Registration Time Limit (session lifespan)
It is important to set a time limit between between the time when an attendee selects a ticket or starts to register and the time they checkout or complete a purchase for several reasons:
- Inventory Management: For events with limited seating or capacity, setting a time limit ensures that tickets are not held indefinitely by attendees who may not ultimately purchase them. This allows organizers to manage ticket inventory effectively and accurately predict attendance.
- Fairness and Availability: Enforcing a time limit ensures that tickets are available to all interested attendees on a first-come, first-served basis. It prevents individuals from indefinitely holding tickets in their cart, potentially depriving others of the opportunity to attend the event.
- Streamlined Process: A time limit helps streamline the registration process, reducing the likelihood of abandoned carts or incomplete registrations. It encourages attendees to make decisions promptly, leading to smoother event planning and management for organizers.
- Revenue Collection: Having a time limit for checkout ensures timely collection of revenue for the event, which is crucial for covering expenses such as venue rental, catering, and other operational costs. This helps maintain the financial viability of the event and ensures its success.
- Urgency: A time limit creates a sense of urgency for the attendee to complete the registration process. Without a deadline, there's a risk that attendees may delay or forget to finalize their registration, leading to missed opportunities for the event organizer and potentially reducing attendance number.
In Event Smart, there's a default 1-hour time limit for completing registration, adjustable from 5 minutes to 2 hours. If not completed within this timeframe, the ticket becomes available for others. You can control the registration time limit (session lifespan) by navigating to Session Lifefspan setting located at: Event Smart > Registration Forms > Reg Settings tab > Session Settings > Session Lifespan.
Special Considerations About the Registration Time Limit (Session Liefspan) when Using PayPal
Event Smart cancels incomplete PayPal transactions after 1 hour to free up tickets. This likely happened because the registrant delayed payment through PayPal. While PayPal lacks these limits, Event Smart ensures ticket availability within capacity constraints, emphasizing risks of using PayPal instead of cards. So, there is a risk attendees could have their registration cancelled on Event Smart but PayPal will still allow them to make a payment. This can result in payments being shown as successful in PayPal, but Incomplete in Event Smart. If this happens, you can reliably set the registration to Approved and send them the related messages.