Skip to content

Setting up an event

Take pre-registrations before your ticket on-sale

The gap between announcing an event and selling it is the cheapest audience you will ever build, and most promoters waste it. Pre-registration turns that gap into a list: people register interest, earn points for sharing your event, and get first access when the tickets appear.

Collect the people who want tickets before you have any to sell, reward them for bringing friends, and open a pre-sale to them ahead of everyone else.

For
Building demand before tickets go on sale
Takes
10 minutes

Before you start

  • The event is published, even with no ticket types on sale yet. Buyers reach the pre-registration page through your event page, and a draft event shows them nothing.
  • You know when tickets will actually go on sale. The pre-sale has to start after pre-registration ends, so those two dates decide each other.
  • You have decided what a registrant gets for sharing, if anything. Points and prizes are optional and can be added after the window opens.

  1. Turn pre-registration on

    Open the event and select Enable Pre-Registration.

    Note: You cannot switch it off again while rewards are running, so set the rewards after the dates rather than before them.

    Ticket Fairy pre-registration dates with the pre-registration and pre-sale windows and their enable switches
    Pre-Registration Dates, with both windows set.

  2. Set the registration window

    Enter the Pre-Registration Start Date and the end date beside it.

    Note: Open registration the day you announce. A window that opens later loses the attention the announcement bought you.

  3. Open a pre-sale for the people who registered

    Select Enable Pre-Sale and set its window after registration closes.

    Note: The pre-sale is the reward. It has to start after pre-registration ends, and the dashboard refuses a window that starts earlier.

  4. Choose what earns points

    Open Pre-Registration Actions and give each sharing action a point value.

    Note: Sharing a personal link is worth more than a follow, because it brings people rather than attention. Price the actions accordingly.

  5. Add a prize worth competing for

    Open Pre-Registration Prizes and select Add New Prize.

    Note: A prize only your event can give away beats a cash-equivalent one. Guest list, a soundcheck, a bar tab: things a competitor cannot copy.

Or have it done for you

Fai can open the pre-registration settings and report how many people have registered and how many tickets they asked for.

In your dashboard, with Fai

For <EVENT NAME>, how many people have pre-registered and how many tickets have they asked for between them

From your own assistant, over MCP

Connect your assistant to our 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 pre-registration dates

From your terminal

Install the CLI from our CLI page, sign in with ticketfairy auth login, and choose the brand you are working on with ticketfairy brand use <BRAND_ID>. ticketfairy brand list and ticketfairy event list show the IDs the other commands use.

Read the event to check the pre-registration window.

Show the event and its dates

ticketfairy event get <EVENT_ID>

Email the people who registered

  1. Send to the pre-registered audience

    Choose Pre-registered customers as the audience when the pre-sale opens.

    Note: There is a second audience for those who registered and never bought. That one is the reminder before the public on-sale.

Fai can draft the message and send it to the pre-registered audience after you approve it.

In your dashboard, with Fai

Draft an email to everyone pre-registered for <EVENT NAME> telling them the pre-sale is open, and show it to me before sending

From your own assistant, over MCP

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 pre-registration figures

From your terminal

Messages are reviewed and sent in the dashboard.

Show the event before you write to its audience

ticketfairy event get <EVENT_ID>

Read how the registration went

  1. Open the pre-registration report

    Open Pre-Registration in the event reports for the totals.

    Note: Total tickets requested is the number to plan against. It is usually larger than the number of people, and smaller than what they buy.

Fai can read the pre-registration totals back to you.

In your dashboard, with Fai

For <EVENT NAME>, how many people pre-registered and how many tickets did they ask for

From your own assistant, over MCP

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 pre-registration report

From your terminal

Read the event statistics.

Show the event statistics

ticketfairy event stats <EVENT_ID>

Questions you might have

Do I need ticket types before I open pre-registration?
No. Registration collects interest rather than orders, so it runs on a published event with no tickets set up yet. Have the tickets ready before the pre-sale opens.
Why can I not switch pre-registration off?
Rewards are running on it. Finish or remove the rewards and the switch is available again.
Does a pre-registration guarantee a buyer a ticket?
No. It gives them access to the pre-sale ahead of the public. Hold back enough stock for that window or the reward is one in name only.

Related 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 Book a demo

Book a demo

See how Ticket Fairy handles your tickets, on-sale and event entry. Pick a time that suits you.

45-Minute Video Call
Pick a Time That Works for You