Selling Tickets Online: A Greener, More Sustainable Approach

Being environmentally sustainable is one of the biggest challenges that event professionals face. Overcome this challenge by leveraging a reputable online ticketing solution. Here’s how:

Around two-thirds of your potential ticket buyers worry about climate change’s impact on society. So as an event organizer, considering sustainability when planning your event isn’t just a morally honorable thing to do—it’s strategically the right path.

You do have lots of competing priorities when you’re in the process of organizing your event, and things like sustainability often get put on the back burner (even when you personally do care about it).

But sometimes, you don’t have to do much to make your event sustainable, and you can do your part by improving on a process as simple as your ticketing.

Consider selling tickets online, for example. You get to make the whole ticketing process more convenient for your eventgoers and more manageable for yourself—all while lowering your carbon emissions and making it more sustainable.

In this article, we’ll discuss how you can make your event more sustainable and greener by implementing online ticketing. So, read on.

Sustainable Event Defined

A sustainable event, as defined by the United Nations, is one that’s planned and carried out with two main goals: first, to keep any possible harm to the environment as low as possible, and second, to leave a positive and lasting impact on the local community and everyone involved.

It’s a process that demands careful planning and teamwork to achieve particular goals and steps that are regularly evaluated and eventually confirmed by the proper authorities.

Source: Cvent

Why Should You Care About Making Your Event Sustainable

Looking after sustainability isn’t just the right thing to do morally, but it’s also a smart move for event planners.

By getting on board with sustainable ways, you can cut down on your expenses, boost your rep, draw in more folks to attend and back your event, and ensure you’re playing by the rules and doing right by your industry’s ethics.

On top of that, you can make some positive changes that stick around for your local community, your participants, and your partners.

Sustainability can even set your events apart from the pack and appeal to the growing crowd of conscious consumers and businesses that value the three P’s: people, planet, and profit.

Amidst all the planning, focusing on a sustainable event might feel like just one more thing to handle. And yes, it could seem like your event’s impact is pretty small in the grand scheme of things.

But here’s the deal—we’re facing a climate emergency, and doing our bit to cut down on the issue is a must.

If every event planner jumped on board with sustainable planning, their joint efforts would seriously make a dent in reducing the waste and emissions caused by event-related stuff like supplies, venues, invites, and travel.

Just like how our collective carbon emissions make an impact, our combined push for sustainability can rack up some serious change too.

The Environmental Impact of Traditional Ticket Sales

The old-school way of selling tickets involves making paper tickets, which adds to deforestation, energy use, and creating rubbish.

The environment takes a huge hit from all the paper used for tickets, invites, flyers, and promo stuff. Check out the overall effect of paper production on the environment:

• Paper use has blown up by a whopping 400% in just four decades.
• About 26% of all the junk in dumps and landfills is paper waste.
• The paper industry adds up to 2% of all global carbon emissions.
• Making one metric ton of paper churns out around 942 kg of carbon dioxide on average.

Plus, getting these paper tickets to places where people can grab them and then to the folks who buy them chews up loads of energy and resources.

With events happening more often and worldwide, these ways really stack up and take a toll on the environment.

Source: Paperless Post

Sustainability Goals When Selling Tickets Online

Before planning your eco-friendly event or conference, start with some solid Event sustainability goals. You need to set specific targets to ensure your events are responsibly and sustainably put together.

Source: 4 For Everything

Remember, we’ve already talked about the key principles of sustainable event management, like cutting down on environmental impact and being socially responsible. But having these goals upfront is like a roadmap for your pre-planning efforts.

Here are some big-ticket event sustainability goals you need on your radar:

1. Slash the event’s carbon footprint by using renewable energy sources and keeping waste to a minimum.
2. Keep waste out of landfills by rolling out a strong recycling and composting system.
3. Make sure everyone can join in – design the event to be accessible for people with disabilities and cater to the diverse needs of your attendees.
4. Get your attendees clued up on sustainable practices and push for them to make eco-friendly choices.
5. Keep tabs on your event’s sustainability performance – measure how much waste you’re producing and the carbon emissions you’re creating.

Remember, these event sustainability goals should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. With clear, measurable goals in place, you can track progress, spot areas for improvement, and show your commitment to sustainability to everyone involved—attendees, stakeholders, and the wider community.

Sell Tickets Online To Achieve Sustainability Goals

Sustainable events are all about keeping their impact on the environment small while making sure everyone involved, from the local community to all the folks with a stake in it, gets something good out of it.

They’re getting more love from the fans and becoming essential in the event business because people buying tickets, sponsors, and even the regulators want you to step up and be accountable. But these events also come with their fair share of hurdles.

Figuring out how to juggle the money side, how we can stop messing up the planet, and ensuring everyone has a good time takes some out-of-the-box thinking.

Selling tickets online can help you achieve all of that and then more. Here’s how:

No Need For Paper Tickets

Plenty of event planners and venues are still stuck on old-school paper tickets for getting folks into gigs, sports matches, shows, and other live events. These paper tickets, usually good for just one go, often get chucked once the event is over—making a pile of waste.

And that’s not great for the environment. It’s a big deal, especially if these tickets don’t get recycled right and end up in landfill sites.

Getting tickets sold online can make a real dent in the waste caused by old-school paper tickets and help out the environment big time.

With online ticketing, there’s no need for physical paper tickets at all. Instead of printing stacks of paper tickets for an event, you can whip up digital ones that your attendees can have on their phones or in their emails. This means loads less paper being used, which means way less waste from tickets getting tossed.

And the best part? Attendees can just flash their digital tickets on their phones when they’re headed in—no need for physical tickets that get binned after just one use. Attendees can get to their tickets over and over again without adding to the landfill mess.

The old way of paper tickets means printing, designing, and handing out physical tickets—that chews up resources and money. But selling tickets online cuts out those costs, letting you use your resources smarter and shrinking your carbon footprint.

Sending a ticket by email pumps out 1000 times less carbon than posting a paper ticket. Just pause and let that sink in—a whopping thousand times less carbon.

Now, put that in perspective; An event with a massive crowd of about 200,000 would dish out fewer carbon emissions if they went paperless using an online ticketing platform like TicketsCandy than a tiny 250-person gig at a local venue.

Since chopping down trees speeds up climate change, it’s a no-brainer to cut paper out when possible. Opting to sell tickets online instead of on paper isn’t just good for the planet; it also makes life a whole lot easier for you.

When you sell tickets online, you’re looking at:

• Zero trees getting axed
• No bits of paper
• No envelopes
• No stamps
• And not a whiff of CO2 emissions from sending tickets in the mail

No Need For Attendees To Visit Ticketing Booths & Queuing

When you sell tickets online, attendees can snag their event tickets right from their smartphones, giving them the freedom to buy whenever and wherever suits them. This means there is no need to trek to ticket booths and stand in lines.

This approach doesn’t just cut down on pointless travel and carbon emissions resulting from it; it also plays it safe by keeping queues and big gatherings at bay, promoting health and safety.

Plus, you guarantee inclusion for those who aren’t able to travel and wait in queues, making your potential audience much broader and your financials much healthier.

Lower Energy Consumption

Online ticketing platforms run in a digital world, needing hardly any physical setup. This means they consume way less energy compared to old-school ticket systems that deal with printing, shipping, and handing out paper tickets.

The digital setup of online ticketing cuts down on the need for actual moving stuff around and energy-heavy steps, all of which help keep their carbon footprint pint-sized.

Efficient Resource Utilization

Imagine how much resources a buzzing music festival that pulls in thousands of fans each year would consume. Back in the day, setting up ticket stalls all over the place, hiring a lot of staff to handle ticket sales, and keeping track of paper tickets was the norm. It was a slow grind that chewed up resources and needed a ton of hands-on work.

But with online ticketing platforms, the festival organizers have flipped the script on their ticket game. They’ve teamed up with online ticketing platforms like TicketsCandy, experts at easily handling a boatload of transactions. Now, attendees can just pop over to the festival’s website or the ticketing platform’s app and grab their tickets online.

The need for physical ticket booths and the whole crew to man them is slashed by a lot. No more hassle of setting up and running a bunch of booths—and the crew can chip in on other important festival jobs.

The move to selling tickets online ditches the paper mess that came from printing physical tickets. That’s a win for the environment, right there. The online ticketing platform’s rock-solid setup makes sure buying tickets stays smooth, even when the demand goes through the roof—like when tickets first drop.

Attendees can pick their ticket type, choose where they want to sit and make payments without a hitch. Plus, the platform gives real-time updates on ticket availability, helping folks make savvy choices.

Wrapping Up

If you’re keen on making your events eco-friendly but feeling a bit lost, here are some easy and doable tips to get you started. Kick things off by doing a sustainability check on your existing events.

This helps you figure out where you can do better and what you’ll need. Joining a network or hanging out with other sustainable event pros can give you some golden ideas and real-world knowledge.

Talk to experts and consultants—they’ve got insights that can make a real difference. There are also tools and frameworks available that can guide your planning and implementation.

The easiest and best way is to start selling tickets online—it’s a win-win for you. You get to make your job as an organizer easier, get access to a hyper-targeted audience already interested in your event, and make your events greener.

And that’s what you’ll get working with TicketsCandy—the free online ticketing platform with practices that ensure sustainability and convenience for you and your buyer. Sign up with TicketsCandy today.