Door operations

What to do with people who arrive at the event door without registering

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

People who arrive without registering are not handled in the queue: they are sent to a separate desk. There, a criterion written before the event is applied (who can get in without registering and who cannot), a designated person authorises and, if they get in, they are registered manually with the same data as the online form. That way the queue of people with a QR code never stops. If you run the event from abroad, write that criterion with your client before you fly in, because nobody should be improvising it at the door.

Someone always arrives without registering

No matter how many emails you send. The manager who is "definitely on the list" shows up, the colleague who came in place of someone else, the person who registered with an email they do not remember, the one who never saw the invitation. If you have not planned what to do with them, the usual happens: the door operator starts arguing, the queue behind stops, and in the end whoever insists the most gets in.

There are three different cases and it pays to separate them from the start:

• Registered but does not have the QR code. This is not a registration case: it is a search case. They are in the system, you just have to find them.
• Not registered and the event allows it. This is a manual registration: they are entered and they go in.
• Not registered and the event does not allow it (or it is not clear). This is an exception, and someone else decides it.

Step 1: write the criterion before the event

The question "do I let them in?" is not answered at the door. It is answered on a sheet the organiser signs beforehand, saying things like: "open event, door registration accepted until capacity is reached", or "closed event, only registered people get in; replacements from the same company accepted with authorisation from the account manager", or "press without prior accreditation does not get in".

The CISA public venue credentialing guide recommends exactly that: written access criteria for each controlled area, which back the decision to approve or deny, and a point of contact responsible for granting or denying requests as directed by the event's security lead. What applies to a credential applies to a guest without registration.

At clubs, concerts and shows in Argentina there is also a legal obligation. Law 26,370 requires the right of admission to be based on objective conditions, equal for all attendees, and those conditions to be displayed in writing, legibly and in a visible place at every entrance. "You did not register" can be a condition; "I do not like your face" cannot. More on this in nightclub door control and the right of admission.

Step 2: designate who authorises

The operator scans. They do not decide exceptions. If the operator decides, within half an hour the rule is whatever each operator chose, and the report matches nothing.

The person who authorises has to meet three conditions:

• Have real authority. If they say yes, nobody overrules them later. At a corporate event it is usually someone from the organising team; at a concert, the production or security lead.
• Be available for the whole entry period. Phone at hand and close to the entrance, not on stage or in a meeting.
• Know the criterion. The same one the operator knows, so the answer is consistent.

If you expect a high volume of exceptions (a congress with same-day registration, for example), designate two and split them by type of case.

Step 3: take the problem out of the queue

This is the decision that changes the experience the most. The main queue is only for people with a QR code, and whoever does not have one leaves the queue. Set up a desk to the side of the entrance, with its own operator and a clear sign: "No pass? Come here".

Event safety guidance insists that entry controls should not create crowding. The crowd management controls page of the HSE, the UK's health and safety regulator, asks that entry control procedures do not create a risk of crushing and that queues do not block emergency routes. A badly placed exceptions desk, in the middle of the flow, does exactly that: put it where the people waiting do not block the exit.

Step 4: search first, then register

At the desk, the first thing is to search for the person among those registered, by name or email (the panel list searches both; the door screen has a "Search by name" button). They are often there, with a mistyped email or an old company one. If they are, their badge is printed right there or they are shown how to get their pass again, and they get in with their original registration. They can also request it themselves through "Recover my pass" in PASE, with the email they registered with.

If they are not there and the criterion allows it, they are registered manually. In PASE, manual registration at the door generates the pass on the spot, with the right attendee type, and if the event uses physical badges it is printed there. The person is in the same system as everyone else, with their unique QR code, and anti double entry covers them like the rest: if they try to get in again with that QR code at another gate, it shows DUPLICATE. And if the case is someone registered who brought a companion the criterion allows, the operator can add a +1 to that pass at the door.

Step 5: at registration, the same data as on the web

The temptation at the door is to write down only the name to go faster. That is a mistake: that person is left out of the reports by type, you cannot send them anything afterwards and you do not know which company they came from. Ask for the same data as the online registration, and not one field more. If the person does not speak Spanish, the online form is also available in English with ?lang=en.

And registration at the door is not exempt from the law. Argentina's Law 25,326 on personal data protection requires free, express and informed consent, and that before collecting data you inform the purpose, who is responsible and which questions are mandatory. A sign at the desk with that information, or the same text as the online form, covers the informing part. We go into it in attendee data and Law 25,326.

Step 6: log every exception

Every case resolved by authorisation, and every one refused, has to be logged with name, reason and who decided. It serves two purposes: if there is a complaint later, you know what happened; and for the next event, you know where exceptions come from (did the email not arrive? did the invitation not say registration was required? was the replacement not planned?).

Manual registrations appear in the PASE report together with online registrations, so real attendance already includes them. Refusals that did not go through the system, log them separately.

Step 7: prevent it next time

If you had many door registrations at an event, look at the reason before blaming people. The most common causes are an invitation that did not make clear registration was required, a reminder that did not explain how to recover the pass, or a registration link that closed too early. Each of those is fixed beforehand, in the email, not at the door.

The operator scans, the desk resolves and one person authorises. If all three roles fall on the same person, the queue stops.

Frequently asked questions