As event organizers head into a new year, many of them wonder what's the best way to set up their events to actually sell out. TicketLeap’s January webinar – “Kickoff 2026: Building Events That Sell Out” – tackled that question head-on, walking organizers through the foundational steps, smart strategies, and practical tools that help turn awesome event ideas into real ticket sales.

Webinar overview

Our team focused on a core challenge many small-scale event organizers face: building and launching events in a way that’s clear, professional, and as effective as possible. From account setup to event creation, ticketing strategy, and payment logistics, the goal of this presentation was to help organizers start 2026 feeling confident and ready to sell tickets.

The session was led by Lauren Shughart, Client Services Manager at TicketLeap, with moderation and Q&A support from TicketLeap’s client services team. Lauren shared step-by-step guidance, live demos, and real-world best practices drawn directly from how successful organizers use TicketLeap every day.

Top takeaways

1. Strong event foundations drive ticket sales

One of the biggest themes of the webinar was that sell-out events start with getting the basics right. A compelling event name, well-planned dates and times (including an end time), location details, capacity, and a thoughtful event description all work together to build the foundation of a great event.

Actionable idea: Before publishing your event, review your event page as if you were a first-time attendee. Does it clearly explain what the event is, who it’s for, and what to expect? Including details like parking, door times, agenda highlights, and other important information can help give your ticket buyers confidence.

2. Your event page is a marketing tool

Lauren emphasized that your TicketLeap event page isn’t just a ticket checkout hub – it’s a key part of your marketing funnel. Custom images, branding, accent colors, and well-written descriptions all help create a polished, professional experience that encourages people to complete their purchase.

Actionable idea: Create an “Event Button” through TicketLeap that links off to your ticketing page. This tool will generate code that you can add to your website. A visually appealing event website paired with a strong call to action button can help improve ticket sales. Another quick tip is to use simple design tools like Canva to create correctly sized images for your ticketing pages!

3. Smart ticketing and fee strategies matter

The webinar also covered ticket pricing, fees, and payment processing. Organizers can choose whether to pass TicketLeap and credit card fees on to buyers or absorb them, depending on what works best for their audience. Lauren also demonstrated tools like the fee calculator to help organizers understand payouts upfront.

Actionable idea: Test your pricing strategy early. For some audiences, they’re fine to cover the fees themselves; for others, bundling fees into the ticket price creates a smoother experience. Knowing your audience helps you decide.

Q&A highlights

During the live Q&A, attendees asked lots of thoughtful, practical questions! Some of the most common included:

• How can I issue comped tickets without making them public?
• Can I track cash and comp ticket sales alongside online purchases?
• Is it possible to collect attendee information for each ticket when one buyer purchases multiple tickets?
• How do discount codes work, and how can I limit their usage?
• How can buyers forward tickets to other attendees electronically?

These questions highlighted real-world scenarios that organizers face and reinforced how TicketLeap’s tools make it easy to manage your events.

Watch the full webinar

Want to see the full walkthrough? Watch the full recording here!

Final thoughts

Our first webinar of 2026 delivered exactly what many organizers need at the start of the year: how to sell out an event by setting its ticketing up the right way. Whether you’re hosting your first event or refining your future ticketing pages, the webinar showed how thoughtful setup and smart use of TicketLeap’s tools can make a difference in your ticket sales.

Looking ahead, be sure to register for our upcoming webinar, “Mastering TicketLeap: Pro Tips for Event Organizers,” happening on February 18th (you can register here). And don’t forget to keep an eye on the TicketLeap blog for more helpful event planning tips, tools, and resources! To stay up to date on all future TicketLeap webinars, please visit https://www.ticketleap.events/events/webinars. Learn the foundational steps, smart strategies, and practical TicketLeap tools shared in our January webinar, "Kickoff 2026," to build professional events that actually sell out.