How does online ticketing software save your school time and money?

It was the biggest football game of the year between two rival high schools. This game was such a big deal that the ticket price included a free square seat cushion with the home team’s mascot on it. Families from both teams filled in the stands. There was even a half-time performance by both teams' cheer squads. The away cheer squad walked across the field to the home cheer squad to congratulate them on their performance. The home team students misinterpreted this congratulatory gesture, and saw this advancement as a threat, and used their square seat cushions with the mascot on them as large frisbees to throw at the away team’s cheerleaders—who ran back to their side of the field.

Everyone has stories like this from high school. The common factor in these stories that seemed like the biggest scandal, most amazing point scored, or best song sung by a high school student at the time, is they take place at the setting of a large school event. What we don’t realize at the time was all the faculty who organize these events, work the events, and the aftermath of the events. In the story above, the aftermath was having a meeting of the principals to discuss poor sportsmanship. The planning, the logistics, the marketing and the event itself take up a lot of time. Luckily for these busy teachers and administrators, there is one tool that will help ensure more accuracy at the gate, save money, and give time back to school staff so they can enjoy the game, and possibly take part in these unforgettable stories that will inevitably come. 

Let’s explore four ways that school ticketing and box office software will help your school events be more efficient.

Solve the problem of “I forgot/lost/dog-ate-my ticket” 

Students lose things, especially if the tickets are the little red perforated ones you can buy in bulk. When you bring your school ticketing system online, you solve the problem of lost tickets. The gate worker should be able to look up the purchaser of the ticket by last name, or the purchaser can search their email for the ticket as well. This is also a great way to get in and out of the stadium for the big game, because no ticket was taken, just scanned. Students would be able to leave to get food and come back in without the hassle of hand stamps. For events like the school play, or other forms of online fundraising for schools, patrons have the flexibility to store their tickets digitally.

Barcodes are very accurate

No double users allowed. Because we are working with a barcode, once it’s scanned it’s entered in the K12 payment center and counted as one entry. This will help with the accuracy of your head count at your school event. Quick tip! Your school can purchase barcode scanners with bluetooth for around $32 and be on their way to easier, more efficient school event management.

So few gate workers, so little time

With cash tickets to school events, there’s the constant juggle of having to recruit, hire, coordinate, and schedule gate workers, who are taking cash on behalf of the school—large amounts of cash.  In addition to gate workers for athletic events, schools enlist family volunteers for other events. There’s always the last minute drop-outs—and having to beg your fellow faculty to help out in their free time. If you eliminate cash, you will save time because your gate workers only need to scan a barcode for admittance. Some schools are having to pay gate workers for every event—imagine reducing this cost and what your school would do with the money saved!

No more cash—no more headaches

Cash management is a tremendous task at any school event. Not just collecting the money at the gate of the football game, for example, but accounting for it all later. Does everything match up? Did we lose any money? How many hands does the money go through before it gets to the school’s bank account? An advanced online school store software system would place the money directly into the correct account and automatically generate accurate reporting. Now, no one is walking back into the school at night locking up the cash, teachers aren’t responsible for collecting cash…everyone has enough headaches without extra cash management to worry about!

Two years ago, offering contactless payments through ticket sales or just online fundraising for schools, became a necessity. A built-in ticketing software system to your online school store software would not only reduce inaccuracies and save money from having to hire fewer staff, but also be more time efficient so we all can get back to the court, the field, or the stage—and enjoy watching our youth flourish.