Swicket FAQ - Enterprise Event Infrastructure

Question 1

What types of events is Swicket designed for?

Accepted Answer

Swicket is purpose-built for high-demand conferences and events where reliability is non-negotiable. Our platform excels with tech conferences (2,000-15,000 attendees), medical and scientific congresses requiring CME credits and abstract management, association annual meetings with complex member pricing, and B2B events with group registration needs. We specialize in events that experience registration surges&mdash;where thousands of attendees may register within minutes of ticket sales opening.

Question 2

How is Swicket different from other event registration platforms?

Accepted Answer

Unlike generic event platforms, Swicket is infrastructure-first. We handle 5,000+ concurrent requests per minute without slowdowns, offer a 99.95% uptime SLA with automatic failover, and provide true European data sovereignty with Swiss and EU hosting. Our platform is built on alf.io, an open-source foundation trusted by major tech conferences like Devoxx, Spring I/O, and CERN events. We also offer hands-on consulting from a team with 25+ years of experience running Europe's largest conferences&mdash;not just software support.

Question 3

Does Swicket support both ticketed and free events?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Swicket handles the full spectrum from free community meetups to multi-tier paid conferences. You can create free registrations, paid tickets with multiple payment methods (credit card, PayPal, wire transfer), promotional codes, early-bird discounts, and member-exclusive access. The platform supports mixed events where some sessions are free and others require payment.

Question 4

What is the minimum event size for using Swicket?

Accepted Answer

There is no strict minimum, but Swicket delivers the most value for events with 500+ attendees or organizations running multiple events annually. Our infrastructure and consulting services are designed for complexity&mdash;multi-track conferences, hybrid events, complex pricing structures, and high-volume check-in scenarios. Smaller events benefit from our platform, but the real advantages emerge when you need enterprise-grade reliability and scale.

Question 5

Do you offer on-site operational support for large conferences?

Accepted Answer

Yes. For enterprise clients and major conferences, we provide on-site teams during your event. This includes check-in operations management, real-time troubleshooting, badge printing station coordination, and emergency response. Our founders and senior consultants have personally managed check-in for events with 8,000+ attendees processing through doors in under 90 minutes. On-site support is available for events across Europe.

Question 6

Can you design our entire registration and check-in infrastructure?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely. Our consulting services cover the complete event infrastructure lifecycle: registration flow design, attendee categorization strategy, payment gateway configuration, badge template creation, check-in station planning, hardware recommendations, staff training, and day-of operations. We work with your team to understand your specific requirements&mdash;whether that's handling VIP fast-track lanes, managing sponsor lead capture, or coordinating multi-venue check-ins.

Question 7

What happens during an event consulting call?

Accepted Answer

During your initial consulting call, we review your event requirements, attendee volume expectations, and specific challenges. We discuss your current pain points&mdash;whether that's slow check-in queues, registration page crashes, or data sync issues with your CRM. From there, we provide recommendations on infrastructure setup, workflow optimization, and timeline for implementation. The call typically runs 30-45 minutes and ends with a clear action plan.

Question 8

Do you help model peak-load scenarios before the event?

Accepted Answer

Yes. For enterprise clients, we conduct load testing and peak-demand simulations before your event goes live. This includes stress-testing your registration page with simulated traffic spikes, validating check-in throughput rates, and identifying potential bottlenecks. We've helped clients prepare for scenarios where 5,000+ registrations occur within the first 15 minutes of ticket sales&mdash;ensuring zero crashes and sub-second response times.

Question 9

Can you support hybrid or multi-venue conferences?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Swicket supports complex event architectures including hybrid (in-person + virtual) conferences, multi-venue events with synchronized check-in, satellite events across different cities, and multi-day conferences with session-based registration. Our platform handles attendee tracking across venues, manages capacity limits per location, and provides unified reporting regardless of how distributed your event is.

Question 10

Does Swicket support complex ticket types, group registrations, or multi-step flows?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Swicket handles sophisticated registration scenarios including: multiple ticket categories with different access levels, group registration with corporate billing, multi-step registration flows with conditional logic, member vs. non-member pricing, early-bird and deadline-based pricing, promotional codes and bulk discounts, and waitlist management. For B2B events, we support company-level registration with delegate management and approval workflows.

Question 11

Can I integrate Swicket with our CRM, ERP, or member database?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Swicket offers native integrations with popular platforms like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Mailchimp. For custom systems, our REST API enables real-time data synchronization with your CRM, ERP, or association management software. We support webhooks for instant event notifications, custom field mapping, and bidirectional sync. Our team can help configure integrations or build custom connectors for enterprise clients.

Question 12

Does Swicket include badge printing and on-site check-in?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Swicket provides end-to-end on-site operations: QR code-based check-in via mobile apps or dedicated stations, on-demand badge printing with customizable templates, self-service kiosk mode for attendee-driven check-in, real-time attendance tracking and capacity monitoring, and offline mode that continues working even if venue internet fails. Our check-in system processes attendees in under 10 seconds, significantly reducing queue times at high-volume events.

Question 13

Do you offer exhibitor lead capture and sponsor management tools?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Swicket includes a dedicated exhibitor portal where sponsors can: scan attendee badges to capture leads, qualify leads with custom questions, download contact data in real-time, track booth traffic and engagement metrics, and manage their on-site team credentials. For event organizers, we provide sponsor ROI reporting and lead distribution analytics to demonstrate value to your partners.

Question 14

Does Swicket support multi-language attendee journeys?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Swicket is built for international events with full multi-language support. Registration forms, confirmation emails, badges, and the attendee portal can all be configured in multiple languages. We currently support English, German, Italian, French, and additional languages on request. Attendees can select their preferred language, and all communications adapt accordingly&mdash;critical for pan-European conferences and congresses.

Question 15

Can Swicket handle sudden high-volume registration spikes?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Swicket's auto-scaling infrastructure handles 5,000+ concurrent requests per minute without performance degradation. When popular conferences open registration and thousands attempt to register simultaneously, our system scales horizontally within seconds. We've successfully managed events where 5,000+ tickets sold in the first 15 minutes&mdash;with zero crashes, zero queue abandonment, and page load times under 700ms throughout.

Question 16

How do you ensure uptime during critical registration moments?

Accepted Answer

We guarantee 99.95% uptime SLA backed by redundant infrastructure across Swiss and EU data centers. Our architecture includes automatic failover that activates within 30 seconds if a primary system fails, geographic load balancing to route traffic optimally, real-time monitoring with proactive incident response, and dedicated resources for enterprise clients during critical windows. Our team can also schedule additional capacity for known high-traffic periods like ticket launch days.

Question 17

How fast is Swicket during peak load?

Accepted Answer

Under 700ms page load time globally, even during peak registration periods. Our CDN ensures fast delivery regardless of attendee location, while our caching layer prevents database bottlenecks during traffic surges. Check-in processing averages under 2 seconds per attendee, and badge printing completes in under 5 seconds. We continuously monitor and optimize performance to maintain these benchmarks at scale.

Question 18

What happens if the venue loses internet during check-in?

Accepted Answer

Swicket includes a robust offline mode. Check-in stations automatically cache attendee data locally, allowing badge printing and validation to continue without internet connectivity. When connection is restored, all check-in data syncs automatically with the central system. This ensures your event operations never stop due to venue network issues&mdash;a common problem at convention centers and hotels.

Question 19

Do you provide live monitoring during major events?

Accepted Answer

Yes. For enterprise clients and major conferences, our team actively monitors your event infrastructure in real-time. This includes registration traffic monitoring, check-in throughput tracking, server health dashboards, and immediate incident response. For critical events, we provide a dedicated Slack or Teams channel connecting your team directly with our operations staff throughout the event.

Question 20

Where is attendee data stored?

Accepted Answer

All attendee data is stored exclusively in Swiss and EU data centers. Unlike US-based platforms subject to the CLOUD Act, your data never leaves European jurisdiction. We use enterprise-grade encryption (AES-256) for data at rest and TLS 1.3 for data in transit. For organizations with specific requirements, we offer dedicated infrastructure options and can accommodate data residency requirements for highly regulated industries.

Question 21

Is Swicket GDPR and Swiss nFADP compliant?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Swicket is fully compliant with GDPR (EU General Data Protection Regulation) and Swiss nFADP (new Federal Act on Data Protection). This includes: lawful basis documentation for data processing, data subject rights management (access, rectification, erasure), data processing agreements (DPA) for all clients, breach notification procedures, and privacy-by-design architecture. We provide custom DPAs and can support your organization's specific compliance documentation needs.

Question 22

Do you support enterprise security reviews or vendor assessments?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We regularly complete security questionnaires and vendor assessments for enterprise clients in healthcare, finance, and government sectors. We can provide: SOC 2 Type II compliance documentation, penetration test reports, infrastructure security documentation, data flow diagrams, and direct calls with our security team. Our platform undergoes regular third-party security audits, and we maintain a responsible disclosure program.

Question 23

Does Swicket offer SSO or identity integrations?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Swicket supports Single Sign-On (SSO) integration via SAML 2.0 and OAuth 2.0 protocols. This allows attendees to authenticate using their corporate credentials or association member accounts. We integrate with identity providers including Azure AD, Okta, Google Workspace, and custom LDAP directories. SSO simplifies the registration experience for returning attendees and enables seamless integration with your member management systems.

Question 24

How long does it take to migrate from our current platform?

Accepted Answer

Most organizations complete migration within 2-4 weeks, depending on complexity. Our process includes: data export from your current system, historical attendee import with field mapping, registration flow recreation, template setup (emails, badges, forms), staff training sessions, and parallel testing before go-live. For enterprise clients with complex requirements, we offer white-glove migration services where our team handles the entire transition.

Question 25

Can you replicate our current event workflows?

Accepted Answer

In most cases, yes. During onboarding, we analyze your current workflows and either replicate them directly in Swicket or suggest optimized alternatives. This includes registration logic, email sequences, approval workflows, payment processing, and reporting structures. If your current platform has custom functionality, our API and open-source architecture allow us to build equivalent features or integrations.

Question 26

Can we run Swicket in parallel with our old system during migration?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Many clients choose a gradual transition approach: running a smaller event on Swicket first while keeping their legacy system for major conferences. This allows your team to build confidence with the new platform before fully committing. There are no lock-in penalties, and we support data synchronization between systems during the transition period if needed.

Question 27

Do you offer template setup and staff training?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Our onboarding includes: registration form templates customized to your brand, email templates (confirmation, reminder, post-event), badge design templates matching your visual identity, check-in workflow configuration, and live training sessions for your registration and on-site teams. Training covers both platform administration and day-of operations, ensuring your staff is confident before your first event.

Question 28

Who owns the attendee data?

Accepted Answer

You do. Swicket operates as a data processor on your behalf&mdash;you retain full ownership and control of all attendee information. You can export your complete database at any time in standard formats (CSV, JSON). If you ever leave Swicket, your data goes with you. We never sell, share, or use your attendee data for any purpose beyond providing our services to you.

Question 29

Is Swicket open-source?

Accepted Answer

Swicket is built on alf.io, an open-source event management platform trusted by major tech conferences worldwide including Devoxx, Spring I/O, and events at CERN. The core codebase is publicly available on GitHub, ensuring transparency and community-validated security. Swicket adds enterprise features, managed infrastructure, and consulting services on top of this proven foundation&mdash;similar to how Red Hat builds on Linux.

Question 30

Can we deploy Swicket privately or in our own infrastructure?

Accepted Answer

Yes. For organizations with strict data sovereignty requirements or existing infrastructure investments, we offer private deployment options. Swicket can run on your own servers, private cloud, or dedicated infrastructure within our Swiss data centers. Private deployments include the same features as our managed platform, with your team maintaining full control over the environment. Our team provides setup support and ongoing maintenance guidance.

Question 31

How does your auto-scaling infrastructure work during peak demand?

Accepted Answer

Swicket runs on cloud-native infrastructure that automatically scales based on traffic. When registration opens and thousands of users arrive simultaneously, our system spins up additional application servers within seconds&mdash;no manual intervention required. Load balancers distribute traffic across available resources, while our database layer uses read replicas to handle query volume. This architecture has been proven at events with 5,000+ concurrent users, maintaining sub-second response times throughout peak periods.

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