GUIDE · COUNTDOWN
What to have done, and by when.
A countdown rather than a list, because accreditation problems are almost always timing problems. Written to be useful on a spreadsheet, with software, or on paper on a clipboard.
THE SHORT ANSWER
A working accreditation countdown: agree zones and pass types at eight weeks, sign off the access matrix and set allocations at six, open applications at six with a deadline at two, approve and check documents through weeks four to two, print at one week, brief the gates two days out, and reconcile within a week of the last day.
Eight weeks out
Setup, before anyone can apply for anything.
- Site plan marked with every zone access is controlled into.
- Pass types named, with an owner for each.
- A decision on whether access is staged by day or phase, and where that staging lives.
- The list of documents you will require, and who reviews each type.
- Data retention decided: what you collect, why, how long you keep it, who deletes it.
Six weeks out
The policy is fixed and the doors open.
- Access matrix built, signed off by the security lead, dated.
- Allocations set per department, supplier and artist party, with a named contingency.
- Application forms live, each offering only the pass types that group is eligible for.
- Deadline published on the form itself, not only in the covering email.
- Approval routing agreed: who says yes to what, and what happens when they are unreachable.
Four to two weeks out
The grind, which is where the hours actually go.
- Approvals moving daily rather than in one batch at the end.
- Document checks done, with expiry dates verified rather than glanced at.
- Chasers sent to groups that have not started, by name.
- Allocation overruns handled as explicit decisions, not quiet additions.
- Applications deadline enforced, with a stated late policy rather than an implied one.
One week out
Production, and the last honest moment to change the matrix.
- Matrix frozen, with a named person who can approve a post-freeze change.
- Credentials printed or encoded, serial ranges recorded against people or allocations.
- Gate sheets generated from the current matrix, not from last month's copy.
- Collection points, opening hours and staffing agreed and published.
- A written plan for what happens to changes made after print, including who reprints and when.
Two days out
Briefing, which is the cheapest hour in the whole process.
- Gate teams briefed on the pass types, the colours and the three or four edge cases that will come up.
- Refusal script agreed, so a no is delivered the same way at every gate.
- Escalation route named: who a steward calls, on which channel, and what happens if that person is on a radio call.
- Devices or sheets distributed and tested at the actual gates, not in the production office.
- A contingency for connectivity failure that has been tried, not just written down.
After the last day
The week almost nobody plans, and the one that makes next year cheaper.
- Passes counted back, unreturned credentials recorded as unreturned.
- Entry and scan records exported and stored with the event file.
- Refusals and incidents reviewed while people still remember them.
- Personal data deleted or archived according to the retention decision made at week eight.
- The matrix, pass types and allocations saved as next year's starting point.
Written from running accreditation on live events, and generalised so it is useful whatever you run it on. Last reviewed: 19 August 2026.
QUESTIONS THIS PAGE GETS ASKED
How long before an event should accreditation open?
Six weeks is a workable default for an event with contractors and suppliers, with a deadline at two weeks. Single shows in a venue run on a much shorter cycle. What matters more than the open date is that a deadline exists and is enforced, because otherwise everything arrives in the final forty eight hours.
When should the access matrix be frozen?
A week out, at the point credentials are produced, with one named person able to approve changes after that. Changes will still happen; the freeze is what makes them visible and deliberate rather than a stack of undocumented radio decisions.
What should be reconciled after the event?
Passes issued against passes returned, entry and scan records exported into the event file, refusals reviewed, and personal data deleted or archived according to the retention period you set at the start. The reconciliation is also next year's starting point.