Organising a Christmas concert: selling tickets for your choir, band or school

A Christmas concert lasts one evening, ticket sales take weeks

For the musicians, a Christmas concert is mostly about rehearsals. For the people organising it, the questions are different: how many people will come, how many seats does the church have, who has already paid and who will turn up at the door with cash?

In choirs, brass bands, wind orchestras and schools, ticket sales often follow the same pattern. Members sell tickets to family and neighbours, a few people pay by bank transfer, there is a list on paper, and on the night someone sits at the entrance with a cash box. That works, until two members sell the same last seats, or until a week before the concert you still don't know whether the church will be half empty or too full.

Below you will find how to approach a Christmas concert in practice, and how to set up ticket sales in ClearTix.

1. Start with the venue: how many seats can you use?

A church or hall has a number of seats, but that is not always the number you are allowed to sell. Ask the church council or the venue manager how many people are allowed in, and whether there are rules on the layout, the emergency exits or the use of the church for a concert. Keep seats free for the choir or orchestra too, if the musicians sit among the audience.

Also check in good time which declarations you need. For copyright on the music you perform, organisers in Belgium can check with Unisono whether a declaration is needed for their concert, and which one. Insurance for the organisation and the volunteers belongs on your list as well. This article is general information, not legal advice.

The number you end up with is the capacity of your event. Once it is reached, sales stop automatically.

2. Ticket types: adults, children, supporting members

In ClearTix you create one event for the concert, with the date, time and address of the church or hall. Then you add ticket types. For a Christmas concert there are usually a few:

• Adult: the regular price.
• Child: a reduced price or free. A free ticket type is useful, because the children then count towards the capacity. ClearTix charges no fee on free tickets.
• Early bird: a lower price with a sales window that closes on a fixed date. That gives people a reason not to wait until the last week.

For each ticket type you set the price, optionally its own capacity, a Max per order and a sales window. The help page Create ticket types explains how.

Do supporting members or sponsors pay a different price? On every plan you can do that with a discount code limited to specific ticket types. In Studio and Pro you can also create a hidden ticket type with an access code, for example for honorary members or guests.

3. Two concerts on one day

If the church is too small every year, many choirs perform twice: an afternoon and an evening concert, or two evenings in a row. In that case, create a separate event for each concert, with its own capacity. Buyers choose the time that suits them, and you see per concert how many seats are left.

Do you use the same set-up every year? Save it as an event template. Next year you schedule the new concerts from that template, with the same ticket types.

4. Unreserved or numbered seats?

Most Christmas concerts use unreserved seating: first come, first served. A capacity is enough, and that works on every plan.

If you want people to choose a seat in advance, for example in the front rows or on a gallery, you can draw a seating plan in the Pro plan. Buyers then pick a numbered seat themselves, and you can sell a different ticket type per zone. You draw the plan once and reuse it for later concerts at the same venue.

5. Sales through members, without duplicate lists

Members remain your best sellers: they know the audience. The difference is that they no longer keep paper tickets, but share the link to the ticket page in the family group chat, on Facebook or in the school newsletter. Every sale then comes from the same capacity, so nobody sells a seat that no longer exists.

Want to know which channel sells the tickets, for example the school newsletter versus the choir's Facebook page? In Studio and Pro you create promo links for that. On every plan you can also add UTM parameters to your links.

The money goes straight to your organisation's Mollie or Stripe account. No more checking bank transfers or matching payment references.

6. Sold out? Open a waitlist

A Christmas concert that sells out is good news. Still, a few people always cancel, because of illness or because the holidays turn out differently than planned. With the waitlist, interested people put themselves on a list. When a seat becomes available because you refund someone, the next person on the list automatically gets an email to buy. That works on every plan.

7. Practical information a few days before

A few days before the concert, you want to tell everyone the same thing: when the doors open, where to park, whether there is a drink afterwards. With Broadcasting to attendees you send one email to everyone with a ticket, or only to specific ticket types.

8. At the door: scanning and, if needed, selling

On the night, one or two volunteers scan the QR codes with their phones. The scanner works in the browser, with nothing to download from an app store. It copes with an unstable connection, which helps in a church with thick walls. The set-up is explained in Scanning and check-in.

If you also want to sell tickets at the door, you do that in Studio and Pro with the point of sale. It sells from the same capacity as online sales, with cash or a card terminal. That way every seat sold is counted, online and at the door. Without the point of sale, keep online sales open until the concert starts. Late arrivals can then still buy a ticket on their phone.

Afterwards you see in Analytics how many tickets were sold and how many people actually came. That helps you decide for next year: a bigger church, a second concert, or a different price for children.

Checklist for your Christmas concert

• Permitted number of seats checked with the church council or venue manager
• Unisono declaration checked, insurance arranged
• Event with the right capacity, and a separate event per concert
• Adult and Child ticket types, optionally an early bird price with a sales window
• Discount code or hidden ticket type for supporting members and guests
• Unreserved seating or a seating plan (Pro)
• Link to the ticket page shared with all members
• Waitlist in case the concert sells out
• Message with practical information a few days before
• Scanner on the phones of one or two volunteers, optionally the point of sale at the door

Why this matters to us

ClearTix was built in Haaltert, by a photography club that could not find a ticketing platform that suited a volunteer organisation. A Christmas concert is a good example: volunteers who do this on top of rehearsals, lots of small orders from family and neighbours, and proceeds that fund the organisation's activities.

Organising a Christmas concert this year? Create a free account and set up your ticket sales. On the free plan you pay no monthly fee and can run up to 3 events per month. The fee per ticket sold and the plans are on our pricing page.