Event check-in is a unique process that will differ from event to event.  Event organizers have unique requirements, depending on how they want to conduct their check-in process. Among other site-specific requirements, these three factors mostly determine how you set up  Kiosk Mode:

1. Room type (large, small, etc) and space requirements will impact your planning for kiosk mode
2. The number of attendees who are trying to check-in at the same time - usually, most attendees arrive within a 30 minute window of the event start time
3. The number of tasks that you require during the attendee's check-in sequence - Scanning a barcode or searching for their record? Do they have a balance due? Allow editing of their record? Printing badges or distributing pre-printed badges?

Do the registrants have barcodes? If you're going to scan barcodes, be sure your registrants have barcodes in hand prior to arriving.  How do I send barcodes?

Once you have defined your check-in process, create an email message and inform them of where to go, how to get there, what to do upon arrival and bring their barcode (included in the message). How do I send Check-in instructions?

Below is a floor plan that illustrates how the flow of attendees would go through a check-in process.  

Kiosk mode can check in attendees either of two ways (see the diagram in the previous step):

• Scan the attendee's barcode (self check-in or attendant check-in)
• Attendee search by name (self check-in or attendant check-in)

If your kiosk stations will have an attendant, use these articles for training your attendants regarding how to check-in arriving registrants: Cheat Sheets for Training Kiosk Operators

Checking in triggers the registrant's record to be marked Attending. It can also automatically send the name badge to the printer, if you have one configured and connected to the kiosk computers.

After you decide how you're going to set up Kiosk Mode, then test it (see the next step for a recommended procedure):

You want to determine how much time is required to check-in one person. The examples below are rough estimates. Your actual times will be different. Your testing will give you the number of seconds/person required for check-in.

Here's a math example using an attendant at the check-in stations (assumptions: attendant operated kiosk is 30 seconds per person; 300 people attending; no updating of registrant information; no capturing of balance due payment):

1. Time to check-in one person by an attendant: 30 seconds (includes registrant step up time)
2. Number of people expected to check-in: 300
3. Total time required for check-in: 9000 seconds / 60 seconds/minute = 150 minutes
4. Assuming a 30 minute check-in window, you will need (150 minutes/30 minutes=5) five laptops or tablets or PCs
5. If you include updates to registrant information and/or payment collection, your time per attendee will increase, which means you will need more kiosk mode devices (see next example)

Here's a math example using a barcode scanner and the kiosk is set up for self check-in by the registrant (assumptions: self-operated kiosk is 1.0-1.5 minutes per person; 300 people attending; last minute edits enabled)

1. Time to check-in one person using a scan gun in self check-in mode: 1.25 minutes (average of 10 tests), depending upon each registrant's need to pay, edit their information, etc
2. Number of people expected to check-in: 300
3. Total time required for check-in: 1.25 min/person * 300 persons = 375 minutes
4. Assuming a 30 minute check-in window, you will need (375 minutes/30 minutes=12.5) thirteen laptops or tablets or PCs
5. Self check-in (with payment and info update) clearly requires more time per attendee.

On each of your check-in stations, do the following:

1. Go to the Admin Dashboard for your event
2. Open the Kiosk Mode screen
3. Click the URL on the Kiosk Mode screen - DO NOT USE your event's URL.

Since the ultimate goal of the check-in process is to mark the registrant's record as Attended, then each time you test, you will mark some person's record as Attended.  However, they haven't yet attended because the event has not yet occurred.

In order to test, you will need to have some actual registrant data.  The best and quickest screen from which to get this data is on the Event Attendance Manager screen. Both Registrant ID and Last Name are included. Depending on how you set up your kiosk mode, either one of the Registrant ID or Last Name columns will be needed.

Testing Procedure

1. Open the Event Attendance Manager screen - doing so will give you actual data, either the Registrant ID for scan a barcode or the last name for search by name - leave this window open; you will be returning to get another person for the next test - Where is the Event Attendance Manager tool?
2. Open the Kiosk Manager screen on your Admin Dashboard - Where is the Kiosk Mode tool?
3. Click the Kiosk URL on the screen (see the previous step for its location)
4. Kiosk mode will open
5. Arrange your Event Attendance Manager window with the kiosk check-in window side-by-side (space permitting) - you'll need to bounce back and forth between the two windows as you test
6. Depending on how you set up your kiosk, copy either 1) the Registrant ID if you will be using a scan gun (you won't need the actual scan gun for this test) or 2) copy the registrant ID and paste it into the Barcode field
7. OR, copy the Last Name and paste it into the Capture Name field
8. Continue checking this person in
9. When finished checking this person in, refresh the Event Attendance Manager screen - this person should now have a green checkmark beside their name
10. Repeat steps 6 - 9 for three or four people - you may want to time how long it takes to check in someone, which will help with calculating how many kiosk stations you will need
11. When you're finished testing, go back to the Event Attendance Manager screen and click each green checkmark which will change it back to a red X

This article illustrates 2 examples of kiosk mode setup: Kiosk Mode Examples

1. Example 1 is scan barcode
2. Example 2 is search by name

This INFOGRAPHIC compares all 5 rsvpBOOK check-in options.

Have a look at the rsvpBOOK Mobile Web App for your event. It automatically contains a barcode that can be scanned on the day of your event. So if you email the Mobile Web App's URL to all of your registrants, they will all have a barcode.