Collecting attendee data properly

Your attendee list is the compounding asset events build — worth more than any single night's bar take — and it's governed by rules that are easy to satisfy on purpose and easy to breach by default. Here's the collect-legally-use-well playbook.

Collect less than you think, plus the one thing that matters

• Checkout: name, email — and stop. Every extra required field costs conversion (~2–4% per field is the working rule).
• The one that matters: a marketing opt-in checkbox, unticked by default, in plain words ('Email me about future events'). That tick is the legal basis your future revenue stands on.
• Anything else (dietary, access needs, postcode for planning) — ask post-purchase or at check-in, where it costs nothing.

The UK GDPR essentials, minus the terror

1. Consent must be specific and recorded — your platform should timestamp opt-ins per attendee.
2. The 'soft opt-in' lets you email your own past customers about similar events with an unsubscribe — useful, but a clean opt-in list outperforms it anyway.
3. Every send needs a working unsubscribe honoured promptly.
4. A one-page privacy notice linked at checkout covers what you collect and why. Write it once.

The platform trap: whose data is it?

On marketplace platforms, read the answer carefully — some treat buyers as their users, market other events to them, and give you partial exports. Self-service platforms generally hand you full attendee data including opt-in status. This single clause is worth more than a percentage point of fees to a repeat organiser: the list is the business.

Turning it into revenue

Segment minimally: past buyers by event type, plus an 'opted-in, never bought' nurture group. Announce to past buyers 24–48h before public on-sale — that presale list is what makes momentum reliable instead of lucky.