Event check-in is the first real interaction an attendee has with your event, and a stalled line or an out-of-date printed list is a rough way to start it.
Digital wallet tickets let attendees add their event ticket to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet after registering, and a connected check-in app lets staff scan that ticket or search for the attendee directly, with attendance recorded in real time. Together, they turn arrival into a better first impression instead of a bottleneck.
Below, we'll cover why check-in matters more than most nonprofits give it credit for, walk through how digital wallet tickets and the Soapbox Engage Check-In app work together, show a full setup demo, and cover best practices for welcoming attendees at the door, whether or not you're using our tools.
In This Guide
Why Event Check-In Deserves More Attention
It's your first chance to make an impression. Most event planning energy goes toward the program itself: the speakers, the auction, the seating chart. Check-in tends to get whatever's left over, often a printed list, a folding table, and a volunteer flipping through alphabetized name tags. That's worth rethinking, because check-in is the first five minutes of the experience for every single attendee, and a warm start sets the tone for the rest of the event.
It's an opportunity to work from better data. A printed list is a snapshot from whenever it was printed. It doesn't reflect a last-minute registration, a name change, or a plus-one added the night before. Staff end up making judgment calls at the door instead of working from accurate information, which slows down the line and creates avoidable friction right when you want guests feeling welcomed. If you're planning a larger event, our complete gala planning checklist covers where check-in fits into the broader event timeline.
It's a chance to set your staff up for success. Check-in is usually run by volunteers or junior staff who weren't part of building the registration list. Giving them a system that does more of the work automatically means less pressure on the people with the least context, and a smoother experience for everyone at the door.
How Digital Wallet Tickets and the Check-In App Work
Digital wallet tickets are a feature built into Soapbox Engage Events, and the Soapbox Engage Check-In app is a free companion app your staff use alongside it at the door. Together, they cover both halves of the arrival experience: one for the attendee, one for your team.
What happens on the attendee's side
Registers for the event as usual, then has the option to add their ticket directly to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, right from their phone, once registration is confirmed.
Keeps the ticket on their phone instead of in their inbox, with a QR code included on the pass, so there's nothing to search for in email on event day.
Arrives with their ticket ready to scan, pulling up their wallet pass at the door with no printed ticket and no asking a staff member to look them up by name.
What staff can do at the door
Scan the QR code on the attendee's wallet pass using the Check-In app, which locates the corresponding ticket and records attendance instantly.
Browse a mobile-friendly view of the event's ticket records directly from Salesforce, after selecting the campaign associated with the event.
Move between arrived and not-yet-arrived views to understand attendance in real time, without relying on a printed registration list.
Search for an attendee by name and check them in manually, which covers anyone who doesn't have their digital wallet ticket available.
Why this approach works: Staff always have a second option. If scanning isn't possible for any reason, a phone dies, a pass won't load, a name was misspelled, they can search and check the attendee in manually without holding up the line or losing the record in Salesforce.
Watch: Feature Focus Demo
This short walkthrough from our team shows an attendee adding a ticket to Google Wallet, plus the full Check-In app experience for staff at the door.
Soapbox Engage Feature Focus: Digital Wallet Tickets and Check-In App
How to Enable Digital Wallet Tickets
Turning on digital wallet tickets takes place in the event's settings in the Soapbox Engage Administrator, and it only needs to be configured once per event.
Step 1: Open the event and go to the Messages tab
Open the event in the Soapbox Engage Administrator and go to the Messages tab. This is where you control what attendees see after they register.
Step 2: Enable the digital wallet option
From the Messages tab, make the digital wallet option available on the registration confirmation page, and include it in the confirmation email as well, so attendees have more than one chance to add their ticket.
Step 3: Enable it in self-service settings too
You can also enable digital wallet tickets in the event's self-service settings, giving attendees a way to access their ticket later if they didn't add it right after registering.
Digital wallet tickets are built into Soapbox Engage Events, and the free Check-In app connects right alongside it, keeping attendance synced to Salesforce in real time so nothing needs to be reconciled after the event.
Best Practices for Faster Event Check-In
Whether or not you're using Soapbox Engage, these principles apply broadly to giving attendees a better welcome at the door.
Give attendees more than one way to bring their ticket
Not every attendee will use a digital wallet, and that's fine. Offer it as the fastest option while still supporting email confirmations and manual lookup, so no one gets stuck at the door.
Always have a manual backup at the door
Technology fails at the worst possible moments, a dead phone battery, a spotty venue connection, a scanner that won't cooperate. Staff should always be able to search for an attendee by name and check them in without the QR code.
Staff more than one check-in station for larger events
A single check-in table creates a bottleneck no matter how fast the technology is. Multiple stations, ideally split alphabetically or by ticket type, keep any one line from becoming the slowest part of arrival.
Keep attendance data live, not batched
Real-time check-in data lets your team answer questions during the event, how many people have arrived, who's still missing, without waiting until the next day to reconcile a spreadsheet.
Remind attendees before event day
A reminder email or text a day or two before the event, with a nudge to add the ticket to a digital wallet, reduces how many people arrive without any ticket ready at all.
A good welcome matters most at exactly the events where it's hardest to pull off, larger galas, multi-session programs, and events with a lot happening in the first ten minutes. If you're running a multi-session event, our post on how sub-events simplify registration for multi-session nonprofit events covers a related piece of that puzzle.
Check-in won't make or break your event on its own. But it sets the tone for everything that follows: attendees who feel welcomed at the door arrive relaxed and engaged instead of frazzled, and an engaged room is exactly what you want once the program gets underway and a live display starts showing real-time fundraising progress. A smooth first five minutes pays off for the rest of the night.
Give Attendees a Better Welcome
Soapbox Engage Events includes digital wallet tickets and real-time Salesforce sync, paired with a free mobile Check-In app, so your team spends less time at the door and more time at the event.
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