Venue Ticketing FAQs

There are many ways to accomplish this, depending on factors such as the size of your venue, the functionality you need (QR code scanning, seating charts, etc.)

Ideally, the ticketing system can be integrated in a seamless way with the website content. Each event (music performance, comedy performance, theater performance, etc.) can be a web page in WordPress. Then, each page can be linked to the ticketing system to sell event tickets. Ideally, the real-time inventory status reflects back onto the web page to inform customers when an event has low inventory or is sold out.

Factors to keep in mind are:

• Do you already have a ticketing system?
• Does the ticketing system have a WordPress plugin?
• Does the ticketing system have an API that a developer can use to connect to?
• Does the ticketing system have the ability to sync to WordPress?

It's important that your ticketing platform offer an API that is accessible to WordPress. A good solution is to "overlay" ticket inventory availability data on top of an event web page. That event page would be a post in WordPress (possibly of a custom post type such as show, concert, performance, etc.) The ID of the show must be synchronized with the ticketing platform, and each visit to the web page will query the ticketing platform to identify inventory status. Then, JavaScript can be used to display sold out, last call, or other such inventory availability indicators on top of the web page.

You may have several objectives for syncing the ticketing system with WordPress. If you wish to have events pull into WordPress automatically as Posts, your ticketing system will need an API that a developer can connect to. (Some ticketing systems even offer WordPress plugins that encapsulate this functionality.) If you wish to have event inventory sync over to WordPress, your ticketing system will need an API that can overlay a status on the event and in the event calendar.

There are several approaches.

The easiest is to create a page that represents an event and link it to the ticketing system.

However, a better way is to have the ticketing system events sync with WordPress posts, and have event metadata shared between the post and the ticketing system. Ticket inventory information can be overlaid on top of an event calendar and the event page in real-time so that fans know ticket availability.

The best ticketing systems will seamlessly offer a cart that appears synchronized between the WordPress site and the venue ticketing system. While rare, this is a superior feature, and can allow customers to purchase tickets for several events simultaneously in the same cart and checkout experience.

The short answer is Yes. You an use WooCommerce and simply create and sell a product.

However, there are several considerations if you have a larger venue or offer similar events on a regular basis.

• High performance ticket sales. WordPress is a great platform, but its performance can suffer when many simultaneous visitors are in contention for limited ticket inventory.
• Digital tickets and QR code scanning. Validating tickets and checking in each ticket individually can prevent ticket fraud.
• Ticket campaigns. Tickets to events are often sold with pre-sales, campaigns, and other pricing and release strategies.
• Seating charts. If your venue has seats, or can be configured with seats, allowing customers seat (or table) selection can be beneficial.

For these reasons, it is beneficial to have a ticketing platform on a high-performance, high-security cloud platform that is integrated seamlessly with your WordPress website.