How Do You Get People to Arrive Early to a Party? 9 Ideas for Organizers

Posted 5 hours ago

Friends of different backgrounds laugh and dance together on a hazy, dimly lit club floor

Doors open at 9, the opener starts at 9:30, and for the first hour the room is close to empty. Then everyone shows up around 11, the line backs up and the opener has played to a handful of people.

Guests arrive late when nothing tells them early is worth it, and nobody wants to be the first one in an empty room. These 9 ideas give people a reason to come early and help your door keep up when they do.

9 ways to get guests through the door earlier

Sell an early entry ticket option. Create a ticket option named for the arrival time, like "Early Entry: before 10 PM", and price it below General Admission. Give it a set quantity and a sale end date, and tell your door team the cutoff (Create Ticket Options). Buyers know when to show up before they even check out.
Put a strong DJ in the first slot. If the opener is someone people want to hear, they'll come for that set. Give the first slot to a local name with a following, and reorder your lineup to match set times so guests can see who's on first (Add Performers to an Event Lineup). How to Plan Set Times for Your Party covers building the order.
Share set times before the event. Guests who know when their favorite set starts can time their arrival. A few days out, send a post to your guests with the schedule. Posts can include images and attachments, so a simple set-times graphic works (Create a Post).
Make the first hour its own moment. Give people something they'd be sorry to miss: a throwback first hour, a live performance at 10, or a short group dance lesson before the floor fills up. Put it in the description with the exact time so guests see it before they buy (Create an Event).
Ask who's arriving early. Add a poll to a post, like "Who's arriving before 11?" (Create a Post). The answers tell you how many people to expect in the first hour, and the question reminds everyone that the first hour matters.
Sell to groups. Friends who buy together usually arrive together, and a group that walks in early fills a room faster than one guest at a time. Set a maximum per order that fits a group of friends (Create Ticket Options). Tickets are shown from the account that bought them, so a group that buys in one order comes through the door with whoever bought the tickets (Use Your Ticket at the Door). Buying Tickets for the Whole Group? explains how it works for guests.
Send a day-of text blast with the times that matter. A short text on the day with doors, the first set and when early entry ends reaches people while they're deciding when to head out (Send a Text Blast). Keep it to one message so it doesn't feel like spam.
Make the door fast. Early guests shouldn't stand in a line. Have your Door Managers open the scanner in the Beatmatch mobile app before guests reach the door (Check In Guests), and remind guests to have their QR code open with screen brightness up (Use Your Ticket at the Door). If a phone won't scan, find the guest by name or email in the Orders tab and check them in by hand. Run a Faster Door has more, and the Winter Event Checklist covers lines in cold weather.
Reward the early crowd next time. Thank the people who came early in your post after the event, and ask in a poll what would get them there earlier next time. For your next event, give the early entry option a sale start date and announce it to the guests of your last event first (Create Ticket Options).

Three friends of different backgrounds stand together in a neon-lit bar after dark

Your early arrival checklist

Create an early entry ticket option named with the cutoff time, with a set quantity.
Brief the door team on the cutoff.
Put a strong local DJ in the first slot and reorder the lineup to match set times.
Send a post with set times a few days before.
Add something to the first hour and put the time in the description.
Run a poll asking who's arriving early.
Set a maximum per order that fits a group of friends.
Send one day-of text blast with doors, the first set and the early entry cutoff.
Open the scanner before guests reach the door.
Thank the early crowd and open early entry first next time.

Ready to fill the room from the start? Create your event and add an early entry ticket option (Create Ticket Options).

Doors open at 9, the opener starts at 9:30, and for the first hour the room is close to empty. Then everyone shows up around 11, the line backs up and the opener has played to a handful of people.

9 ways to get guests through the door earlier

Sell an early entry ticket option. Create a ticket option named for the arrival time, like "Early Entry: before 10 PM", and price it below General Admission. Give it a set quantity and a sale end date, and tell your door team the cutoff (Create Ticket Options). Buyers know when to show up before they even check out.
Put a strong DJ in the first slot. If the opener is someone people want to hear, they'll come for that set. Give the first slot to a local name with a following, and reorder your lineup to match set times so guests can see who's on first (Add Performers to an Event Lineup). How to Plan Set Times for Your Party covers building the order.
Share set times before the event. Guests who know when their favorite set starts can time their arrival. A few days out, send a post to your guests with the schedule. Posts can include images and attachments, so a simple set-times graphic works (Create a Post).
Make the first hour its own moment. Give people something they'd be sorry to miss: a throwback first hour, a live performance at 10, or a short group dance lesson before the floor fills up. Put it in the description with the exact time so guests see it before they buy (Create an Event).
Ask who's arriving early. Add a poll to a post, like "Who's arriving before 11?" (Create a Post). The answers tell you how many people to expect in the first hour, and the question reminds everyone that the first hour matters.
Sell to groups. Friends who buy together usually arrive together, and a group that walks in early fills a room faster than one guest at a time. Set a maximum per order that fits a group of friends (Create Ticket Options). Tickets are shown from the account that bought them, so a group that buys in one order comes through the door with whoever bought the tickets (Use Your Ticket at the Door). Buying Tickets for the Whole Group? explains how it works for guests.
Send a day-of text blast with the times that matter. A short text on the day with doors, the first set and when early entry ends reaches people while they're deciding when to head out (Send a Text Blast). Keep it to one message so it doesn't feel like spam.
Make the door fast. Early guests shouldn't stand in a line. Have your Door Managers open the scanner in the Beatmatch mobile app before guests reach the door (Check In Guests), and remind guests to have their QR code open with screen brightness up (Use Your Ticket at the Door). If a phone won't scan, find the guest by name or email in the Orders tab and check them in by hand. Run a Faster Door has more, and the Winter Event Checklist covers lines in cold weather.
Reward the early crowd next time. Thank the people who came early in your post after the event, and ask in a poll what would get them there earlier next time. For your next event, give the early entry option a sale start date and announce it to the guests of your last event first (Create Ticket Options).

Your early arrival checklist

Create an early entry ticket option named with the cutoff time, with a set quantity.
Brief the door team on the cutoff.
Put a strong local DJ in the first slot and reorder the lineup to match set times.
Send a post with set times a few days before.
Add something to the first hour and put the time in the description.
Run a poll asking who's arriving early.
Set a maximum per order that fits a group of friends.
Send one day-of text blast with doors, the first set and the early entry cutoff.
Open the scanner before guests reach the door.
Thank the early crowd and open early entry first next time.

Ready to fill the room from the start? Create your event and add an early entry ticket option (Create Ticket Options).