Blog · Access control
Event access control: the complete guide to getting it right
The four pieces of an access control setup that actually works — list, credential, door and reports — what you genuinely need, and the mistakes that repeat event after event.
Setting up access control for an event has little to do with buying software: it is a chain of four pieces, and whichever one fails is the one waiting for you at the door while the queue grows. After years running it for conferences, training centres, venues and parties, this is the honest guide to what each piece needs — and to what you do not need at all.
Piece 1: the list (who may come in)
Everything starts with a list of people entitled to enter. There are three ways to build it, and all three end up in the same place:
- You already have it in a spreadsheet (pre-registrations, students, members): import it as it is, column by column.
- You want people to sign themselves up: a public registration form with your fields, your capacity and a waiting list when it fills up.
- Your registration or payment system already exists: connect it through the API and every enrolment appears instantly.
The classic mistake here: duplicate lists on paper and in digital "just in case". On event day nobody knows which one rules. One list, live until the last minute.
Piece 2: the credential (how each person is identified)
The personal QR code has won this battle by a landslide, and not because of fashion: it is emailed instantly, it does not get lost like a wristband, it can be re-sent in one click, and it fits on a phone, on paper or in an Apple Wallet pass. The PDF badge with its QR is generated and sent automatically the moment someone joins the list.
The important part is not the QR: it is what sits behind it. A photocopied QR must open the door ONCE and raise a warning the second time — duplicate-scan control is what turns a code into a credential.
Piece 3: the door (the moment of truth)
This is where your event's first impression is decided. What you actually need: one phone per door person, running the scanning app. No dedicated scanners, no installation, no cables. Green goes in, red does not, warning if it is a repeat.
Two details that separate a professional setup from a scare:
- Coverage. Basements, marquees and venues packed with people devour 4G. The app has to work offline — validating against the downloaded list and syncing afterwards — or the queue will be dictated by the antenna, not by you.
- Sizing. A human scanner reads one QR every 2-3 seconds; how many you need depends on the arrival peak, not on total capacity. We did the maths with real measurements.
Piece 4: the reports (what remains when the lights go out)
Who came, at what time, how many people were inside at the peak, how many duplicate-QR warnings there were. Exportable to Excel, because a report you cannot send to the client or to management does not exist. If you also sell tickets online, payments and issued tickets close the same circle.
What you do NOT need (and will be offered anyway)
Turnstiles and arches for a one-day event, dedicated laser scanners, software installed on a PC at the door, or "per-device licences". For 90% of events, phones + QR + a platform that holds the peak is the whole system. A turnstile makes sense in a permanent venue — and then it gets integrated, not the other way round.
Where to start
Create the free account, import ten test names and run the full circuit — list, email with QR, scan with your own phone — before deciding anything. It takes half an hour, and it is the half hour that tells you whether the system will hold your real event. The platform is paid per attendee, with no monthly fees: a small event costs like a dinner, not like software.