5,000+ visitors in 3 days, far fewer paper tickets: the NITE × NCI case study

Visitors through the gates

5,000+Visitors through the gates

Show days, 28–30 August 2026

3Show days, 28–30 August 2026

Exhibitors on the floor

71Exhibitors on the floor

The Northern International Trade Exhibition (NITE) is one of the biggest dates on the North’s business calendar. Organised by the Northern Chamber of Industries (NCI), NITE 2026 ran from 28 to 30 August at Jaffna Cultural Centre, bringing 71 exhibitors, buyers, families and first-time visitors together for three busy days. This year, the NCI team chose ExpoLiz to run visitor registration and entry, and we want to share what that looked like from the floor.

The challenge: paper at scale

Like most large regional exhibitions, NITE had always relied on printed tickets and manual counting at the gate. That works, until thousands of people turn up at once. Paper tickets have to be printed, distributed, collected and counted. Queues build at peak times. And when the show closes, the organisers are left with a box of stubs rather than a clear picture of who came, and when.

• Printing and handing out tickets ahead of every show day
• Long queues at the entrance during peak hours
• No reliable, real-time headcount for the organising team
• Little usable visitor data for exhibitors and the next edition

What we set up

Our goal was simple: make getting in faster for visitors and give the NCI team live numbers, without asking anyone to download an app. We set NITE 2026 up on ExpoLiz ahead of the show, with its dates, organiser, venue map, exhibitors and events all in one place.

• A public registration link that NCI shared across its channels
• A NITE 2026 visitor pass with a QR code on every registered visitor’s phone
• Gate scanning on ordinary mobile phones, so volunteers could start in minutes
• A ticket counter for walk-ups, issuing QR tickets that go through the same scan
• Two entrances, each assigned in ExpoLiz so every entry is recorded by gate

Three days on the floor

Over the three days, more than 5,000 visitors came through the gates. Visitors who had registered online showed the QR pass on their phone and were scanned in within seconds. Walk-ups bought a ticket at the counter and were scanned at the gate just like everyone else. Our team was on site throughout, working alongside the NCI staff and volunteers.

Because every scan landed in one place, the organisers could see attendance build through each day instead of waiting for a manual count at closing time. The data showed exactly how the crowd moved: entries started around 9:30 AM, held steady through the day, then climbed sharply from 4:30 PM to an evening peak around 6 PM. Gate 1 handled about two thirds of all entries (66%) and Gate 2 the remaining third (34%).

That kind of insight is impossible with paper. It tells the organisers when to put more volunteers on the gates, which entrance needs more lanes, and when exhibitors can expect their busiest hours.

The results

• 5,000+ visitors registered and checked in across three days
• A big reduction in printed paper tickets
• Faster entry at the gate, even during the evening rush
• Live attendance by gate and by time for the organising team
• A clean visitor record NCI can build on for the next edition

What we learned

• Keep it phone-first. Visitors and gate staff already have the device they need.
• Always plan for walk-ups. Not everyone registers in advance, and a counter that issues QR tickets keeps one flow at the gate.
• Plan for the evening rush. At NITE, the busiest hours came after 4:30 PM, not at opening.
• Live numbers change how organisers run the day, from staffing the gates to updating partners.

Thank you, NCI

A big thank you to the Northern Chamber of Industries for trusting ExpoLiz with NITE, and to every volunteer, exhibitor and visitor who made the switch so smooth. We’re already looking forward to the next edition.

Running a trade show, exhibition or summit and want to move away from paper? We’d love to show you how ExpoLiz works.