Gigs and shows for a group

Buy first or find the date first

Anything with many dates is easy. A theatre run, a comedy club and a small venue's listings all let you find the night the group is free and then look at what is on. That is the order Vennado is built for.

A single arena date is the opposite. If the tickets go on sale months before anyone knows their diary, you are buying blind. Vennado has no on-sale alerts and cannot fix that. What you can do is check, before buying, whether the seller has its own transfer or resale option. That is the clean way out when someone cannot make the night.

What fits, with guide prices

Ticket limits and seats together

Ticket limits are the first obstacle. TicketWeb's help pages explain that the event organiser usually sets the limit, that it tends to apply per person and per card, and that tickets bought over the limit across several orders can be cancelled. A group of ten may need two buyers, which means two blocks of seats. Standing tickets avoid the problem entirely.

Theatre is kinder to groups. ATG Tickets' group bookings page says groups of ten or more, and in some cases six, can hold tickets without a deposit until everyone has confirmed and paid. That hold is useful when two of you are still waiting to hear whether they are free. Ask for the group booking team, because the ordinary checkout may not offer it.

For comedy clubs, say how many you are when you book and ask to be seated together. Then decide who sits at the front.

Start times

Almost everything here happens in the evening. A small gig has doors at about seven and gets you home by midnight, so it needs the whole evening and a forgiving morning after. A free Friday night before a 7am start is free on paper only.

Vennado's day ends at 11pm unless the plan says otherwise. If the group is happy to be out later, move the end of the day so late finishes are counted properly. The day festival needs about nine clear hours, so it is the idea that most depends on finding a whole day.

If someone in the group is on shifts

Evenings are exactly when some people are never free. Ffion, a chef, is on service until late, and Cat, a nurse on nights, is at work by 8:30pm. For a group like that, look at a matinee, or a day festival on a shared day off. The pages for hospitality and retail rotas and for nurses and midwives cover finding one.

Someone who worked last night can make an evening show once they have slept. Vennado keeps seven hours clear after a night shift unless that setting is switched off, and only offers them windows that start after that.

Splitting the cost

• Split the total, not the face value. Booking and delivery fees are part of the price. The buyer should not absorb them.
• Collect before the purchase. The person with the fastest thumbs on sale morning should not also be the bank.
• One price band. Sitting together means paying the same. Agree the band before the sale opens, because there is no time to discuss it in a queue.
• Dinner is optional. The guide price for theatre includes a pre-theatre menu. Anyone who skips the meal pays less.

Before you pay

• You are on the official seller's site. The venue's or the artist's own site says who that is. Membership of STAR, the ticketing industry's self-regulatory body, means the seller follows a code of practice and offers a dispute resolution service.
• The ticket limit, and whether the lead booker has to be there with ID.
• Age restrictions, and whether it is seated or standing.
• How to book accessible seats for the group.
• The finish time against the last train home.
• What happens to the tickets if a date is moved or cancelled.

Once the group has a window and a shortlist, voting in the plan settles which show. Vennado then links out, and one of you buys from the seller.