You open ticket sales for your workshop and within an hour someone emails asking if there's a student rate. Then a speaker wants to know if their partner can attend. Then a friend who helped set up the venue wonders if they need to pay. You end up with three prices, a handful of free passes and no clear system for who gets what.
Most small events need more than one ticket type, but the trick is keeping it simple enough that people understand what to buy and you can explain it in two sentences.
Early-bird tickets reward commitment, not speed
The usual reason for early-bird pricing is to get cash flow before you spend money on the venue or catering. It also helps you gauge interest. If nobody buys in the first week, you know you have a marketing problem.
Set a date, not a quota. "First fifty tickets" sounds clever but creates anxiety and people hesitate. "Available until March 15th" is clear. Pick a date two or three weeks before the event, long enough to matter but not so far out that people forget.
The discount doesn't need to be large. Even a small difference signals that you value people who commit early. If your regular ticket is the equivalent of thirty dollars, an early-bird rate of twenty-five is enough.
Concession rates make the event accessible
Students, retirees, people on low incomes—sometimes you want to make sure they can attend without it becoming a barrier. A concession ticket does that.
You will not check proof at the door. It runs on trust. In practice, very few people abuse it. Most who qualify appreciate the option, and most who don't qualify would rather pay full price than feel awkward.
Label it clearly: "Concession (student, retiree, low income)" so it's obvious who it's for. Price it low enough to make a difference—half the regular rate is common—but not so low that it looks like charity.
If you're using Anyza Events, you create each ticket type with its own payment link. Buyers pay you directly in bitcoin or stablecoins, so there's no middleman holding funds or taking a cut. Each type can have a different price and a different supply limit.
Complimentary tickets for speakers, volunteers and special cases
Complimentary means free, and you'll need a few. Speakers, co-organisers, volunteers who helped with setup, sometimes a local journalist or a partner organisation.
The mistake is handing them out too freely. Every free ticket is a seat that could have been sold, and it changes the energy in the room if half the audience didn't pay. Keep a mental list of who genuinely deserves one and say no to the rest.
You can create a complimentary ticket type priced at zero, or you can send a private link that bypasses payment. Either way, track how many you issue. It's easy to lose count.
Some organisers set a hidden ticket type that only shows up if you have the direct link. That way you're not advertising free tickets to everyone, but you can still send them to the right people.
VIP or premium tickets when you offer something extra
If you have limited front-row seats, a pre-event dinner with the speaker or a signed book included, a premium ticket makes sense. It's not about excluding people; it's about offering more to those who want it.
Price it honestly. If the regular ticket is thirty and the dinner costs twenty per head, the premium ticket should be at least fifty. Don't undersell it.
Make it obvious what the extra includes. "VIP: front-row seat, dinner at 6pm, signed copy of the book." People need to know exactly what they're paying for.
This works well for small workshops or talks where the venue has natural tiers—a lounge area versus general seating, a masterclass session before the main event. It doesn't work if the distinction feels arbitrary.
Group or team tickets to fill seats faster
A group rate encourages people to bring colleagues or friends. It's especially useful for professional events—workshops, training sessions, meetups where companies might send several employees.
Offer it as a separate ticket type: "Team of three" at a lower per-person rate than three individual tickets. The buyer enters one email and you send them a batch of QR codes or a single code they can share.
This is harder to manage if you need individual names for each attendee, so it works best when check-in is relaxed and you care more about the headcount than the guest list.
Keeping it all straight without a spreadsheet nightmare
Once you have more than two ticket types, you need a way to see who bought what. A simple event page with separate payment links for each type keeps it clear. Each ticket generates its own QR code for check-in, so at the door it doesn't matter whether someone paid full price or used a concession rate.
If you're running a meetup in São Paulo or a workshop in Nairobi, the same structure works. Early-bird until a set date, concession for those who need it, complimentary for a short list of contributors, maybe a premium option if you have something tangible to offer.
The goal is not to maximise complexity. It's to make sure the right people can attend, you cover your costs and nobody is confused about what they're buying.
Set up your ticket types before you announce the event. Write one sentence for each type. If you can't explain it in a sentence, simplify it.
Comments