Planning

How many check-in points and staff does your event in Argentina need?

By SOMOS DER · October 30, 2026 · 7 min read

The number of check-in points does not come from the total number of attendees, it comes from how many people arrive at the same time. The method has three steps: estimate how many people arrive in the busiest time slot, time a complete entry in a rehearsal, and divide. Staff numbers come from one person per point plus the roles that are not scanning: the queue, exceptions, supervision and relief. If you are organizing from abroad and hiring local crew in Argentina, this is the brief you want to send before anyone quotes you headcount.

Why "how many attendees" is the wrong question

Two events with the same number of guests can need very different doors. At a two day congress people arrive spread across the morning and come back after lunch. At a concert almost everyone arrives in the last hour before the show. At a corporate party they arrive when the working day ends, all together. The total is the same; the peak is not.

That is why safety guidance talks about arrivals, not totals. The UK Health and Safety Executive's page on crowd management controls says that for larger crowds you should "encourage phased arrivals and departures", and, where arrivals could exceed what the venue can safely hold, have "arrangements for monitoring and estimating the numbers of people arriving". That flow is what sizes the door.

Step 1: estimate arrivals per time slot

Split the entry window into short slots (fifteen minutes, for example) and estimate how many people arrive in each one. Sources, from most to least reliable:

• Your own previous edition. If you ran it with a system that records the time of each entry, you already have the curve. In PASE the post-event report shows peak hours and entries per hour, which is exactly this number.
• The call time and the start time. If the invitation says "check-in 8 to 9, opening at 9", most people will arrive in the second half of that hour. Assume the peak sits close to the start, not spread evenly.
• What you can move. Different call times per attendee type, or a reason to come early, flatten the peak. In PASE you can also open time slots with a capacity each: the attendee picks a slot, sees how many places are left, and a full slot closes by itself.

The figure you need is the busiest slot. The others tell you when you can close points or send staff on a break, but the door is built for the peak.

Step 2: time each entry in a rehearsal

This is the number almost nobody has and nobody can give you from memory, because it depends on your door: bag check or not, printed badge or not, ID check or not, whether the operator also gives directions, whether there is enough light for the camera to read the QR code.

• Set the point up exactly as it will be: same device, same table, same checks.
• Register test people so they get their QR code, and scan them on different phones, with different screen brightness, some with a cracked screen or with the email open instead of the pass.
• Time from the moment one person reaches the point until the next one can move forward. That is the time that matters, not just the scan.
• Repeat several times and use a realistic value, leaning slow. On the day operators are more tired and guests are less prepared than in the rehearsal.

In PASE the scan itself answers instantly (valid, duplicate or not authorized), so the time you measure will be dominated by everything else: taking out the phone, finding the email, the bag, the printed badge. Measure it at your own door rather than trusting a generic number.

Step 3: do the math, then add margin

• Capacity of one point in one slot = length of the slot divided by the time per person you measured.
• Points needed = people arriving in the busiest slot divided by the capacity of one point, rounded up.

Then add margin. A spare point set up and unused costs far less than a queue spilling onto the sidewalk. If the result is more points than physically fit in your entrance, the problem is not staffing: stagger arrivals or open another door. With more than one physical door, do the math per door. PASE gates sync with each other and duplicate entry is blocked atomically (if two scanners read the same code at the same moment, only one entry goes through), so you can split people across doors without the same pass getting in twice.

Step 4: staff is not only the people scanning

Each check-in point needs at least one person scanning. A door that works has other roles, and if the scanner covers them, scanning stops:

• Queue management. Someone who tells people "have your QR code open" before they reach the point. It is what cuts time per person the most.
• Exceptions desk. Whoever has no QR code leaves the line and is handled apart. The PASE scanner can search by name to mark an entry without a code.
• Supervision. One person who decides exceptions, watches the report and moves staff between doors.
• Relief. If entry lasts hours, nobody scans well nonstop.
• Inner zones. VIP areas, backstage or rooms with their own permission are each another point with its own operator.

When you hire local crew from abroad, send this list of roles, not just a headcount, and ask that at least the exceptions desk and the supervisor speak English if your guests are international.

What this means in PASE plans and local crew

For budgeting: Base includes 1 check-in point with remote support and no on-site operators; Pro includes up to 4 points, 2 operators and on-site support for one event day; Enterprise has unlimited points and a dedicated team (see pricing). Base starts from USD 600, Pro from USD 1,500 and Enterprise is a custom quote. Add-ons: an additional operator from USD 100 per event day and an accreditation supervisor from USD 160 per event day; travel and per diem outside Buenos Aires depend on the destination. SOMOS DER on-site operators are optional; if you prefer to build your own door team in Argentina, you can find event staff on LABURO.

On the day: watch, correct and keep the data

The calculation is an estimate; on the day you have the real number. The HSE page on crowd monitoring lists "entrances and exits" and "areas where people queue" among the areas to monitor, and notes that "counting systems at entry and exit points can help you estimate numbers within your venue or area of the venue". The PASE live report shows entries by gate, zone, attendee type and hour, so you see which point is loading up while it happens.

If one gate has a queue and another is empty, move an operator or redirect people; if all are loaded, open the spare point. PASE runs in the browser, so an extra operator can scan with another phone without installing anything. It does need internet at the door: if the connection is not tested, the sizing is worthless. After the event, the post-event report keeps peak hours, real attendance and entry times, which is exactly what was missing in steps 1 and 2. The second time you run the same event, you calculate instead of estimating.

Size the door for the peak, not for the total. And measure time per person at your own door; do not copy it from another event.

Frequently asked questions