How to use agenda session registration waitlists

How do session registration waitlists work?

For agenda sessions that are open for registration and have a maximum capacity set, you can choose to enable a registration waiting list, also known as a waitlist.

With a waitlist enabled on a session, as soon as the full capacity is reached for registrations (for example 20/20 attendees have already registered), then additional attendees can no longer register for the session, but instead can sign-up for the waitlist.

By enabling a waitlist on a session, you can create a list of attendees who are interested in registering to the session that is already at full capacity. The attendees on the waitlist can then be automatically notified as soon as a seat becomes available in the session.

Seats can become available in a session that is at full capacity if:

• A registered attendee unregisters for the session (therefore freeing up their seat).
• The event organizer increases the full capacity of the session (adding more seats).

The waitlist is created based on the order of arrival of the attendees (first come, first served). This means that the attendees who were the first to sign-up for the session waitlist will be the first to have the opportunity to register to the session if and when a seat becomes available.

Attendees are informed that a seat has become available via a notification in the app and/or via an email, and will have a limited and configurable timeframe during which the available seat is reserved for them, and during which only they can claim it.

If the attendee does not claim the available reserved seat during the configurable timeframe, then they receive another notification and/or email that informs them that the reserved seat is no longer available for them to claim.

At this point, the still available seat will be reserved for next attendee who is on the session waitlist, and they will will receive a notification and/or email informing them that they can claim the available seat during the limited timeframe.

Notes
- Event planners can choose exactly what sessions will have a waitlist enabled.
- Attendees can register to multiple session waitlists, in order to maximize their likelihood of being able to register to sessions that are already at full capacity.
- App notifications are sent out by default to inform attendees of the availability of session seats. Event planners can choose whether or not to send emails to attendees informing them of available session seats.

How does this look for attendees in the app or the registration page?

In the web app

In the web app, when attendees access a session where the full capacity is reached and the waitlist is enabled and still accessible (has capacity), they will see the following:

After clicking on Join waitlist, they will see the following in the web app:

From here, the attendee can leave the waitlist if needed.

In the mobile app

In the mobile app, when attendees access a session where the full capacity is reached and the waitlist is enabled and still accessible (has capacity), they will see the following:

After tapping Join waitlist, they will see the following:

From here, the attendee can leave the waitlist if needed.

In the registration page

In the registration page form, when agenda sessions are added to the registration form, are open for registration, and have the waitlist enabled (with capacity), attendees can click on Join waitlist:

They will then see that they have selected to join the waitlist, as they will see ✅ Join waitlist. From here they simply need to click on Submit in order to finalize their registration choices.

How to enable a waitlist on an agenda session?

To use a registration waitlist in one or more agenda sessions in your event, you will need to:

1. Configure how you want the registration waitlist to behave. This behavior will be applied to all sessions that have the waitlist enabled.
2. Enable the waitlist in each individual session where you want to use it.

Configure how the registration waitlist should behave

Go to Sessions > Registrations > Settings > Waitlist section.

Here you will find the following fields that can be used to configure how the registration waitlists will all work in your event sessions where the waitlist is enabled:

If an available seat is not claimed, inform the next eligible user in:
Here you can choose the time frame that the attendee will have during which they can claim the available seat. This is effectively the time that will pass between the attendee receiving the "Available seat" and the "Seat was not claimed" notification and/or email.

Available seat email
This is the email template that will be used to inform an attendee that is on the session registration waitlist that a seat is available and reserved for them to potentially claim.

Seat was not claimed email
This is the email template that will be used to inform an attendee that the available seat that was reserved for them to claim is now no longer available, as the time defined in the "If an available seat is not claimed, inform the next eligible user in" field has passed.

Enable the waitlist on a session

Access an agenda session in Backstage.

Here, in the Registration section, you will find the Waitlist option that you can enable in order to allow participants to join the waitlist once the session reaches full capacity:

As mentioned above, more waitlist options that are applied to all sessions that have waitlisting enabled, can be found in the Session > Registration tab.

Waitlist communications sent to attendees

When a waitlist is enabled on a session, attendees who sign up to the session waitlist will need to be informed if and when an available seat becomes available for them to claim.

By default, and attendee on a waitlist will always receive app notifications (web app and mobile app) when seats become available/unavailable.

You can also configure the waitlist so that it sends emails to attendees on a session waitlist. This is especially useful when you have included agenda session registration in your registration page, and if your attendees have not yet accessed/activated the app.

Below is a breakdown of the notifications and emails that are sent as part of using a waitlist on a session.

When a seat becomes available:

• Available seat in-app notification on web app - sent by default
  Sent by default- non customizable and cannot be disabled
  
  
  
• Available seat push notification on mobile app:
  Sent by default- non customizable and cannot be disabled
  
  
  
• Available seat email
  Customizable, and you can choose whether to send it or not:
  

When a seat is no longer available (was not claimed):

• Seat was not claimed in-app notification on web app:
  Sent by default - non customizable and cannot be disabled
  
  
  
• Seat was not claimed push notification on mobile app:
  Sent by default- non customizable and cannot be disabled
  
  
  
• Seat not claimed email:
  Customizable, and you can choose whether to send it or not
  

It is currently not possible to use this feature with sessions which have been imported from the following integrations: Hubb, Cvent, Swoogo, Rainfocus. This is to prevent synchronization issues with the external source.

How do session waitlists work alongside other session registration settings?

Attendees can register to any session waitlists that they like, with no restrictions.

This means that, to sign-up for a session’s waitlist, any settings or configurations that are applied to the session registration, such as inclusion or exclusion groups, or the maximum/minimum number of session registrations allowed per day/overall, are only applied AFTER signing up for the waitlist of the session, at the moment that the attendee actually claims an available seat for the session (via the app or the registration page, depending on the specific setting).

Below are some examples of how these settings work when using waitlists.

Example of exclusion group + waitlist

- IF an attendee signs up for the waitlist for session 1, that is part of an exclusion group that also contains session 2,
- AND the attendee has already registered for session 2 that is part of the exclusion group,
- THEN if and when a seat becomes available on session 1, the attendee will see that there is a conflicting session, and will have to unregister from session 2 in order to register for session 1.

This setting (exclusion groups) is applicable when registering to sessions
via the app and via the registration page

Example of inclusion group + waitlist

- IF an attendee signs up for the waitlist for session 1, that is part of an inclusion group that also contains session 2,
- AND registers for session 1 when a seat becomes available,
- THEN the attendee will automatically be registered to both session 1 and session 2.

This setting (inclusion groups) is applicable when registering to sessions
via the app and via the registration page

Example of maximum number of session registrations allowed per day/overall + waitlist

- IF an attendee signs up for the waitlist for session 1, and a seat becomes available for the attendee to claim for session 1,
- BUT the attendee has already reached the configured maximum number of session registrations allowed per day/overall.
- THEN the attendee has to unregister from a session on that day/overall in order to be able to register for session 1.

The maximum number of sessions per day setting is applicable only when registering via the app.
It is not applied when attendees register to sessions via the registration page.
The maximum number of sessions overall setting is applicable when registering via the app and via the registration page.

Example of minimum number of session registrations required overall + waitlist

- IF you have configured that attendees must register to a minimum of 1 session overall when registering to the event via the registration page.
- AND on the registration page there is a session A that is still open for registration (with capacity available) and a session B that is at full capacity and has waitlisting enabled.
- THEN the attendee will have to register for session A in order to fulfill the “minimum number of session registrations required overall”, before being able to sign up to any other session waitlist and subsequently submitting their event registration.

This example is only applicable when registering to sessions via the registration page.

How to access reports that include information on waitlisted attendees for your session registrations?

The number of waitlisted attendees is displayed in each individual session page in the workspace, and also in the individual session registration report.

In addition, there are two places where you can access more detailed information regarding the attendees that are waitlisted for your sessions:

• The Sessions report in the workspace dashboard.
• The sessions Registration export via the Sessions module. The sessions Registration export contains a variety of information and can be edited in order to make changes to your session registrations, including modifying the order of the waitlist for a session.