---
title: "Your first managed event"
description: "Create a full organizer event, prepare managed checkout, and deliberately choose where buyers can access it."
---

This is the direct-organizer route for **SeatLayer Managed Ticketing**. SeatLayer
can run the checkout, Order, ticket/QR/PDF delivery, email, refund, and
Door/check-in lifecycle through the organizer's connected gateway.

If you are adding seating to an existing marketplace or ticketing backend, use
the [Platform SDK quickstart](/start/quickstart/) instead. An API-created Event
is only an inventory occurrence and does not need a SeatLayer buyer page or
fulfilment.

<Aside type="note" title="Creating is not publishing">
  A new managed event starts in setup. Creating its chart and inventory does
  not automatically publish a Hosted Event Page, list it on an Organizer
  Website, or open sales.
</Aside>

## Create the managed event

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Events and choose New event">
    Start from a curated seated venue or a published floor plan. Every
    SeatLayer Event belongs to a chart; a chart can be reused for many event
    occurrences.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add the organizer-facing event details">
    Set the name, date and time, venue, timezone, description, poster, currency,
    and category prices needed for the buyer experience. These fields are part
    of Managed Ticketing readiness; the minimal Platform/API event does not
    require them all.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create the setup event">
    SeatLayer publishes or pins the selected chart snapshot and creates
    independent event inventory. The event remains in setup until the organizer
    deliberately completes commerce and publication choices.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose the buyer route first">
    Open **Sell & share** and start with the destination you want:

    - **My existing website** — choose an inline picker, event card, or Buy
      button and copy its installation code. You can generate and install this
      public code before payment setup is complete.
    - **A SeatLayer-hosted page** — use the ready-made booking page, then
      optionally list the event on an Organizer Website for public discovery.
    - **Private access** — share a scoped Channel link, or choose the
      authenticated website/app setup when access must depend on a login or
      membership check.

    A normal website embed is a public route. Do not use it for a private
    audience; a private website must use the authenticated setup.

    The inline picker loads the published floor plan, category colours, map,
    logo, and brand attached to this event. Use **Appearance and size** to
    override only buyer-control light/dark style, accent, button label, or
    picker height; those choices are written into the copied code. Wix custom
    HTML runs inside an iframe, so SeatLayer generates a card or button that
    opens the hosted booking page before a hold instead of starting checkout
    inside the frame.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Complete checkout and buyer access">
    Choose **SeatLayer checkout**, connect an eligible test or live gateway,
    and assign it to this event. Complete prices and the managed readiness
    checks, then enable the access required by the selected route.

    Installing public embed code does not make the event public. Visitors can
    load it only after public buyer access is enabled, and they cannot purchase
    until payment setup is ready and sales are open.

    Development and staging snippets include their API and buyer origins so a
    test event cannot silently query production. The literal booking link in
    every snippet remains the failure and no-JavaScript route.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Publish and open sales explicitly">
    Review the buyer page, payment mode, prices, event details, and availability.
    Publish the chosen surface and transition sales from setup only when the
    organizer is ready. Adding Organizer Website discovery remains a separate,
    optional choice.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Aside type="caution" title="An unlisted booking page is not secret">
  It stays out of the Organizer Website and search indexing, but anyone who
  receives or forwards the URL can open it. For VIP, sponsor, member, or partner
  inventory, allocate the seats to a Sales Channel and create an expiring,
  revocable private buyer link instead.
</Aside>

## What the organizer gets

- independent realtime inventory created from a reusable chart;
- SeatLayer-managed checkout through the assigned organizer gateway;
- SeatLayer Orders, tickets, QR codes, printable PDFs, and buyer email;
- refund and inventory-release workflows;
- Door/check-in and attendance tools; and
- a Hosted Event Page, managed embed, or optional Organizer Website.

## Test and live modes

Use test mode to verify the complete managed flow without consuming live
inventory credits or moving real money. The event mode, API credentials, and
connected gateway mode must agree. Create a separate live event when a test
event already has state that makes conversion unsafe.

## When to open the Designer

Start in the Designer when you need a custom venue, accessibility relationships,
seat/category overrides, multiple floors, detailed sections, or geometry that
does not match a curated template. Publish the chart, then create one or more
managed events from it.

## Next

- [Choose an integration](/start/choose-an-integration/) — confirm the product
  boundary and distribution surface.
- [Platform SDK quickstart](/start/quickstart/) — use this instead when your
  platform owns commerce and tickets.
- [Going-live checklist](/start/going-live/) — verify mode, payment, inventory,
  and recovery before real buyers arrive.