Check Guests In From the Same Invitation They RSVP’d To

If your invitation is what collected the RSVPs, that guest list is already your check-in list. Each person who submits the form gets their own QR code, and on the day staff open a link on their phone and scan it. There is no separate check-in app to sign up for, no spreadsheet to import, and no badge printer or kiosk to rent.

That import step is where most setups get awkward. You collect RSVPs in one place, then export them, then load them into a check-in tool that has its own accounts and its own idea of what a guest record looks like. Every edit after that has to happen twice, and the version that matters is whichever one you remembered to update last.

When the invitation and the check-in screen read the same list, that whole step disappears. Someone RSVPs, a code is issued, and the scanner already knows about them. If they update their response later, the code they saved still works.

Who gets a personal QR code

One thing to be clear about up front. Codes are issued only to people who submitted the RSVP form. This method is for moving pre-registered guests through quickly, so if you expect walk-ins you need to decide separately how to take them. That comes up later in this guide.

Guests who did RSVP are handled two ways at the door.

• They brought the QR code: scan it and they are in
• They did not bring it: they are on the list, so find them by name search

Staff only need to read the colour. Blue means the RSVP checked out, green means they are checked in. Someone already processed comes up yellow with three short vibrations and the time they were first checked in. A code that is not on the list is red.

What you do with that signal is up to you. Our part ends at telling you, in about a second, whether this person registered ahead of time. Welcome kits, express lanes, discounts: that is your call and your run of show.

Setting it up takes five steps

1. Open the RSVP section in the editor.

2. Pick the personal QR sample form. It is easy to confuse with the similarly named "personal event" sample, which runs on a shared QR code at the desk. To issue a code per guest you have to choose the personal QR sample.

Worth knowing before you click: choosing a sample replaces the fields you already built with the sample’s own. If you spent time on your form, note the fields down first, then adjust the labels and options afterwards.

3. Save, then publish the invitation. Saving is what actually switches the method, and publishing is what lets guests RSVP.

4. Issue staff links from Dashboard, Check-in. Make one per entrance if you have several, named for the spot: "Main door", "Second floor". You can then tell who processed what and where, and each checked-in guest record keeps the staff member who handled it.

5. Choose a scan mode. There are two.

• Confirm first (default): the scan shows the name and you tap to check them in. Good when you need to catch duplicate names, or when the door is not busy
• Instant: the scan checks them in and returns to the camera immediately. Better in the rush right before doors

Turning on lock mode stops staff from switching modes at the door, which helps when you want one consistent policy.

What the guest has to do

Submit the form. The confirmation screen shows an eight-character code and a QR image right away, and Save as image puts it in their photos. At the door they show it.

One code is issued per RSVP, and it stays the same even if the guest edits their response later. The image they already saved keeps working.

The codes leave out characters that get misread. No zero against letter O, no one against letter I. That matters when a code has to be typed in by hand because a screen is cracked or too dim to scan. Typing is case-insensitive, and spaces or hyphens are ignored.

What staff need on the day

The link, opened on their own phone, with camera permission granted. No login. You are not creating accounts, sending invitations, and assigning roles for people who are working a four-hour shift.

For guests who arrive without their code, the name search tab finds them by name or phone. Phone left at home, battery dead, or they RSVP’d before you switched the method on and never got a code: all the same case, and all still on the list.

You can limit what staff see. Turning off contact display leaves just the name; turning on response display lets staff tap a name to see what the guest submitted, like company, title, or session choice. Useful when different registrations get different instructions at the door. The name is always shown, because check-in needs it.

Handling walk-ins

This is the first thing to settle with personal QR codes. The scanner reads the RSVP list, so anyone not on that list will not come up in name search either. Finding that out at the door, with people behind them, is where the line stops.

There are two workable answers.

1. Have them fill in the RSVP form at the desk.

Keep the invitation open on a tablet or a spare phone and let walk-ins enter their own details. The moment they submit, they are on the list, so name search finds them immediately and their headcount and answers land in the same format as everyone else. Your post-event numbers stay in one place. It does take a minute per person, so keep that desk separate from the RSVP line.

2. Take them separately and reconcile by hand.

A paper list or a spreadsheet at the door. This is the fastest option for throughput, but those names never reach the dashboard, so you are adding them up yourself afterwards. Reasonable when you expect few walk-ins, or when nothing matters more than the queue moving.

Either way, decide before the day and tell your staff. One line of signage and a clear spot for that desk is usually all the preparation it needs.

Things worth knowing before they become questions

The personal QR does nothing in a phone’s own camera app. That is deliberate, not broken. The code contains characters, not a web address.

Putting a link in it would let guests open that link themselves and check in without passing the desk, which defeats the point of issuing individual codes. So the code only resolves through the staff scanner.

Adding this line to your guest instructions cuts the questions noticeably.

Your QR code is scanned by staff at the door. Pointing your own camera at it will not open anything, so save the image and show it when you arrive.

Anyone with a staff link can open it without logging in. That is the trade for letting staff start in seconds. Send the link only to staff, keep it off anything public, and deactivate it when the event ends or someone leaves the team. Deactivating closes sessions that are already open, and the records they processed stay.

The dashboard does not refresh on its own. Reload it to see what other staff have processed.

You need a working internet connection. Basement halls and large convention centres get saturated exactly when your guests arrive. Get a wired line for the desk, keep it off the public Wi-Fi you hand out to attendees, and run at least two staff devices with one on Wi-Fi and one on cellular so a single outage does not stop entry.

Export the guest list to Excel beforehand. With personal QR codes the eight-character code comes through as its own column, so you can mark people off on paper during an outage and check them in from the dashboard once you are back.

Venue network setup and operation are the organiser’s responsibility, and we are not liable for check-in delays or misses caused by connectivity problems. Venue lines are outside anything we control, which is why the preparation above is worth doing.

Test it the day before

Submit your own RSVP, get the code, then open a staff link on a second device and scan it. That surfaces camera permissions, lighting, and scanning distance while you can still do something about them. Delete the test RSVP from the dashboard afterwards.

Do it where the desk will actually stand if you can. Connections that hold in a lobby often do not hold at the back of a hall or a floor below it.

Frequently asked questions

How is this different from a dedicated check-in app?

Dedicated apps are built to check people in, and they are good at it, but they start from a guest list you bring them. That means exporting, importing, and keeping two copies in step. Here the invitation that collected the RSVP is the same system that scans at the door, so the list is never copied. If you are running ticketed sales, badge printing on site, or thousands of attendees, a dedicated platform is the better fit.

Do I need a badge printer or kiosk?

No. Staff scan with the browser on their own phones. No app to install, no scanner or kiosk to rent. If you do need badges printed on arrival, or you are expecting attendees in the hundreds arriving at once, a full registration service with hardware and on-site operators suits that better. This approach fits seminars, openings, and smaller exhibitions in the dozens to low hundreds.

Can staff add a walk-in from the scanner?

No. The scanner looks up the RSVP list, so someone who never registered will not appear in name search. Having them fill in the RSVP form at the desk puts them on the list and makes them findable; otherwise you are tracking them separately by hand. Decide which before the event.

Do staff need accounts?

No. They open the link you send them. Because there is no login step, you can hand it to temporary staff on the day.

Is there a limit on how many check-ins?

No. Several staff can process hundreds of people back to back. There is a rate limit that trips if one connection sends 60 bad links or unknown codes within five minutes, which is there to stop someone guessing codes with a leaked link. Normal scanning does not come near it.

We already set up the shared QR code. Do we have to change?

No. The shared desk QR is the default and it keeps working exactly as before unless you switch. Personal QR only applies when you turn it on. Do note that switching mid-way means anyone who RSVP’d before the change has no code, so they go through name search.

The camera will not start. What now?

Cameras only run over a secure connection, so use the link exactly as issued without editing the address. If permission was denied, allow the camera from the padlock icon in the address bar and reload. Failing that, there is manual code entry at the bottom of the scanner for typing the eight characters.

Does the scanner record guests?

No. The camera is used to read the code and nothing is saved or transmitted as a photo or video. Worth saying plainly to guests who ask.

Our event is in another country and the times confuse me.

Check-in times are recorded against the event’s time zone, not wherever the person reading the dashboard happens to be. Open it from a different country and the list reads the same. When the event time zone differs from the default for the invitation’s language, the list and the Excel export label the column with the city and offset.

In short

An invitation earns its keep when the list it collected carries through to the door. Personal QR codes turn that list into a one-second check at the entrance, with no hardware, no app, and no account beyond the link itself. Settle how you will take walk-ins ahead of time and the day runs without a stall.

Build an invitation for your seminar, opening, or exhibition and keep RSVPs and door check-in on the same link.