Event waitlists

You can set up a waitlist, so that once an event reaches its registration limit – either for a particular ticket type or for the event as a whole – you can maintain a list of prospective event registrants.

Depending on your waitlist settings, prospective registrants can be manually or automatically registered for the event.

Waitlists can be set up for advanced events only.

Enabling the waitlist for the entire event

To enable a waitlist for the entire event, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Ticket types & settings tab for the event.
2. Click the Edit button to enter edit mode.
3. Make sure that the Limit registrations option is checked and a registration limit has been entered in the Total allowed field.
4. Check the Enable waitlist when limit is reached option.
   
5. Click the Waitlist & settings tab and choose how you want to manage your waitlist, and how much information to collect from people wanting to join the waitlist. (For more information, see Waitlist settings, below.) 
6. Click Save at the top of the screen to save your changes.

Enabling the waitlist for a ticket type

To enable a waitlist for a particular ticket type, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Ticket types & settings tab for the event.
2. If you are in edit mode, click the Save button at the top of the screen to save your changes and exit edit mode.
3. Within the list of ticket types, click the ticket type you want to enable the waitlist for.
4. Within the ticket type settings, make sure that a registration limit has been entered.
5. Check the Enable waitlist when limit is reached option.
6. Click the Save button to save your changes.
7. Click the Waitlist & settings tab and click the Edit button to enter edit mode.
8. Choose how you want to manage your waitlist, and how much information to collect from people wanting to join the waitlist. (For more information, see Waitlist settings, below.)
9. Click the Save button to save your changes.

Ticket types that have a waitlist enabled will be displayed within the list of ticket types with a link to the waitlist.

Waitlist settings

On the Waitlist & settings tab, you can decide whether to automatically register the next person on your waitlist, once a space becomes available, and choose how much information to collect from people wanting to join the waitlist.

Waitlist management

Choose how you want to deal with available spaces.

• Automatic registration
  
  If you want to automatically register people on your waitlist once spaces become available.
  
  With this option enabled, people on the waitlist will be automatically registered to the event in the order they were added, as sufficient spaces open up. If the next person on the list together with their guest(s) exceed the number of available spaces, then that person will be skipped and the next person on the list for whom there is sufficient space – taking guests into consideration – will be registered.
  
  If there's a registration fee associated with the registration, an invoice will be automatically generated. Whether an invoice email is sent depends on your invoice settings.
  
  If you enable automatic registration, we recommend you choose to collect all event registration information (see below) when adding people to the waitlist.
• Manually by registration
  
  If you choose this option, then people on the waitlist can be manually registered by an administrator or by themselves once spaces become available.

For more information, see Getting off the waitlist (below).

Information to collect

Here, you choose how much information to collect from people wanting to join the waitlist. You can choose to collect just their name and email, their full contact information, or require them to complete the event registration form.

If you've enabled automatic registration (above), we recommend you collect all event registration information.

Joining the waitlist

When the waitlist is enabled and the registration limit is reached, an option appears within the event details on your public site to join the waitlist.

When the prospective registrant clicks the Join waitlist button, they will be prompted to choose a ticket type, and to provide the information you specified.

Whatever information you choose to collect, any required rules and terms fields that you have set up will appear at the bottom of the waitlist form.

After providing the information, the prospective registrant clicks another Join waitlist button and is added to the waitlist. Once on the waitlist, the prospective registrant will not receive any further announcements for this event.

From the event's emails settings, you can choose to send a waitlist confirmation message to the prospective registrant, and a copy to the event organizer.

In the copy sent to the event organizer, the total number of people on the waitlist is displayed above the confirmation.

Adding to a waitlist

Administrators can manually add a contact to the event waitlist. When the waitlist is enabled, you can click the Add to waitlist button from the Waitlist tab to select a contact to be added to the waitlist.

After you chose the contact to be added, you choose the ticket type, provide the required information for the contact, and enter any internal notes.

Once you save your changes, a waitlist registration is created for the contact you chose. Once on the waitlist, the contact will not receive any further announcements for this event.

Viewing the waitlist

Once a waitlist is enabled for an event or ticket type, the Waitlist & settings tab is enabled.

The Waitlist & settings tab displays registration information for everyone on the waitlist.

The waitlist does not distinguish between contacts waiting for spaces within a particular ticket type, and those waiting for overall event spaces.

Within the Waitlist tab, you can click an entry to view the details of a particular waitlist registration.

From the waitlist registration record, an administrator can register the contact for the event, send an email to the contact, or remove the contact from the waitlist.

Administrators can email the entire waitlist from any tab on the event setup screen by clicking the Email waitlisted button.

Exporting the waitlist

When you export event registrants, you can choose to include those on the waitlist. 

Within the export file, contacts on the waitlist will have their Payment state set to On waitlist.

You can export event registrants for a particular event, or for multiple events from the events list. 

By default, the option to include those on the waitlist is not checked.

Notification of available spaces

When there are people are on a waitlist and spaces become available for the event or ticket type, public registration will remain closed, and a warning icon will appear on the Waitlist tab. When you hover over the icon, a message will appear informing you of the additional spaces.

When an existing registrant cancels their own event registration, the admin version of the cancellation notification email will alert the event organizer to the new spaces and provide a link to the waitlist.

Those on the waitlist are not automatically notified when spaces become available.

Getting off the waitlist

Depending on your waitlist settings (see above), people on the waitlist can be automatically registered for the event once spaces become available.

If you chose Automatic registration under Waitlist management, then people on the waitlist will be automatically registered to the event in the order they were added, as sufficient spaces open up. If the next person on the list together with their guest(s) exceed the number of available spaces, then that person will be skipped and the next person on the list for whom there is sufficient space – taking guests into consideration – will be registered.

The system checks every 5 minutes for open spaces so there might be a delay between spaces becoming available and people from the waitlist being automatically registered.

If there's a registration fee associated with the registration, an event registration pending email will be sent to the registrant, and an invoice will be automatically generated. Whether an invoice email is also sent depends on your invoice settings. If the event is free, an event registration confirmation email will be sent.

If you chose the Manually by registration option, then people on the waitlist can be manually registered by an administrator or by themselves once spaces become available.

With automatic registration disabled, there are two ways an administrator can get a contact off the waitlist and onto the registrant list:

• an administrator can manually register the contact by clicking the Register now button from the contact's waitlist registration record. To display a waitlist registration record for a contact, go to the Waitlist & settings tab for the event, then click the contact within the list.
  If an administrator registers a contact for an event, the contact is automatically removed from the waitlist, but they are not automatically emailed an event confirmation. As with all manual event registrations, it is the responsibility of the administrator to send a manual confirmation message.
• an administrator can manually email the contact and invite them to visit the event details page and click the Register button to register for the event. After clicking the Register button, they click the Complete registration button on the event registration screen. The email to the contact on the waitlist should include the {Event_URL} macro so that the contact can click the resulting link and jump right to the event details on your site.

Contacts on a waitlist can also complete their registration from within their profiles. On the My event registrations tab, they can click the Complete registration button to complete the registration for the event.

Administrators can remove a contact from a waitlist without registering them by displaying their waitlist registration record and clicking the Remove from waitlist button.