Setting Up Ticket and Sponsorship Packages for Your Microsite

Tickets and sponsorships are packages in Auction Conductor. You create them on the Packages tab, then choose which ones your event microsite sells. Two separate settings decide where a package appears: its Published setting controls the mobile bidding app, and your microsite settings control the microsite. Ticket and sponsorship packages should be turned on for the microsite and left unpublished.

This article covers:

• Setting up categories
• Creating ticket and sponsorship packages
• Why to keep these packages unpublished
• Turning packages on for the Ticketing page
• Selling sponsorships on a Become a Sponsor page
• Checking your setup

Setting up categories

Every package needs a category. Before you create tickets and sponsorships, add one category for tickets and one for sponsorships, separate from your auction categories.

1. In Auction Conductor, go to Setup > Categories.
2. Click Add Category.
3. Enter a Name, such as Tickets & Sponsorships.
4. Auction Conductor fills in the next open number range in Package Number Start and Package Number End. We suggest assigning it a range at the end such as 900's or 9000's in order to keep the starting numbers for auction.
5. Save the category.

Each package gets its number from its category's range, so separate categories keep ticket and sponsorship numbers out of your auction numbering. They also make these packages easy to find and filter on the Packages tab.

Creating ticket and sponsorship packages

Create one package for each option you sell, such as an individual ticket, a table of ten and each sponsorship level.

1. In Auction Conductor, go to Packages and click Create.
2. Choose your Tickets & Sponsorships category.
3. Set Type to Tickets and Admission for tickets, or Sponsorship for sponsorships.
4. Set Distribution Type to N/A, since there's nothing for the buyer to pick up.
5. Uncheck Published so it reads Not Published. New packages start out published. The next section explains why this matters.
6. Enter Quantity Available to limit how many can be sold, or check Unlimited.
7. Enter the Value, the fair market value of what the buyer receives, such as the cost of dinner.
8. Enter the price in Multi-Unit Price (each). This is the price of one package, such as the price of the whole table.
9. Enter Admissions per Package, the number of guests the package admits. A single ticket is 1 and a table of ten is 10. For a sponsorship, enter the number of tickets it includes, or leave it at 0. The microsite shows this number on the package, and checkout creates a guest record for each admission.
10. Enter the Package Name and Package Description. Buyers see the name on the microsite and can open the description with Read More.
11. Click Save, or Save and New to create the next package.

Tickets and Admission packages also show a Ticket is sponsored checkbox. Leave it unchecked unless buyers are paying for tickets your organization will assign to someone else. See Sponsored Admission Tickets.

Why keep these packages unpublished

Published controls whether a package appears in the mobile bidding app. It has no effect on your microsite, which sells exactly the packages you turn on in the microsite settings.

If a ticket or sponsorship package is published, it appears in the mobile bidding app in its category, where signed-in guests can buy it. The app records the sale, but it doesn't collect guest names or create guest records for the admissions the way microsite checkout does. Keeping these packages unpublished keeps every ticket and sponsorship sale on the microsite, where guest details are collected.

Because new packages start out published, check this setting on every ticket and sponsorship package. You can change it on the package itself, or in the Available column on the Packages tab, where each package shows Published or Not Published.

Turning packages on for the Ticketing page

The microsite Ticketing page is built from sections. Each package section lists every package of one type, and you check the ones to sell.

1. From the event dashboard, go to Setup and click the Microsite tab.
2. In the left navigation, select General. Under Site Pages & Navigation, check Enable next to Event Ticketing. This adds Ticketing Page to the left navigation. Changes on this screen save when you move to another screen.
3. Select Ticketing Page.
4. If the page has no section for your packages yet, choose Tickets and Admission or Sponsorships from the Select an element list, then click Add.
5. Check the box next to each package you want to sell, and uncheck any you don't. Each change on this screen saves right away.
6. Drag packages to put them in order. You can drag whole sections to reorder them too.
7. Click a section's title to rename it. Buyers see it as the heading above the packages, so change a default like Tickets and admission Packages to something like Tickets.

Each package row also has a Delay Payment for Review checkbox for packages that need approval before the buyer pays. See Delay Payment for Review. To add text such as event details above or between sections, choose Description Area from the same list.

Selling sponsorships on a Become a Sponsor page

You can sell sponsorships in a Sponsorships section on the Ticketing page, on their own Become a Sponsor page, or both.

1. In Setup > Microsite, select Sponsor Page in the left navigation. If it isn't listed, check Enable next to Our Sponsors on the General screen first.
2. Under Become a Sponsor Page, check Show 'Become a Sponsor' Dedicated Page. Every sponsorship package is checked when you turn this on.
3. Uncheck any sponsorship you don't want to sell on this page.

Sponsorships you create later appear in this list unchecked, so check them to sell them here. Each sponsorship also has its own Delay Payment for Review checkbox. Turning the dedicated page off clears your selections, and turning it back on checks every sponsorship again.

Checking your setup

• On the Packages tab, confirm every ticket and sponsorship package shows Not Published in the Available column.
• In Setup > Microsite > Review/Publish, look under Admission Ticket Packages Enabled for each package turned on for the Ticketing page, with its price.
• Open your microsite and go through the Ticketing page as a buyer would.

Frequently asked questions

• Does a package need to be published to sell on the microsite? No. The microsite sells the packages you check in the microsite settings, whether or not they're published.
• Why isn't a new package showing on the microsite? Packages created after a Ticketing page section exists start unchecked, and new sponsorships start unchecked on the Become a Sponsor page. Check the package in Setup > Microsite. Also make sure that the Disable sales (this site only) at time on the Microsite > General screen hasn't passed.
• Why does a package show as sold out? Either its Quantity Available has sold, or the event has reached the Maximum Attendees set on the microsite General screen. At that limit, every ticket package and every sponsorship that includes admissions shows as sold out. Admissions in other buyers' carts count toward the limit while those buyers check out.
• Can staff sell a package that isn't on the public microsite? Yes. In Ticketing Admin Mode, the Ticketing page lists every ticket and sponsorship package, whether or not it's turned on for the public. You can leave a package such as a comped table unchecked and still enter it for a buyer. See Entering RSVP's (Ticketing Admin Mode).
• What if a ticket package was already published? Uncheck Published on the package or in the Available column. It disappears from the mobile bidding app and keeps selling on the microsite. Review any purchases already made in the app, since they won't have guest records for their admissions.