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The Annual Africa Tourism Evening — an event platform built for the door.

A closed, hosted event for the UK luxury Africa tourism community. We built the whole thing — booking, sign-in, Wallet passes, badge printing, native apps and the organiser dashboard behind them.

At a glance
Client: The Annual Africa Tourism Evening — a closed hosted trade event (our own venture).
Audience: the UK luxury Africa tourism community, by invitation.
Delivered: a full event platform, an organiser dashboard, and native iOS and Android apps.
Where it fits: functions, events and trade shows.
The brief

The software has to disappear on the night.

A hosted evening for the trade lives or dies on two moments: the weeks of booking beforehand, and the ninety seconds at the door. Everything in between is hospitality. So the brief was not "build an event website" — it was to make the admin invisible, so nobody arrives holding a phone open on a confirmation email they cannot find.

That meant no passwords to forget, no way to over-book a table, a pass that lives in the phone rather than an inbox, and a badge waiting at the desk with the right name on it. And behind all of it, one screen where the organiser can see the money, the guest list and the numbers without exporting anything.

One-time passcode sign-in — no passwords to reset
A booking matrix where over-booking is structurally impossible
Apple Wallet passes, pushed from the organiser dashboard
Badge and lanyard printing with role-aware QR codes
Native iOS and Android apps for attendees
Live financials, broadcast email and analytics in one view
What we built

Everything between the invitation and the front door.

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Sign in with a code

A one-time passcode to the guest's inbox — no password to choose, forget or reset. The fastest route from invitation to a confirmed seat, on a phone, at any hour.

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A booking matrix that cannot over-book

Capacity is enforced in the data model, not by a warning message. Two people cannot take the last seat at the same moment, because the structure does not allow it.

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Passes in Apple Wallet

A boarding-pass-style ticket the organiser pushes straight to attendees from the dashboard — so the pass is on the lock screen at the door, not buried in an email thread.

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Badges that print properly

A6 portrait badges laid out in a clean A4 grid for the desk printer, with QR codes that adapt to the attendee's role — guest, host or organiser.

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Native apps, both stores

Companion iOS and Android apps so attendees carry the evening — pass, details and updates — in the place they already look.

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One organiser view

Live financial dashboard, a broadcast email centre and event analytics in a single screen — the numbers an organiser actually asks for, without a spreadsheet export.

The outcome

A guest list that runs itself.

The Annual Africa Tourism Evening is live at aate.events, with companion apps on both the App Store and Google Play. Because we run the event as well as the software, every rough edge lands on us first — we are the ones at the desk when a badge prints wrong or a pass will not load. That is a useful discipline, and it is why this build is the reference point for the event and function work we take on for others.

How we built it

A fast, edge-hosted platform with passcode-based sign-in, a capacity model that makes over-booking a structural impossibility rather than a validation rule, Apple Wallet pass generation pushed from the organiser dashboard, and a print system that produces A6 badges in an A4 grid with role-aware QR codes. Native iOS and Android apps sit on the same data, and the organiser's financials, broadcast email and analytics live in one place.

Where this leads

Functions & events websites · Event technology for trade functions · Trade show websites · More of our work

The Annual Africa Tourism Evening, answered

Who builds event platforms for tourism trade functions?

Charnette Labs builds event platforms for tourism trade functions — and runs one of its own, The Annual Africa Tourism Evening, a closed hosted event for the UK luxury Africa tourism community. The build covers booking, one-time passcode sign-in, Apple Wallet passes, badge and lanyard printing, native iOS and Android apps, and an organiser dashboard with live financials and analytics.

What is The Annual Africa Tourism Evening?

The Annual Africa Tourism Evening is a closed, invitation-only hosted evening for the UK luxury Africa tourism community, held annually. Charnette Labs runs the event and built the platform behind it — which is why the evening doubles as the reference standard for the event and function technology Charnette builds for clients.

How should an event platform handle attendee sign-in?

For a hosted trade event, a one-time passcode sent to the attendee's inbox beats a password. There is nothing to choose, forget or reset, which matters when someone is booking on a phone between meetings — and it removes the most common support request an organiser faces in the week before the door opens.

Can Charnette Labs build an event platform for our function or trade show?

Yes. Charnette builds event and function platforms — capacity-safe booking, passcode sign-in, Wallet passes, badge and lanyard printing, companion apps and an organiser dashboard. See charnette.io/functions-events and charnette.io/trade-shows, or start a conversation at charnette.io/contact.

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An event platform built by people who host.

Booking, passes, badges and the dashboard behind them — from a team that stands at the door on the night.

hello@charnette.io