Saturday, with their email addresses

Get the form in front of applicants

  1. Open the form again

    Select Edit Form in the form's row menu.

  2. Download a QR code for the form

    Select Download QR Code, the square button at the end of Form Link.

    Note: You get a PNG image of the form's address to add to a poster, a flyer or a social post.

    Tip: Select Cancel afterwards to close the form without changing it.

Fai can draft social captions that ask acts or traders to apply, in your brand's voice, and shows you every version to choose from. Nothing is posted, so add the form's address to the caption you pick, and download the QR code from the form in the dashboard.

In your dashboard, with Fai

Draft three social captions for <EVENT NAME> asking acts to apply for a slot, and leave space for the application link

Questions you might have

Do applicants need a Ticket Fairy account to apply?
No. Anyone with the address can send the form while it's open. You can accept or decline an application only when the applicant was signed in to Ticket Fairy as they sent it, so if Accept and Decline are dim on a row, ask that applicant to sign in and send the form again.
What happens when I accept an applicant?
The row changes to Accepted, and the email you chose under Approved Email Template goes to the address the applicant entered in the email question. If you left that list empty, the status changes and no email goes out. Accepting doesn't send a ticket: Issue Guest Tickets and Invite to Buy Tickets appear on the row once it's accepted.
Can I change my mind after accepting or declining?
Yes. An accepted application offers Decline and a declined one offers Accept. Each change sends the email you chose for the new decision, so the applicant gets a second email.
Can I change a form after applications have come in?
Yes. Select Edit Form in the form's row menu, make your changes, then select Update Form. New applicants get the questions as they are now, and the answers already given stay in the list and the export, even for a question you delete. Renaming a question starts a new column for it, and its earlier answers stay under the old name.
Why won't my form save?
The dialog takes you back to the step with the problem and marks the field: Title and Form Link can't be empty, End Date has to be after Start Date, and each choice question needs at least two different answers. If you see The slug is already used, another form on Ticket Fairy already has that address, so change the end of Form Link and select Create Form again.
Can I stop the form without deleting it?
Yes. Select Edit Form, set End Date to a time that has passed, then select Update Form. Anyone who opens the address then sees a message that the form is unavailable, and every application stays in your list. Delete Form in the row's menu removes the form and all of its applications from your dashboard as soon as you select it, and you can't bring them back.
Who else can read the applications?
Anyone with an owner or admin login for the event. Other roles on your team, such as promoter, curator or stats, don't see Forms, and Ticket Fairy's support team can open it when they help you with the event.

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