So you decided to use Oveit for your events. First of all, we would like to thank you for choosing us. We’d tell you what a great solution Oveit is, but instead we will invite you to start using it and then we’d like to hear from you, in case you liked it.
Let’s get started. This will be a small tutorial spread into different parts regarding the different functions that Oveit has to offer. Each part will offer you insight regarding a specific function and how to use it properly so you can make the most of our platform and enjoy using it.
Your dashboard
The first thing you will see when you access your Oveit account is the dashboard. Basically here you will see important information regarding your ticket sales. For detailed reports on sales and tickets sold, you can click on More reports and you’ll access the Reports function. We’ll talk about that in another part of the tutorial.
Starting your new event
Now, let’s move on to creating an actual event. You can either click on the button My events and you will be taken to the Event Management chart or you can click on Create an Event button and this will take you to the core part of Oveit.
You’ll see that creating an event is extremely easy. You have 4 main steps and two other ones in case you want to use two additional functions: Registration forms and Badge design (we’ll speak about these in two other parts of the tutorial).
The first step is entitled Event Settings. Here you create the general features of your event such as the event’s name. After you enter the name of the event, you’ll see that there are two options regarding your event: No seating and With seating. If you click on the No seating button, then there will be no venue seating chart attached to your event. That means there are no seats assigned to the tickets. All you have to do now is enter the location of the venue where the event will take place, place it on the map (Oveit uses Google Maps) and you’re set. On the other hand, if you check With seating this will allow you to assign one of your previously created Event Venues (this is one of the major functions that Oveit offers and we’ll have a separate tutorial just for it). So, all you do now is to choose your venue and it will automatically sync the event with the venue’s seating map as you have designed it.
Next, you set the date and hour of the event and its length. After that is set, you move on and introduce a description for your event. Finally, you can choose whether you want to enable the Registration forms or Badge design functions for this event. If you enable registration forms, you will see that a new step appears before the Event Preview. If you enable attendee badges, this will be available to you in the Event Management Dashboard and you will be able to set up the badges after the event is created. Once you’ve done all this, click on Next Step and let’s move on.
Adding tickets
The next step is Ticket types. Here you will set up the different categories of tickets that will be available for purchase once the event is published. The first thing you do is set your ticket type name. You can set names such as VIP Area, Entry ticket, Early bird ticket etc. Obviously, the ticket type name is your choice and varies according to the events. You might want to create special prices for different areas in your venue, so you can name one ticket type Area A and another Area B. Again, this is your choice to make.
Now, you can make a short description of the ticket (300 characters). Here you can add information about the ticket that might be relevant to the attendee. This is optional but sometimes it’s a good thing to have, as you might want to offer the attendee some extra features on that respective ticket. Or it may be a multiple-day pass for a larger event and the description can indicate the events where he is allowed to participate.
Next is the ticket price. You can set up the ticket price in USD and soon other currencies. Nevertheless, if you enter the ticket price “0”, that means the event is free of charge and you can go on using Oveit just as a registration tool for the attendees.
After you set up the price, you can tick an option to include the sales fees in the final price, or opt to add it to your ticket price. You will see the buyer’s final price (and our fee) and you will see how much you will receive in the end.
You will see a Bulk sales options bar. This is a nice feature in case you want to create special offers for a specific ticket category. Let’s say that your ticket price is 20 USD. Now, you can make a special offer and sell 2 tickets for the price of one. You add in the bar: 2 tickets cost 20 USD. And the offer is active. Simple and fast. Of course, you can include our processing fee in the price or add it, just like in the case of normal tickets. And you can also add more promotions: 5 tickets cost X USD, 10 tickets cost X USD… and all the way to 15 tickets. If you want to remove a bulk sales offer just click delete and you’re done.
Next, you can set up the timetable of the sales for this ticket type. Set the starting date and hour of the sales and set the closing date and hour. If you want to sell this type of ticket until the event day, just leave the fields empty and Oveit will set it up automatically.
Now you have to add the Series and the Numbers of the tickets if you wish to do so. Otherwise, just let Oveit work its magic and generate the ticket ID’s automatically. Save the ticket and proceed. You can add more tickets, edit your created tickets and associate the tickets with the event venue.
Once you click on the Associate Tickets you will be taken to a new window where you will see the seating chart of the venue that you’ve previously created. To associate tickets with seats is extremely simple. Just click on the ticket type and then click on the seat section… and that’s it. If you want to block some areas of the seating chart, just click on ‘Unassociated’ and then on the respective area, and it’s blocked. You can do that while sales are going on, as you might want to change ticket prices or you might want to assign some seats to other categories or even give invitations/vouchers for those seats. So with just a couple of clicks you can do your seat management on the fly with this Assign seats function.
The checkout settings
The third step is about checkout settings. This refers to everything the customer sees and receives via e-mail once he has purchased the ticket. First you have the ticket settings. Here you can attach the tickets to the order confirmation email or not. Why wouldn’t you want that? Well in case you create a badge for the event and that is the actual ticket for the event, you don’t need to send out the ticket anymore. The badge will be the ticket for your event. You can also decide whether you want to display the tickets in the order confirmation page that is available via email and you can also decide whether you want customers to see how many tickets are still available for the event. Many organizers do not want to show the customers how many tickets are still available, so the option of doing this is up to you. We can help you with both decisions.
Next, you can opt to include the Oveit fee in the displayed prices. Obviously, if you think that is unnecessary information you can just leave it unmarked.
Now, there are several things that you can add to the email that the customer receives once he has purchased the ticket. You will see a chart with variables and their description. You have all the information you need there so we won’t repeat the information. What we can mention is the fact that you can write anything you want in the e-mail regarding the ticket and your event, and you can also add images in case you want to.
Finally, you have the order confirmation page. Here you can opt to send a Thank you message that will be displayed after the customer has purchased the ticket or you can send him to a custom created URL on your website. To do that, just add the link and all is done.
Preview your event
Copy, paste and embed your event in your website
The last step is Preview. Here you can see how your event will look like. You can go back and change things if it is necessary or you can publish it and you’re done. Now all you have to do is get the event on your website and make it available to customers. To do that, click on ‘My events’ in the bar, right near the Oveit logo and go into the Events Dashboard. Here, you will notice that every event has an “</> Embed” button below it.
Click on that button and you’ll find two embed codes (one available for light theme and one for dark theme – the theme refers to your website visual theme). Just copy the code you need and paste it on your website just like you would paste a Youtube code. The embed is responsive and works with every website software so you won’t have any problems putting it on your website in just a couple of seconds.
And that’s it! You managed to create your event and put it on your website. Now customers can purchase tickets directly from your website and everything happens on your website.
This concludes the first part of our ‘How to’ articles. We’ll be back a.s.a.p. with more information regarding the other tools that Oveit has to offer so that your experience with our platform will be a very pleasant one.
So, once again, thanks for using Oveit!