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Case study: free guest lists & paid ticketing, together
Reform Starts Young: a free guest list and a paid ticket, run on one Blend event
Reform Starts Young is a youth-led reform summit founded by Jane Aghjayan at Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK). Her four-person student team added hundreds of free guests directly on Blend while selling a real $15 public ticket in parallel, then scanned everyone in at the door from one combined list.
It was the summit's first edition: a one-day event built entirely by students, with no outside events team, and it still ran a real mixed-ticketing operation, something many first-time organizers assume needs two separate systems.
- Strong confirmed turnout
- QR check-in
- Ticketing & check-inBlend
- Founded byJane Aghjayan
Published and last updated
Reform Starts Young at a glance
Reform Starts Young is a youth-led summit founded by Jane Aghjayan, "created by the youth for the youth," spotlighting young Lebanese achievers and entrepreneurs and connecting them with mentorship, internship and funding opportunities through panels, competitions and networking sessions. Its first edition was held on Saturday 11 July 2026 at Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) in Jounieh, Lebanon.
Blend (blendapp.ai), an event ticketing and registration platform for organizers in Lebanon and the UAE, ran registration for both sides of the event at once: a free guest list the organizing team controlled directly, and a genuine $15 public ticket anyone could buy, on the same event page with one combined list and one door check.
- Reform Starts Young is a youth-led reform and entrepreneurship summit founded by Jane Aghjayan, held at USEK in Jounieh, Lebanon, on 11 July 2026.
- Blend recorded 393 registrations for Reform Starts Young: 358 confirmed and 35 cancelled.
- The organizing team added free guests directly to the list, alongside a public $15 ticket people could buy themselves, both landing in one combined registration list.
- Registrants came from 25 different towns and cities across Lebanon, not just from around USEK.
| Event | Reform Starts Young |
|---|---|
| Founder | Jane Aghjayan, with a four-person student organizing team |
| Event type | Youth-led reform and entrepreneurship summit: panels, competitions and networking |
| Venue | Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK), Jounieh, Lebanon |
| Date | Saturday 11 July 2026, 9 AM to 5 PM |
| Ticketing | $15 General Admission (max 1 per person), plus free guests added directly by the organizing team |
| Registrations | 393 total on Blend: 358 confirmed, 35 cancelled |
| Main Blend features used | Free guest-list additions alongside public ticket sales, multi-host team permissions, a one-ticket-per-person cap, online checkout, QR door check-in |
What is Reform Starts Young?
Reform Starts Young is a summit "created by the youth for the youth," built to show how youth-driven initiatives can spark real social reform in Lebanon. It spotlights the achievements of the younger generation, celebrates Lebanese entrepreneurs and business owners who've built success despite every obstacle, and connects them with mentorship, internship and funding opportunities for rising startups, through panels, competitions and networking sessions.
The summit's first edition was held at Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) on 11 July 2026, hosted together with USEK's Asher Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ACIE), the university's own center for aspiring founders. Blend's event record carries the organizer's own disclaimer: every registration fee collected goes solely toward event costs (planning, logistics and execution), with no portion transferred to or retained by USEK or ACIE.
Running it was a four-person, entirely student-led team: Jane Aghjayan founded the summit, and Hadi Mattar, Nour Ghattas and Marie-José Ghanem each held full organizer access on Blend throughout: from building the guest list and sending invites, to managing the public ticket, to scanning guests in at the door. No outside events company or operations support is on record for this edition.
The challenge: one event, two very different guest lists
A first-time, student-run summit at USEK needed to serve two audiences at once: a large block of invited students, partners and guests who should get in free, and a public, support-the-cause $15 ticket for anyone outside that group who wanted to attend. Of Reform Starts Young's confirmed registrations, most were exactly that first group (added directly by the organizing team rather than self-checked-out), with a smaller number buying the $15 ticket themselves.
Running those two groups as separate systems (a spreadsheet for invited guests and a different sign-up link for paid attendees) would have left Jane Aghjayan's team without one real, combined list of who was actually coming, or one simple way to check everyone in at the door on the day.
How Reform Starts Young ran on Blend
Reform Starts Young ran its entire guest list, public ticket and door check through one Blend event, the same event ticketing platform organizers in Lebanon use for everything from community runs to creator conferences.
One list, two ways in
The organizing team added free guests directly to the registration list on Blend, while the public bought the $15 General Admission ticket themselves, and both landed in the same, single list of confirmed registrations.
A four-person team with full access
Jane Aghjayan and three co-hosts (Hadi Mattar, Nour Ghattas and Marie-José Ghanem) were each given full event-management, guest-list and QR-scanning permissions, so a student team could run the whole event themselves.
A cap against bulk buying
The $15 ticket was limited to one per person, keeping the public tier straightforward for a first-time event.
QR check-in at the door
All 358 confirmed registrants were scanned in through Blend's own check-in system on the day.
Online checkout for the public ticket
Public ticket purchases were paid online, raising solid net revenue for the organizer after fees.
The moment that proves it: a free guest list and a real ticket, without two systems
Reform Starts Young shows that a single event on Blend can carry a large free guest list and a genuine public ticket side by side, without forcing the organizer to reconcile two separate systems afterward.
Edge cases Blend handled
Free and paid on one event, not twoHost-added free guests and public $15 ticket buyers landed in the same registration list, with one door check for both.
A first-time, student-run team at the controlsFour accounts, each with full manage, guest-list and scan permissions, ran registration, guest additions and the door themselves, with no outside operations support.
A refund outside the usual flowOne cancellation needed a refund handled outside the normal checkout process; Blend's own team completed it manually so the organizer didn't have to chase it.
Reach beyond the host campusRegistrants came from 25 different Lebanese towns and cities, not just from around USEK, with Beirut leading the way among registrations with a known location.
What running on Blend showed
For its first edition, Reform Starts Young combined a large free guest list with a real public ticket on one Blend event, checked people in at the door, and still raised solid net revenue from public ticket sales alone.
358confirmed registrations on Blend
358registered at the door
25Lebanese towns and cities reached
Why this case study matters
Reform Starts Young shows that a first-time, entirely student-run summit can operate a large free guest list and a real public ticket on the same event, with one combined list of 358 confirmed registrations, all 358 scanned in at the door, and solid net revenue raised from the public ticket, all run by a four-person team with no outside events operations support, and reaching registrants from 25 towns and cities across Lebanon.
Questions about Reform Starts Young and its ticketing
Reform Starts Young is a youth-led summit founded by Jane Aghjayan, created by the youth for the youth, that spotlights young Lebanese achievers and entrepreneurs and connects them with mentorship, internship and funding opportunities through panels, competitions and networking sessions.
Reform Starts Young was founded by Jane Aghjayan, who ran the summit with a four-person student team: Hadi Mattar, Nour Ghattas and Marie-José Ghanem were each given full event-management, guest-list and door-scanning access on Blend.
Reform Starts Young was held on Saturday 11 July 2026, from 9 AM to 5 PM, at Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) in Jounieh, Lebanon.
Blend recorded 393 registrations for Reform Starts Young, of which 358 were confirmed (35 were cancelled). All 358 confirmed registrations were checked in at the door through Blend's QR check-in.
There was one public ticket, General Admission at $15. Alongside it, the organizing team added free guests directly to the registration list on Blend, with the public ticket raising solid net revenue for the organizer.
Yes. Reform Starts Young ran both on one Blend event: the organizing team added free guests directly, while the public could buy a $15 ticket themselves through the same event page, with one combined registration list and one door check.
Yes. Reform Starts Young was run by a four-person student team, each given full event-management, guest-list and QR-scanning permissions on Blend, without needing outside operational support.
Blend (blendapp.ai) is an event technology platform for organizers in Lebanon, the UAE and the wider GCC. It combines online ticketing, free guest-list registration, access control with QR door scanning, and live sales and entry data in one system.
From the summit to your event
Take what ran at Reform Starts Young to your own event
- The guest listMix a free guest list with a real paid ticketThe same setup Reform Starts Young uses: free guests added directly, and a real public ticket, on one combined registration list.See guest lists
- The teamGive your whole team door and guest accessThe same multi-host permissions Reform Starts Young's four-person team used to run the event themselves, with no outside operations support.See team roles
- The doorScan every guest in with one deviceThe same QR check-in Reform Starts Young used at the door, with no extra hardware and no paper lists.See QR check-in
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