Quick Start Guide

Here are some quick start instructions to get you acquainted with your new ticketing system.

Step 1: Each time you login you’re presented with your “Dashboard”. This is where you can get an overview of your events and venue statistics. Events are listed by the upcoming events at the top of the list. You may also notice news postings regarding issues, updates, reminders and improvements to the system.

Step 2: Venue Management. Click on the venues tab. This is the section where everything begins. Click “Add Venue” and a window will pop-up that allows you to enter your venue information. You may continue to edit this information (and all other sections in the system) as needed so don’t be concerned if you don’t have all the information available. NOTE: You may enter unlimited venues into the ETS system at this time.

Step 3: When you’ve successfully entered your venue information, click save and you’ll be transported back to the venues tab. You should see your new venue listed here. The next step is to add a seating chart. Click the link that says “Add New Chart” in the Manage Seating Charts column.

Step 4: General Admission events. If your event is a General Admission event (which means that you do not sell individual reserved seats) select the “General Admission Only” option. Give your seating chart a descriptive name and enter the number of seats and default price. There is no need to attach a seating chart for a general admission event. Please upload one to your website if you feel that it’s necessary to show the venue seating to you patrons.

Step 5: Reserved Seating events. If your event is a Reserved Seating event or combination of reserved seating and general admission, please choose “Reserved Seating/General Admission”. You’ll notice that an option to upload your seating chart appears. Select the “Browse…” button to navigate to the image file on your local computer. When you’ve selected it you can simply save and the file will be uploaded and attached to your venue. NOTE: You may upload unlimited seating charts for your venue. Pricing for events is applied directly to the seating charts so you may need a seating chart for each event if event or section pricing differs from event to event. You may also have different sections available depending on the event so we’ve designed it in this way to allow you maximum flexibility.

Step 6: Once you have your venue setup and a seating chart added you’ll be ready to move on to the next step. For general admission events you can continue on to step #8. For reserved seating events select your seating chart from the drop down menu in the “Manage Seating Charts” column and select “go”.

Step 7: You should see your seating chart appear. To define the information for a section simply click around the edges of the section to define it. (You should see a thin red line appear each time you click. You may define any shape regardless of complexity. When you’re satisfied, you MUST double click to complete your section. This action will open up the “Section Details” window where you can define all the information related to that section. (Name, price, available seats, seating and row labeling, discount scheduling and more.) When you’re done select “Save” each time you edit the section information if you want it to update in the database. NOTE: To delete a seating chart in the system you must select your seating chart and open it up for editing. In the top right corner of the window you’ll see “Delete Seating Chart”. Simply click this to delete a chart from the system.

Step 8: Adding Events. To add your first event you need to click on the “Events” tab in the top navigation. To add an event simply click the “Add Event” link in the top left corner of the page. Similar to the Section Details area you’ll see a pop-up window appear that allow you to define the event details. (Name, event date and time, sale start date, your seating chart for the event, seats available, description that appears on your event store page, etc.) NOTE: The sale start date and sale time function is automated in the ETS system. This means that your tickets will automatically appear on your venue store at this time without your involvement.

Step 9: When you have successfully entered your first event you’ll be transported back to the Event Overview page where you should see your event listed. Please note the drop down menu in the “Action” column. This will present you with several options including the management of event details, the design of your print-at-home tickets (if applicable), the management of event sponsorship banners on your venue store pages and the ability to delete an event if you need to start over. NOTE: You don’t have to delete an event from the system if it’s cancelled. Simply edit your event details and move the event status to “Cancelled” and this will appear on your venue store page for patrons to see.

Step 10: Sales: After you’ve successfully added your event and put some events on sale you’ll need to manage your sales and patron accounts. To do this, click on the “Sales” tab in the top navigation and you’ll see your events listed as well as some additional text links for options.

Step 10a: Sell Tickets. The sell tickets link allows you to sell tickets for your event through the ETS system. As an admin or ticket seller you can accept credit card information over the phone and process the orders through the system directly or you can take cash or check and just log the order through the system. Additionally, you may also swipe credit cards at your venue and process orders through the system without the need to actually enter payment information.

Step 10b: Manage Sales. This is a listing of your sales for all events. You can sort the listings by venue or do a keyword search for the customer’s last name, etc. You may also pull up the receipt and reprint it for each order within this section.

Step 10c: Manage Customers. Similar to Manage Sales, Manage customers allows you to view your past customers in the ETS system. You can sort by venue or do a keyword search for address, last name, email address, etc.

Step 11: The ETS system is integrated with a robust permission/email marketing system that allows you to capture patron information and then market to them directly via email. The features of this portion of the application are robust and can’t be covered adequately within this introduction. Please login and review the help and getting started information included within the interface for more information. NOTE: You must request to have this setup and integrated into your account.

Step 12: Reporting. The reporting options that are available under the “Reporting” tab at the top include various summary reports about your venue and events that you can view in your browser, print, email or export as a .csv file that can be imported in Excel. Some reports include event and venue overview reports, sales reports, section overview reports and the ability to generate a report that details all of your “Will Call” sales so you can print a handy checklist for the event.

Step 13: Options and My Account: These two tabs allow you to modify the basic information about your account like the type of credit card processing that you’ll integrate (Currently Paypal and Authorize.net are available). You may also update your client information, email address, password, etc. within the “My Account” tab. NOTE: We’re always open to integrating more payment gateways. Please just ask.

Step 14: Ticket Sellers. You may have a need to setup multiple ticket seller accounts for individuals in your organization or around town that need the ability to sell tickets through the system but do not need access to the additional account functionality. Simply click on “Add Seller” to define an account for this person or sales outlet. They will only see the ability to sell tickets and manage their account information.

Step 15: This is a minor note, but make sure that you log out of your account each time you’re finished to make sure there there is no unauthorized tampering with your venue or events. You do this by simply clicking the “Log Out” tab. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.

As always, if you have a question, concern, need or find a bug, please email us directly at support@eventticketingsystems.com

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