How Schools Can Elevate All Events with Digital Ticketing

Thousands of schools across the country use digital ticketing to save time, increase revenue, and elevate the event experience for their staff and fans. The GoFan team supports nearly 500,000 school events each year, with more and more schools adopting and expanding their use of digital ticketing every day.

Many schools begin using digital ticketing for football and quickly see the advantages:

• Time savings for busy staff
• Instant reporting and accurate reconciliation
• Improved financial transparency
• Convenient fan experience

Schools have an opportunity to achieve these outcomes across campus by using digital ticketing for all sports, along with performing arts, homecoming and prom dances, camps, and other events.

“With GoFan, our administration has greater visibility into ticket sales across campus. We’re also able to reduce our event personnel expenses and provide an enhanced experience for our fans. Now the whole building uses GoFan."

Dr. LaShawn Smith, Assistant Principal and Athletic Director at Meadowcreek High School (GA)

Athletics

Most schools typically begin their digital ticketing journey with football, as the season coincides with the start of the academic year and generally draws high participation and large crowds. Once schools experience how easy it is to manage their football season with digital ticketing, they often look to implement the same best practices for other sports.

The GoFan team has partnered with schools to manage events for over 30 different sports, from volleyball and lacrosse to basketball and wrestling, from water polo and softball to cheer and golf.

By using digital ticketing for all sports, you can enhance the fan experience and achieve greater visibility into all your athletic ticket sales for each academic year. This information is invaluable for budgeting, bookkeeping, and audits.

“Our principal and I have received emails from fans thanking us for going 100% digital. GoFan is easier and safer. Our bookkeepers are happy. It’s been a phenomenal experience."

Brian Warwick, Assistant Athletic Director, Stillwater School District (OK)

Fall Sports

When looking to expand the use of digital ticketing to other sports, volleyball is a great one to start with. You can easily add your schedules and create your events for volleyball while you’re setting up your football schedules.

Customer Spotlight: 86% of schools that partner with GoFan use digital ticketing for football and volleyball events.

Like football, you can easily view ticket sales, send event alerts, and run financial reports on demand for volleyball and all other athletic events.

In addition to football and volleyball, schools can use digital ticketing for cheerleading, cross country, softball, and other fall sports.

Winter Sports

Many schools use digital ticketing for basketball at all levels. Since basketball season is so fast-paced, it’s particularly well-suited for digital ticketing. You can easily add all your schedules and start ticketing in a matter of minutes. Users can also update events quickly and easily with just a few clicks on a desktop or mobile device. 

Customer Spotlight: Schools in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) have had remarkable success using digital ticketing for winter sports in the postseason and regular season.

GoFan supports all winter sports, including wrestling, swimming and diving, esports, and more.

"The best thing is to not have cash. Also, you can log in and have real-time attendance just like that. Not having to count cash, deal with cash, and accept cash or checks from schools has been a dream come true."

Bobbi Madsen, CFO, California Interscholastic Federation

Spring Sports

The spring athletics season is especially busy, with so many different activities to organize. You can easily manage all your spring sports with GoFan and enjoy all the benefits of digital ticketing throughout the entire school year.

Many schools use digital ticketing for baseball, lacrosse, golf, tennis, soccer, track and field, gymnastics, riflery, and other spring athletic events. Season passes can be especially helpful to drive attendance for spring sports.

"We experienced greater revenue based on our season pass offerings for soccer, lacrosse, and baseball. Season passes were offered at the beginning of the season, which allowed parents to pre-purchase for all events."

David Dyer, Athletic Director at River Ridge High School (GA)

Performing Arts

Have you ever considered using digital ticketing for your performing arts events? You can elevate the event experience for your guests with reserved seating, online ticket sales, and fast entry at the door.

Customer Spotlight: Cookeville High School in Tennessee has hosted 17 different performing arts shows using reserved seating with tremendous success. Bravo!

Your guests are likely accustomed to selecting their preferred seats when they buy tickets to concerts and broadway shows. With reserved seating, your venue is mapped in the GoFan platform, and your guests can easily select their desired seats when they check out. Reserved seating can be used for other events as well, including athletics, dances, and banquets.

The GoFan team proudly partners with schools nationwide to support events for theatre, band, orchestra, chorus, dance, speech, debate, and other performing arts.

“GoFan made our theatre department tickets go out without a hitch; our dance department cannot believe how easy it is to create tickets and make a QR code, and they are thrilled by how quickly they receive their ticket profits. GoFan made the ticket sales process so easy.”

Karin Best, HPE Department Chair & Teacher, Savannah Arts Academy (GA)

Homecoming, Prom, and Other Formal Dances

May we have your next dance? Many schools use GoFan for digital ticketing for homecoming, prom, and other formal dances. By using digital ticketing for these events, you can easily gather and verify attendees’ contact information, collect payments promptly, and improve security.

“The big bonus for me is the time it saves me with counting cash and checks and having to resolve any sales mistakes at the end of each day. I no longer have to worry about missing cash. I also appreciate the easily generated list of people who purchased tickets that can be used as my master dance list. It resolves any issues we may have previously had with misspelled names, as their names are already uploaded into the system.”

Christine Hoerlein, World History Teacher & Pioneer Pride Spirit Club Sponsor, Simon Kenton High School (KY)

To learn more about using digital ticketing for your dance events, check out our blog: 6 Benefits of Using Digital Ticketing for Homecoming Dances.

Camps

Camps and other summer activities are often overlooked for digital ticketing, but they are missed opportunities! Digital ticketing can make camp administration a breeze, streamlining registration, payment processing, communication, and more.

Maryville High School in Tennesee hosted 7 different types of summer camps with GoFan this year, making the entire process much easier for staff and students alike.

"Using GoFan to register students for school camps and clinics has been a game changer for Maryville High School. Through the registration process we can get the information we need, liability forms acknowledged, and payment received all in one place. No more cash or checks changing hands. No more collection logs and deposit forms. A paperless process that minimizes accounting time and makes our bookkeeper very happy."

Landon Harris, Athletic Director at Maryville High School (TN)

Other Events

You can also use digital ticketing for other special events at your school like graduations, talent shows, award ceremonies, and more.

Customer Spotlight: Montgomery Bell Academy in Tennessee hosts just about every school event with digital ticketing! In addition to athletics and activities, they have used digital ticketing for field trips, student parking, banquets, ACT and SAT exams and prep, and even a self-defense class.

Next Steps

Whether you’re still exploring digital ticketing or have already implemented it at your school, imagine the benefits for every department on campus with easy event scheduling, management, promotion, and reconciliation.

To learn more about how your school can thrive with digital ticketing for all events, contact us