Real setup, names changed
Running 34 school balls a season from one Google Sheet template
Events agency running school balls and pre-debs parties · Google Sheets add-on
Skyline Socials (name changed) organizes end-of-year balls for secondary schools. Every few days during the season there is another school, another guest list, another door to control. They run all of it from one Google Sheets template.
The situation
Each school sends a guest list a week or two before its ball. Guests are teenagers: tickets must reach them fast, look good on a phone, and be impossible to photocopy or forward to a friend.
The agency needed the same setup to work 34 times without redoing configuration for every event, and without hiring ticketing staff.
The setup
One template sheet, copied per event
They keep a master spreadsheet with the columns and ticket design already configured. For each new ball they copy it, paste the school's guest list in, and the add-on is ready — no reconfiguration.
Tickets designed for phone screens
Each guest gets a personalized QR ticket by email with the ball's name and their own name on it. Most guests just show the ticket on their phone at the door.
Guides: Change how your ticket looks · Send tickets by email
Blocking rules stop shared tickets
A ticket that has already been scanned is rejected on the next scan. Screenshots forwarded to friends stop working after the first entry, which is the whole point for this crowd.
Guide: Max check-ins per attendee
Two door staff per ball
The agency adds two door staff as check-in scanners for each event. Staff scan with their phones; no equipment to rent, nothing to install at the venue.
Guides: Let your team scan tickets too · Check guests in on event day
What happened
Over one season the agency issued more than 5,600 tickets across 34 balls and scanned over 4,500 of them at the doors.
Because pricing is per attendee and each ball is its own project, the cost of each event is known before it starts — easy to build into the price quoted to each school.
Features used in this example
More examples
Next step
Set up the same thing for your event
Free for your first 10 attendees. After that, pricing is per attendee — and unused check-ins never expire.