are there any plans or requests on waitlists to manage attendees for last minute enrollement in case of someone unregisters? As well it would be nice to define a minimum, normal and maximum attendees, to fire off dependent messages on registration?!

Chris

Chris,

Currently we do not support waitinglist feature, (we might be able to add it in the near future)

However, I thought of a workaround solution and not sure it works for you.
On the registration form, you can have a link at the bottom (Under Main Settings, Additional Message), to say, if the event is full, click the link to be included in the wait list, so this link can bring them to any other page that displays a form to be filled.

In this way, you can capture the data, and Admin user can later use that info to register for the event on behalf of the user.

It is not perfect but I hope it works for the timebeing.

Thanks.

Gary,

I need a wait list, too. I would like the wait list form to only appear after the event is full. Can I use the following notation to do this?

[AVAILABLESEATS|text to show when even is not full|text to show when it is]

Ideally an event would automatically shift to wait list when it is full. Whenever someone canceled, the next person on the wait list would be automatically added and they would receive the registration confirmation email. The register button would be changed to a wait list button, and they would receive a wait list confirmation, not a registration confirmation.

AldenG

Alden,

I have thought a easy solution, not sure if that's good enough.

In the registration table, I would add another flag, call "IsWaitList" or something like that. For normal registration, this flag is turned off, when event is full, a message will appear on the Registration form, and also the record will show it is a Wait list.

Only until Admin user go to Registration Manager, to confirm the wait list user, an email will be sent to inform them the status, and the registration is then confirmed.

Thanks.

Gary, that sounds perfect. A couple enhancements.

Rather than a flag, assign an ascending value. This will show your place in line in the wait list. Might not be needed as long as we capture a registration time, so we can simply sort the wait list by registration time.

Payment gets tricky. If we collect payment for wait list, then we have a bunch of refunds to make. But if we collect payment when we promote you to registered, then it becomes a multi-step process. I don't see an obvious easy solution. Probably collecting payment on wait list is better, because then only people serious about coming will register. But we would have a block of users who need refunds. To deal with this, we should cap the wait list. Let the admin set a wait list cap percentage, like 110% of available seats. Then people creating events don't need to deal with guessing a wait list size. Also, the max capacity should be saved in the venue record. If it is non-zero (0 means unlimited), automatically use that capacity for events in that venue.

Another random thought...Some of our events are virtual. We meet on skype calls. So the "venue" is a skype conference call, which has a capacity and a wait list. But the skype venue doesn't have a physical address like the other venue records. Right now I have it set up as a venue, but it makes weird things on the detail page like a link to a google map for "skype conference call."

I see you have a new version. I'm going to check it out. Great work, Gary!

AldenG

Gary, both of my calendar clients want waiting lists, now. The general idea is to overbook an event, then let people in automatically in first-registered-first-admitted order whenever someone cancels. Do you have this feature assigned to a release? It can be a bit tricky when you think through all the steps.

AldenG

You are right. it can be tricky especially when you build an application for so many users, each will have their own rule.

Nevertheless, I am keen in developing this feature because it is useful to you guys, I have a new version coming out soon, with many new features introduced, and bugs fixed. I can't confirm now if the waiting list feature can be included in the new release though.

Doesn't have to be in your next release, but I'd like to tell my client it's in the dev roadmap and should be delivered before Q4. Is that possible?

Let me help design it a bit. Here's what my clients would need:

1. A new token [ISWAITLIST] that will let me do conditional markup when we are taking waiting list reservations.

2. A capacity associated with each venue. Use 0 for unlimited capacity. When an event is linked to the venue, use this capacity for the event.

3. An overbooking factor settable by admin. This is a % of the capacity to represent the length of the waiting list. So a venue with a capacity of 100 and an overbooking factor of 10% will have a 10 seat waiting list.

4. An email template for an automatic response when you are added to the waiting list.

When the waiting list is active and someone registers:
1. Save their registration in the waiting list queue. Note the registration may have multiple attendees.
2. Send them the waiting list email.
3. Collect payment as usual, but don't put them on the registration list.

When someone cancels before the event and there is a waiting list:
1. Upgrade as many registrations as possible based on # of attendees from waiting list to registered in FIFO order. It might be possible to have leftover seats if the waiting list registration has multiple attendees. Need to save the open seats until you can satisfy a complete registration.
2. Send the registration confirmation email to the newly upgraded registrations.
3. Send the cancellation confirmation email to the canceled registration.

When the waiting list fills before the event, act like the event is full, just as you do today:
1. Remove register button.
2. Display markup for the [ISFULL] token, or whatever it's called.

When the event starts:
1. Need a simple interface to process cancellations for people on the waiting list who didn't make it into the event.

Alden,

I agree most of the points. here are some of my inputs:

1. when someone cancel registration, it should inform Event admin, but it should allow the Event admin MANUALLY upgrade the registration, they can choose FIFO or deem anyone fits.

2. there is a token [EVENTFULLMESSAGE] now already.

3. cancel waiting list will be done they way now you cancel a registration record. Email will be sent to both Event admin and attendees. So this part is ready.

Well, it may not be as simple as that, but we had the rough ideas on this now.

I am also enhancing the current registration process, so that users can choose what and how the email notifications to be sent.

Gary,

Allowing the event admin to override FIFO might be useful. Both clients now keep a manual waiting list by email (once the event is full, email the admin to get on the waiting list), then process the registration manually when there is an opening. The real value of the feature is to make waiting lists fully automatic for us, so it would be better if there was an option to run it completely without admin intervention.

AldenG