This article should give you a better idea of what types of check-in options we offer and how exactly to use them best. The article will discuss methods that can be used on desktop, mobile and tablet devices.
Additionally we will discuss where check-in data can be accessed after the event concludes.
EVENTSQUID DASHBOARD CHECK-IN
In order to best understand the methods of registrant check-in, it is important to understand the 2 different types of check-in stamps:
- EVENT-LEVEL: the event-level check-in stamp allows an admin to mark the attendee as present to the overall event. This is useful because it gives you an easy way to record when attendees initially show up to the door. It can be used in conjunction with item-level check-in.
- ITEM-LEVEL: the item-level check-in stamp allows an admin to mark when a registrant shows up to and leaves a specific activity that occurs during the overall event timeline.
With a thorough understanding of the types of check-in data you can capture for a given registrant, you will start to structure your registration around your business requirements ahead of time.
Below, you'll find an explanation for the different ways in which you / your event staff can access these check-in points.
DASHBOARD - EVENT CHECK-IN
You can use your event's Registered Attendees list on the Event Dashboard to manually check an attendee into the event. Simply click the green CHECK-IN button to the right of their name:
Once checked in, the system will keep a record of when that person was checked into the event. You can also see when a registrant was checked into the event by looking at their record on the dashboard:
DASHBOARD - ITEM CHECK-IN
Ever want to check attendees into individual activities or sessions? How about multi-day check-in? Registration Items also give you the ability to capture check-in data.
Think about items as an alternative way to capture a time stamp for a given registrant. This gives you an extra dimension beyond the overall event to record attendee check-in data.
For example, if a registrant is signed up for 3 breakout sessions (i.e. 3 registration items), you have 3 individual activities/items that you can check the registrant into and out of.
You can access item check-in using the Registered Attendees list on the Event Dashboard.
Take the example below - this registrant is signed up for 3 days of "Event Access". Each day is represented by an item, created by the event host.
You can see below that each item has the ability to be stamped for check-in and check-out:
TABLET CHECK-IN
Go to your Event Dashboard and open the live event controls. You'll see a blue CHECK-IN button on the far left side of the event stripe. Click this button:
A window will open with instructions on how to operate tablet check-in. To activate, simply click the Open Tablet Check-In button under Step 3 to activate it. A new window will open up - we recommend using a tablet to display the tablet check-in window.
On this screen, the registrant simply has to enter two pieces of information:
- LAST NAME
- CONFIRMATION # (this is located at the top of the confirmation email)
Once they enter these pieces of data and click the CHECK-IN button to confirm, the registrant is finished and they are checked into the overall event. Note that you are not able to use self check-n for time stamping specific registration items.
MOBILE CHECK-IN
Admin check-in places the power of attendee check-in into the hands of your on-site event staff. However, this does require that event staff have an admin login and we'll get into that shortly.
There are 2 ways an admin can utilize the mobile app for attendee check-in:
- QR code scan
- Registrant lookup
1) QR CODE SCAN
A registrant can obtain a QR code for the event...
- With a badge (that you generate)
- Via the confirmation email (if you allow, there will be a button in the confirmation email)
- On the mobile app (if you allow, there will be a button on the home page of the app)
With this in mind, there are multiple places an event staff member can request that an attendee pull up their QR code for scanning.
To scan the QR code, an event staff can use:
- One of our two free, recommend QR scanning apps:
- Their mobile phone's native camera application
Once scanned, the admin will be presented with a screen that requests they enter the authorization ID in order to verify they are an admin.
QUICK TIP: The authorization ID can be set within the Manage Organization area of the Event Dashboard. Once here, click the Check-In tab on the left.
Once the event staff member enters the ID, they won't have to enter it again (until their browser session expires after a long period of inactivity).
The act of scanning a registrant will check the registrant into the overall event (if they haven't been checked in already). In the screenshot below, you can see that upon scanning, the admin is also brought into the details of the registration. The admin will see a green "CHECKED IN" indicator at the top of the attendee's details panel, indicating when that person was initially checked into the event.
Within the registrant's mobile details, the event staff will be able to see:
- The status of the attendee's balance
- Event check-in time
- Registration Items
From this screen, the admin can also time stamp the registrant's individual items/activity selections. Tap once for check-in, tap again for check-out:
We also include QR codes on labels and item vouchers (click to read about the CONFIRMATION PAGE editing section within the Registration Form/Custom Profiles editor). Even if you only have one registration item, checking in an attendee for that item will check the attendee into the event generally.
2) REGISTRANT LOOKUP
The second way an event staff member can check someone into and out of individual registration items is via the Check-In App lookup function.
After scanning a registrant's badge, you will see a small SEARCH button at the top right corner of the screen (image below) - tap that button and you will be led to the attendee search utility, where you can look up registrants by their names (screenshot below on the left).
You can also access the check-in search utility (i.e. before having to scan someone's QR code) by logging into the mobile app. This, of course, would require the staff member to have an admin user account on the dashboard. The Check-In app can be accessed through the main menu of the mobile app (second screenshot below).
SELF CHECK-IN
Instead of your on-site team bearing the majority of the check-in responsibility, you can offload this task onto the registrants themselves by activating self check-in.
Recall that tablet check-in (described above) would act as a self check-in mechanism for registrants signing into the overall event.
The mobile self check-in mechanism is strictly for registrants checking themselves into / out of specific activities (registration items). The goal of self check-in is to validate registrant attendance to certain sessions / activities.
CONFIGURATION & SETUP
Self check-in requires that you, the admin, designate codes for checking in and checking out of a specific registration. This prevents people from time stamping their itinerary when they didn't actually attend the session. This is an especially important security tool for events that award credit hours for attending certain sessions.
To configure, navigate to the Registration Items tool in the Event Builder. Click on your item to open its settings panel. Click the ACCESS tab on the left and you will see for self check-in is configured - take a look at the screen below:
The first step in configuring self check-in is to designate check-in and check-out codes. Again, you'll need to do this for every registration item that you'd like to allow self check-in for.
ACCESS
Now, registrants that picked self-check-in-enabled items will see a green SELF CHECK-IN button at the top of the main mobile menu (after signing in):
After tapping the Self Check-In button, the user will be taken to a screen with all registration items that they have that are also available for self check-in. Tapping either button will prompt the user to enter the corresponding code.
STRATEGY
The goals of self check-in are:
- To offload the work of check-in on the registrant, which allows the attendee to interact with the app more
- Validate real attendance of a specific activity or session
The codes enable you to do this. A common strategy to manage self check-in is to distribute codes to session / activity leaders prior to the event start. This way, leaders can distribute codes before and after the session ends. In other words, the only way a registrant can obtain the proper codes for check-in is by actually attending the activity.
CHECK-IN DATA REPORTS
There are a couple of options when it comes to accessing your check-in data. Navigate to the Event Dashboard and click the reporting icon on the left side of your event stripe.
CUSTOM REPORT
From the reporting menu, select the Custom Report tool at the top. The left side of the Custom Report tool will show you all data fields available for analysis. Scroll down and towards the bottom you will see a category called CHECK-IN DATA.
Expand the category and you will see a number of fields for check-in/out data.
- Item-Specific check-in/out data
- Overall event check-in/out data
CEU TRACKING REPORT
From the reporting menu, select the CEU/Volunteer Tracking report option. This report is meant to line up courses alongside their corresponding CEU hours and when each registrant checked into and out of that session.