Conferences involve more than selling registrations. Organizers need to offer different ticket types, manage venue capacity, collect information for every attendee, deliver clear and professional tickets, and keep registration moving efficiently on the day.

FooEvents brings this workflow into WooCommerce, allowing you to sell conference registrations directly from your WordPress website using your preferred WooCommerce payment gateways. Each attendee receives an individual ticket that can be used to manage attendee records, generate printed badges and support fast check-ins with the FooEvents Check-ins app.

In this guide, we will walk through a recommended configuration for a single-day conference. It covers ticket types, capacity, attendee registration, ticket delivery, badge printing and event-day check-ins based on the following requirements:

• 450 tickets must be sold via the event company’s existing WordPress website using WooCommerce.
• The purchaser must select a ticket type, such as Delegate, Standard, Student or VIP, which determines the ticket price.
• Each ticket type must have its own stock quantity, with all ticket types totaling 450 available tickets.
• A purchaser must be able to buy tickets on behalf of multiple attendees.
• Attendee details must be captured for each individual ticket.
• Ticket emails should be sent directly to individual attendees.
• Ticket types should be displayed in a table layout where possible.
• The following details should be captured for each attendee: first name, last name, email address, telephone number, company, designation, T-shirt size and dietary requirements.
• Attendee details should be captured using the Attendee Details Page before checkout.
• PDF tickets should be enabled.
• A branded conference ticket theme should be used.
• Once ticket sales close, the event company needs to export a list of attendees that can be imported into their CRM system.
• Attendees need to check in at registration when arriving at the event.
• The event company needs to print name tags that will be handed to attendees at registration.

Here is an example of such an event: Conference

The configuration below uses one variable event product for the main conference registration. Ticket types are managed as WooCommerce variations so that each option can have its own price and stock allocation.

This help document assumes that you already have FooEvents and WooCommerce installed on a WordPress website and have a basic understanding of how FooEvents works. If you are new to FooEvents, you should read our Getting Started guide before continuing.

Plan your conference ticket setup

Products used

• WooCommerce
• FooEvents for WooCommerce
• FooEvents Custom Attendee Fields
• FooEvents PDF Tickets
• FooEvents Ticket Themes
• FooEvents Check-ins apps
• FooEvents POS, if conference tickets or merchandise will be sold on-site

Recommended conference structure

The most important planning decision is whether access can be managed through one conference product or whether part of the program needs its own product, capacity or check-in workflow.

Use one variable event product when all attendees enter the same conference on the same day and the ticket type only changes the price or level of access. Create a separate event product when an activity needs an independent ticket, capacity limit or check-in record.

If attendees must select a capacity-limited session, follow the Bookable: Conference with Workshops guide. For conferences that span more than one day, see the Standard: Multi-day Conference guide. Virtual conferences should use the Virtual Event: Conference workflow.

The paid plugins required for this conference setup can be purchased individually. FooEvents for WooCommerce, FooEvents Custom Attendee Fields and FooEvents PDF Tickets are all included in the FooEvents Premium Bundle. The bundle also includes additional FooEvents extensions, but they are not required for this single-day setup.

If your conference runs across multiple days, you may also need FooEvents Multi-day. This specific use case covers a single-day conference, so the event type will be set to Single.

The FooEvents Ticket Themes and FooEvents Check-ins apps used in this guide are available free of charge.

FooEvents POS is optional and is not included in the Premium Bundle. Add it separately or use the appropriate POS bundle if you plan to sell registrations or merchandise at the venue.

Configure tickets, capacity and attendee data

Create an event product

Go to Products > Add Product in the main menu and complete the standard WooCommerce product fields such as the title, main description, short description, product image, gallery, tags and categories.

Use a clear conference name and include the most important event information in the product description. This should usually include the event date, venue, who the conference is for, what is included with registration, and any important arrival or registration instructions.

Proceed to the Product Data panel and select Variable product from the product type dropdown. This allows you to create the different conference ticket types as WooCommerce variations.

Configure ticket types, pricing and capacity

Next, create product variations that will allow purchasers to choose between different ticket types. Purchasers will be charged different amounts depending on their selection, and each ticket type can have its own stock quantity.

The combined variation stock should not exceed the number of people the venue can accommodate. In this example, the four allocations total 450. Disable backorders unless your team has a deliberate oversell or waiting-list process.

Describe what each ticket type includes on the product page. For example, a VIP ticket might include priority registration, a reserved networking area or a merchandise pack, while a Student ticket might require a student number or other eligibility information to be captured as a custom attendee field.

Go to Product Data > Attributes and create an attribute called Ticket Type. In the Values field, specify the different ticket options. Be sure to check the Used for variations option and then click Save attributes.

Go to Product Data > Variations and select Generate variations. WooCommerce will create a variation for each ticket type in the Ticket Type attribute.

Set each variation to Virtual and set the relevant price. If you want to manage capacity per ticket type, enable Manage stock for each variation and set the number of tickets available using the Stock quantity field.

A free or complimentary ticket should still have managed stock. Enter a price of 0 and assign it a fixed allocation so that free registrations continue to consume conference capacity.

You can also set each variation to Downloadable if that matches your store configuration, but this is not required for FooEvents to generate and send tickets.

Early-bird and other pricing phases

Early-bird, standard and late pricing often draw from the same physical conference capacity. Avoid creating several unrestricted variations for pricing phases if each variation would create another stock pool for the same seats.

• Use a scheduled WooCommerce sale price or update the variation price when the next phase begins; or
• Allocate a fixed portion of capacity to each phase and only release the phases sequentially.

WooCommerce coupons can be used for speakers, sponsors, partners or promotional campaigns without creating another ticket type. Test coupons against the intended ticket variations and confirm that discounted registrations still reduce the correct stock allocation.

Enable the Attendee Details Page

For this conference setup, attendee details should be collected before checkout using the Attendee Details Page. This provides a dedicated step where purchasers can enter attendee information for each ticket before continuing to WooCommerce checkout.

Important: FooEvents for WooCommerce 2.0.16 and newer enables the Attendee Details Page by default on new installations. Existing installations should confirm that it is enabled. Update FooEvents for WooCommerce and all installed FooEvents extensions before using this workflow, and test any change to an established checkout process on a staging site first.

Go to FooEvents > Settings, open the Attendee tab and enable Enable Attendee Details page?. FooEvents can automatically create the Attendee Details page, but if you use your own page, make sure it includes the following shortcode:

[fooevents_attendee_form]

Select the page in the Attendee Details page setting and save your changes.

You can also enable Copy Attendee Details if you want purchasers to copy details from the first attendee to the remaining attendees. This can save time when a group shares details such as company information, but the purchaser should still update each attendee’s name, email address and other personal fields before continuing.

The Attendee Details Page works with both the classic WooCommerce checkout and the WooCommerce Checkout Block. If you use the WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway, disable express payment buttons on product and cart pages for FooEvents products because these buttons can bypass the Attendee Details Page. Express payments displayed on the checkout page are not affected.

For more information, see the Attendee Details Page guide.

Event settings

Go to Product Data > Event Settings.

To activate event functionality, set Is this product an event? to Yes.

Set Event type to Single and complete the standard event fields as needed. This should include the conference start date, start time, end time and time zone.

Complete the venue details, organizer contact details and any custom messages that should display on the thank-you page or event details tab. For a conference, this could include registration desk opening times, parking information, arrival instructions or a reminder to bring a digital or printed ticket.

In the Attendee Details section, enable the attendee fields that should be captured for each ticket. For this conference setup, enable attendee full name, attendee email address, attendee phone number, company name and designation.

If every attendee must use a different email address, enable Validate unique attendee email addresses at checkout?. This prevents the same email address from being used more than once for the same event product in an order.

These fields ensure that each ticket is linked to the correct attendee rather than only the purchaser. Attendee information will be captured on the Attendee Details Page before checkout.

Options relating to bookings can be ignored for this single-day conference setup. The remaining event options can be configured based on your preferences.

Configure ticket generation and delivery

Go to Product Data > Ticket Settings.

Select the relevant HTML ticket theme and, if FooEvents PDF Tickets is installed and enabled, select the relevant PDF ticket theme. For a professional conference, use a branded ticket theme that includes your conference logo, colors, event name, venue, date, and barcode or QR code.

Set the ticket logo and header image if your selected ticket theme supports these options. You can also change the subject of the ticket email using the Ticket email subject field.

If you would like to convey information that only attendees should receive, use the Ticket email body field. This is useful for arrival times, registration desk location, parking details, event rules or what attendees should bring.

Enable the ticket settings that match your conference workflow. In most cases, you should display attendee details, date and time, barcode or QR code, and custom attendee details on the ticket. Enable Email tickets? and, if each attendee should receive their own ticket directly, enable Email ticket to attendee rather than purchaser?.

FooEvents generates tickets when a WooCommerce order reaches one of the statuses selected under FooEvents > Settings > General > Send on order status. Completed is the default. Select only statuses that represent an approved or intentionally accepted registration in your store so that tickets are not sent for orders that are still awaiting payment or review.

Depending on the options you enable, attendees can receive or access tickets in several ways:

• An HTML ticket displayed in the ticket email
• A PDF ticket attached to the HTML ticket email
• A PDF download from the WooCommerce Thank You or My Account pages when PDF downloads are enabled
• Ticket details in the WordPress admin area under FooEvents > Tickets

Send a ticket theme preview to confirm the branding, but use a ticket generated from a real test order when testing barcode or QR code scanning. Preview tickets contain sample information and are not valid for check-in. See the ticket themes guide for preview instructions.

Test delivery to more than one email provider and use an authenticated SMTP service to improve deliverability, especially when PDF attachments are enabled. If an attendee’s email address is corrected later, update the ticket and use the resend option so the attendee receives the current ticket. See the ticket help section for sending, resending and spam troubleshooting.

FooEvents can also display generated tickets on the WooCommerce Thank You page. If the order has not yet reached a ticket-generating status, the customer will see the configured pending message instead. Review the Thank You Page Tickets guide if you want to change this behavior or message.

For more information, see the ticket configuration guide.

Enable PDF tickets

Requires the FooEvents PDF Tickets plugin.

Go to FooEvents > Settings > PDF Tickets and enable Enable PDF tickets. You can also enable Enable PDF ticket downloads and Attach PDF ticket to HTML ticket email to match your preferred delivery workflow.

After enabling PDF tickets globally, return to the conference product and confirm that the correct PDF ticket theme is selected under Product Data > Ticket Settings.

PDF tickets are useful for conferences because attendees often expect a printable or downloadable ticket that they can save on their phone or bring to the venue.

For more information, see the FooEvents PDF Tickets guide.

Custom attendee fields

Requires the FooEvents Custom Attendee Fields plugin.

Go to Product Data > Custom Attendee Fields.

Create the custom attendee fields that are specific to your conference registration process. These fields will be captured for each individual attendee and can be viewed in the WordPress admin area, included in exports, displayed on tickets where enabled, and viewed in the FooEvents Check-ins apps.

For this conference setup, useful custom attendee fields include T-shirt size and Dietary requirements. If you did not use the standard attendee fields for company and designation, you can also create custom fields for Company and Job title.

For dietary requirements, use a text field or textarea so attendees can provide allergies or special requests. For T-shirt size, use a select field so attendees choose from fixed options such as Small, Medium, Large, XL and XXL.

Use fixed options where the information will be counted or grouped later. A select field makes T-shirt quantities easier to summarize than free-form answers such as “medium”, “M” and “med”. Use free-text fields only when attendees need to explain information that cannot be represented reliably by a short list.

Mark fields as required only when the information is necessary for registration, ticket delivery or event operations. Required fields must be completed on the Attendee Details Page before the customer can continue to checkout. Avoid collecting personal information that your team does not need, and decide who will be allowed to access exported attendee and dietary data.

Once you have reviewed all settings, click Publish for a new event or Update for an existing event. Your event should then be visible on the front-end of your website.

Variation table layout

By default, WooCommerce displays variations in a dropdown field on the product page:

FooEvents includes a built-in option to display supported event variations in a table layout. This is useful for conference registration sites because it allows customers to view ticket types, prices and availability in a clearer format.

You can enable the variation table globally by going to FooEvents > Settings > General and enabling Display event variations as a table.

You can also control this per event by going to Product Data > Event Settings > Display Options and setting Display variations as a table to either use the global setting, enable it for this event, or disable it for this event.

The variation table replaces WooCommerce’s default add-to-cart behavior for supported event products. Test it with your theme and any third-party plugin that customizes WooCommerce product variations or add-to-cart controls before opening registration.

Important: The variation table display depends on the WooCommerce product and variation configuration. Avoid using blank or “Any” variation values for ticket types, as these can prevent the table layout from being used correctly.

Test the registration workflow

Similar to this demo example, customers should be able to select one or more ticket types and add them to the cart. They will then complete the required information for every ticket on the Attendee Details Page before continuing to WooCommerce checkout.

Place a test order containing multiple ticket types. Confirm that variation stock is reduced correctly, required attendee fields cannot be skipped, unique attendee email validation behaves as expected, and the order reaches the intended ticket-generating status.

When tickets are configured to be emailed to attendees, each attendee should receive their own ticket with the correct ticket type, attendee information, custom fields and conference details.

Generated tickets can be reviewed in the WordPress admin area under FooEvents > Tickets. Open the test tickets and verify their attendee details before testing check-ins.

Prepare and manage conference entry

Prepare the Check-ins app

Install the latest FooEvents Check-ins app on every device that will be used at registration. Create appropriate WordPress user accounts for the check-in team and confirm that each account can connect to the site and access the conference.

• Update FooEvents for WooCommerce and the Check-ins app before the event.
• Under FooEvents > Settings > Check-ins App, use Event listing options to limit staff to the events they need where appropriate.
• Review Tickets loaded if the website contains a long ticket history. If you apply a date range, enable Include older tickets that have not been checked in so valid advance registrations remain available.
• Enable Hide personal information if registration staff only need attendee names and should not see other attendee or purchaser details in the app.
• Open the conference on every device and allow its tickets to finish loading before registration opens.
• Enable Auto Check-ins for scanning stations that should check in a valid ticket and immediately return to the scanner.
• Charge the devices, test the venue network and keep charging cables or battery packs available.

If a large attendee list cannot load reliably in one request, configure a smaller ticket batch size under the Check-ins App settings. Smaller batches can reduce server timeouts, although the complete attendee list may take longer to load. See the Check-ins app help guide for setup, scanning, filtering, offline mode and connection guidance.

Scan and register attendees

The app can scan the barcode or QR code on a digital or printed ticket. It can also search for an attendee by name or ticket number when the ticket cannot be scanned.

1. Open the conference in the Check-ins app and launch the scanner.
2. Scan the attendee’s ticket and review the result shown by the app.
3. Confirm the attendee name and ticket type where the registration workflow requires it.
4. If scanning fails, search for the attendee or ticket and update the status manually.
5. Escalate duplicate, canceled or unpaid tickets to a supervisor instead of admitting the attendee without recording the resolution.

Before the conference, complete a test check-in using a real ticket. Confirm that the ticket scans, the correct attendee and variation are displayed, the status updates in WordPress, and the same ticket produces the expected duplicate-scan response when scanned again.

Manage multiple desks and group arrivals

For a busy conference, divide registration into clearly marked desks such as General Admission, VIP and Help Desk. When devices are online, check-in updates are sent back to the WordPress site so that other connected devices can work from the latest attendee status.

If groups frequently arrive together, the app’s Check-in Same Order Tickets setting can check in tickets from the same WooCommerce order for the same event. Only use it when the complete group is present; otherwise scan each attendee separately so that absent group members remain available for later check-in.

Offline devices cannot exchange updates in real time, which increases the risk of the same ticket being accepted at more than one entrance. If the conference has multiple gates or unreliable connectivity, follow the multi-gate event setup guide and assign clear operating rules before doors open.

Define re-entry and exception rules

Decide whether a conference ticket allows re-entry and train every registration and security team member on the same rule. For no re-entry, a ticket that is already checked in should be referred to the Help Desk. If re-entry is allowed, check the attendee out when they leave and check the same ticket in again when they return.

The ticket status can be changed between Not Checked In, Checked In, Canceled and Unpaid. Restrict manual status changes to trusted staff and record how canceled, unpaid, duplicate or identity-related exceptions should be handled.

Manage attendees, reporting and on-site operations

Review reports and export attendees

Go to FooEvents > Reports to review event revenue, tickets sold, available tickets and attendee check-ins. These reports provide a current event summary, while the event export provides the detailed attendee-level data needed for operational lists and CRM imports. See the Event Reports guide for more information.

To export the conference attendees, edit the event product and go to Product Data > Event Export. The CSV can include ticket numbers, variations, custom attendee fields, check-in data, purchaser information and attendee details.

• Generate an early working export to test CRM field mapping and prepare badge or catering workflows.
• Generate a fresh export shortly before the conference so that late registrations, cancellations and attendee edits are included.
• Use fixed-option custom fields to prepare totals such as T-shirt sizes and use restricted attendee data for dietary planning.
• Limit access to exported files and remove working copies when they are no longer needed.

Alternatively, WP Fusion can add FooEvents attendees to a supported CRM and apply tags based on the event ticket purchased.

Prepare and print name tags

The built-in FooEvents Stationery Builder can create print-ready name tags, badges, wristbands, tickets and labels. A conference badge could include the attendee name, company, designation, ticket type and barcode or QR code.

Select a format that matches the badge stock and printer, then confirm the row and column layout, margins, field mapping and text size using a small test batch. Print the main attendee list close enough to the conference to include recent registrations.

For late registrations or corrections, deselect Include all attendees and generate stationery for specific ticket or order numbers. This avoids reprinting the entire badge run.

Optional on-site registration with FooEvents POS

Requires FooEvents POS.

FooEvents POS can be used to sell walk-in conference registrations and merchandise from the same WooCommerce store. Configure the event’s POS Settings to control which attendee fields are shown or required, select the POS ticket theme and decide whether tickets purchased through POS should be emailed.

Complete an online test sale before the event and confirm that the order reduces the correct variation stock, creates the attendee ticket, prints or emails as expected, and becomes available in the Check-ins app.

FooEvents POS supports offline order capture, but ticket generation and printing require an active internet connection. Offline ticket orders will only generate tickets after the POS changes are synchronized. Keep the registration station online when attendees need an immediately scannable or printable ticket. See the FooEvents POS offline mode guide for limitations and synchronization guidance.

Final checks before opening registration

Before opening ticket sales to the public, complete a full test registration from start to finish.

• Confirm that the conference date, time zone, venue, organizer details and customer instructions are correct.
• Confirm that ticket types, prices and variation stock are correct and that the total allocation does not exceed conference capacity.
• Test the variation table with the active theme and any plugin that changes WooCommerce variations or add-to-cart controls.
• Add multiple ticket types to the cart and complete the Attendee Details Page using the same checkout and payment flow that customers will use.
• Confirm that required and unique attendee fields validate correctly and that copied attendee information can be corrected for every individual.
• If using the WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway, confirm that express buttons on product and cart pages cannot bypass attendee capture.
• Confirm that tickets are generated only at the intended order statuses and sent to the correct attendee or purchaser.
• Review the HTML ticket, PDF attachment, PDF download and Thank You page behavior that you have enabled.
• Test email delivery and ticket resending using real test orders and more than one email provider.
• Open the test tickets under FooEvents > Tickets, export the attendee CSV and generate a sample badge.
• Load the conference on every Check-ins app device and test scanning, attendee search, duplicate scans, group arrivals and status synchronization.
• Brief registration staff on re-entry, canceled or unpaid tickets, Help Desk escalation and connectivity procedures.
• If using FooEvents POS, complete a test on-site sale and confirm stock, attendee capture, ticket generation, printing and email delivery.

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