EVENT PLANNING
13 JANUARY 2026
The first number most organisers give us is the expected attendance. It is the right place to start, but it is rarely the number that should be ordered. Staff, crew, artists, suppliers and press all need a band too, some people lose theirs or damage it, and every access level is effectively a separate batch with its own count. Ordering exactly the attendance figure is how events end up short on the first afternoon.
This guide walks through the count in the order we see it work best: the public first, then everyone who works the event, then the split between access levels, then spares for the problems that always happen. It also covers the timing question behind every count, which is whether to order everything at once or hold part of the quantity back for a later top-up.
Start with the public
For ticketed events, the public count comes from ticket sales, but sales are rarely final when the wristbands are ordered. Use the capacity you are licensed for, or the sales target you are working to, rather than tickets sold on the day you send the order. A band that is never used costs little next to a gate that runs out of bands while people are still queuing to get in. If capacity changes after the order, for example because a new area opens, tell us straight away so the margin can be reviewed.
Separate the public into the ticket types your system will recognise. A weekend ticket, a Saturday ticket and a Sunday ticket may look like one group from the box office, but if the system treats them differently they need different bands, or at least different encoding. Each type gets its own quantity, and each quantity needs its own margin. Check the list of ticket types with your ticketing partner, because a late promotion can create a type nobody planned a band for.
Think about how the public will receive the band. Wristbands posted to ticket holders before the event need to be counted per order, with spares held back for lost post and late purchases. Bands handed out at the gate need a buffer at each exchange point, so that one busy desk does not run short while another sits on a pile. The distribution plan changes the count more than most people expect. Write down how many bands each exchange point will start with and where the reserve sits, so the plan can be checked against the order.
Count everyone who works the event
The working population of an event is easy to underestimate. Production staff, security, bar and catering teams, cleaners, medical staff, volunteers, artists and their crews, suppliers making deliveries and press all need some form of access. At a large festival that population can run into thousands, and many of them arrive days before the public, when nobody is thinking about the wristband count anymore. A list from last year's accreditation desk, if you have one, is the most reliable starting point for this part of the count.
Ask each department head for a number and a date, and ask them early. Contractors often know their headcount only roughly until the last weeks, so agree a figure with a margin and make it clear that late additions come from a shared reserve. That keeps the reserve visible and stops every team from padding its own request, which is how counts quietly double. Set a firm date for final numbers and send a reminder a week before, because most late requests come from teams that simply forgot.
Decide which of these groups need RFID and which can use a simpler band. Staff who move through controlled gates every day need the same reliability as the public, often more. A supplier who enters once to deliver may be fine with a printed band or a day pass handled at a separate desk. Mixing formats is common and sensible, as long as each group is counted on its own. Whatever the format, keep a record of who received what, so that access can be withdrawn if someone leaves the team during the event.
One count per access level
Every access level is effectively a separate order. If general admission, VIP, staff, artists and press each have a different colour, design or encoding, then each needs its own quantity and its own spares. A surplus of general admission bands does not help when the VIP stock runs out, because a band cannot change level once it is printed and encoded for a specific group. That is why spares should be calculated per level, even if the total looks generous on paper.
Write the levels down in a simple table: level, colour or design, encoding, quantity and spares. That table becomes the core of the order and the reference for everyone involved. It also exposes levels that exist on paper but serve very few people. Sometimes two small groups can share a band and be separated in the system instead, which simplifies production without weakening control at the gates. Share the table with your system provider as well, so the encoding and the gate rules are built from the same list.
Keep the number of levels proportionate. Each extra level adds a version to produce, a stock to manage on site and a rule for the gate staff to remember. If two groups go through exactly the same doors, they probably do not need different bands. Our guide to accreditation levels covers how to build them from the site map rather than the organisation chart. When in doubt, start with fewer levels and add detail in the system, where a change is usually simpler than a new print run.
Spares for loss and damage
Some bands will be lost, cut off by mistake, damaged or fitted badly and replaced. For single-day events with a well organised exchange, a small margin is usually enough. For multi-day festivals, camping events and anything with water, mud or heavy activity, plan for more. The right margin depends on your event and your history, so look at what happened at the last edition if you have the data. If you have no data, ask the help desk team from previous events what they saw, because they usually remember where the problems were.
Spares only help if they can be used. A spare band for a level should be produced and encoded exactly like the rest of that level, and its UID should be in the list your system imports. Spares that arrive blank, or with UIDs your system has never seen, create a queue at the help desk at precisely the moment you need it to move quickly. Keep the spare UIDs clearly identified in the file your system imports, so your team can tell at a glance which bands are the reserve.
Put the spares where the problems will happen. A reserve held at the production office does not help a gate on the far side of the site. Split the stock between the main help desk and the points where replacements are most likely, and record which numbers went where. When a band is replaced, the original should be deactivated, so the spare list needs to be as traceable as the main order. Check the reserves at the end of each day and move stock between points if one is running low.
Order once or top up later
A single order is simpler: one production run, one delivery, one set of UID files and no risk of a second batch arriving late. It also keeps colours and print consistent, which matters when gate staff check bands by eye. For most events with a fixed date and a capacity known in advance, one order with sensible margins is the most reliable choice. It also means a single approval of artwork and encoding, which shortens the time your team spends on the order.
A top-up makes sense when sales are uncertain until close to the event, or when a late change is likely, such as an added day or a new access level. If you plan for one, agree the design, chip and encoding at the start, so that the second batch is produced to the same specification. Then keep the top-up date realistic, allowing for production and shipping time. Agree in advance how the number ranges and UIDs of the second batch will follow on from the first, so the lists stay consistent.
Production takes 10 to 12 days after artwork and specifications are approved, plus shipping, and the total time is confirmed for each order. A top-up planned for the final week is not a top-up but a risk. If you think you may need more, it is usually cheaper and safer to order a slightly larger first batch than to depend on a second one arriving on time. Put the latest possible top-up date in your planning calendar, and treat it as a deadline rather than an option.
Minimums and versions
As a guide, our minimum order is 500 units, and the real minimum depends on the material, the print and the chip. That figure applies to the order, but small versions inside it can still be awkward. A run of 40 artist bands with their own design may need to be grouped with another version or handled differently, so mention small levels early and we will suggest the simplest way to produce them. Often the simplest answer is a shared design with a different colour or a printed label that sets the small group apart.
Versions multiply quickly. Four access levels across three days, each with its own colour, already make twelve versions before any change of design. Before you settle on that structure, check whether the days can be handled by the system and the levels by colour, or the other way round. Fewer versions mean fewer mistakes in production, packing and distribution on site. A quick conversation with your system provider about what the gates can tell apart often removes several versions at once.
When you send the count, send it as a table with one line per version: quantity, spares, colour, chip and encoding. That format leaves no room for misunderstanding and makes it easy to adjust a single line later. It also lets us check that the numbers add up before production starts, rather than discovering a missing level when the boxes are opened. Keep the same table updated until delivery, so any change is visible to everyone involved in the order.
Packing and labelling
The count does not end when production does. Bands need to arrive packed in a way that matches how you will hand them out. Packing by level is the minimum. Packing by number range, by day or by exchange point can save hours on site, especially when volunteers are doing the distribution and need to find the right band for each person quickly. Think about the person opening the box on site, and what they need to see on the label to hand out the right band in seconds.
If bands carry sequential numbers, ask for each pack to be labelled with its number range and level. That makes it easy to see what has been issued and what is still in stock, and it ties the physical boxes to the UID file your system imports. When a pack is lost or misplaced, you know exactly which numbers to deactivate. Keep a simple log of which ranges went to which desk, because it turns a lost box from a crisis into a quick fix.
Agree the packing plan before production, not on delivery day. It costs little to plan and a lot to fix with a team repacking boxes in a warehouse the night before doors open. Tell us how many exchange points you will run, how the staff accreditation desk works and whether any bands will be posted, and we will propose a packing scheme to match. A clear plan also helps the courier and the venue team, who need to know where each box should go when it arrives.
A simple way to check your count
Before you send the order, check the count from two directions. From the top: capacity, plus everyone who works the event, plus spares. From the bottom: the sum of every version in your table. If the two numbers do not meet, something is missing, usually a staff group, a level added late or the spares for one of the smaller versions. Ask someone outside the core team to do the second check, because a fresh pair of eyes spots missing groups more easily.
You can see the wristband, badge and lanyard options in our catalogue.
If you are unsure about any part of the count, send what you have and tell us where the gaps are. We reply in one hour on average and can help you build the table from the event plan. Everything is produced white label, pre-encoded to your specification, with UID mapping and sequential numbering where your system needs them. A rough count shared early is more useful than a perfect one sent too late to adjust.
Write to us at hello@accesioid.com, or book a call with Marco using the link at the bottom of this page.
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