Waitlist on Events
complete
E
Erin Fumiko Kinney
We would want the capability to have a waitlist feature for events. Once the event exceeds capacity - we can waitlist individuals.
Automatic waitlist :
If any of the registered users cancel their registration, Waitlist #1 - gets an automatic confirmation email to the event (this is how an automatic waitlist works). Admins should have the ability to manually move users in the waitlist (For example - If waitlist #5 (Mr. John) is a donor, the admin should be able to manually assign waitlist #1 to Mr. John - so Mr. John can skip the queue)
Manual Waitlist :
Admins can see all waitlisted individuals and choose who to admit to the event
Important - The alumni should not be able to see who are the others on the waitlist. The waitlist should be accessible by admins only
Note- Request submitted by Nikita (Almabase Team) on behalf of Erin Kinney (Associate Director of Alumni Relations at Punahou School) and Lynn Parrish (Events Coordinator at Punahou School)
Kanhai Shah
Merged in a post:
Waitlist for Events
A
Aaron M Wilson
It would be helpful to have a waitlist for events that have a max capacity and get sold out. This way it rolls the next person in line into the open spot should someone cancel.
Kanhai Shah
marked this post as
complete
We now have a waitlist feature available at both the main event and sub-event levels. We are onboarding the first cohort of 10 customers as part of the early access program. Please reach out to the CSM or Support team to enable this for your account. You can read more about it here.
- https://almabase.canny.io/changelog/sub-event-waitlist-never-lose-a-registrant-to-a-full-session
M
Michaela Regina Donnelly
Hi! This already exists, we have been using it pretty successfully for our events at RISD, however, I don't remember if it was functionality that I need to have them turn on or not.
M
Megan Ann McCoy
Michaela Regina Donnelly It was in beta testing for awhile and we had to ask to have it turned on as well. But, we do like it!
Kanhai Shah
marked this post as
in progress
We already have a waitlist on main event and we are now adding the same manual and automated waitlist mode on sub event as well
Kanhai Shah
marked this post as
complete
This feature is now available in beta. Please reach out to your csm to enable it.
Few things to note
1) The waitlist is only available at main event level and not sub event level in V1. We will also add V2 where we will support waitlist at sub event level
2) There are manual and automatic both modes for waitlist. Automatic mode will take care of managing notifications for you when spot opens up
K
Kerala Hise
Kanhai Shah We were just testing this and it looks like waitlist signups are required to specify the number of guests they want to add, even if guests are not permitted for the event. Is that getting addressed so people don't think they can bring plus ones?
When registration opens to them, they don't add any guest info in, but if someone thought they could bring additional people, they might not realize they aren't registering them.
Also, if someone has missed the registration expiration, they "rejoin waitlist" functionality does not work. Thanks!
Kanhai Shah
Kerala Hise: Thank you for pointing this. We have made an update and made sure that events with no accompanying guests will not require number of guests to register on waitlist.
L
Lauren Schmaltz
Kanhai Shah - when will V2 where sub-events are supported roll out?
Kanhai Shah
marked this post as
in progress
J
John Todd Boone
Currently, we keep track in an Excel document if anyone reaches out to us directly asking to be added to a waitlist. The need arises largely for sub-events, but occasionally standard events as well. However, I believe many more people would join the waitlist if it were available directly in the registration form.
For example, say I'm hosting an event with workshops 1, 2, & 3. If workshop 1 is full, I would like to be able to see who registered for the waitlist and in what order. If 2 people cancel their registration for workshop 1, I would want the ability to easily reach out to the 1st and 2nd person on the waitlist for that workshop.
For this to be effective, a few things would have to happen.
- If someone cancels their registration for a previously full event, it should only become available in the main registration if there is not a waitlist. And we would need to have some way of giving 1 or more people on the waitlist the opportunity to register without others being able to.
- I, as the admin, would have to be able to see who joined the waitlist first, and preferably be able to manually override the order they are invited to register. (Say if #1 on the waitlist for workshop 1, but already registered for workshop 2, but #2 on the waitlist hasn't signed up for anything yet, I would want the option to skip #1 initially and invite #2 to register for workshop 1)
- Have the ability to send & schedule an email/text to everyone on the waitlist.
- Have the option to turn off the waitlist prior to launching an event or even once registration is open.
Perhaps this could be an email template giving them the opportunity to register for that spot
Kanhai Shah
To help us better understand your needs around waitlists, we’d appreciate your input on the following questions:
- How are you currently managing waitlists at both the main event and sub-event levels?
- What types of notifications do you send to waitlisted registrants?
- What information do you collect when someone is added to the waitlist?
- If new capacity becomes available (e.g., 3 slots open up) but the top-priority waitlisted registration requires more (e.g., 6 slots), how do you typically handle this?
- Do you need waitlist functionality for only a few events each year, or is it required for most of your events?
Thanks in advance for sharing your responses—they’ll help us shape the right solution for you.
L
Leisa Domotor
Kanhai Shah
- Currently, we we add a note somewhere on the event to contact our Engagement Office to be added to a waitlist which is managed in Excel.
- Most communications are done on a one-on-one basis either by email or phone.
- Name of registrants email and/or phone, and how many guests
- Typically, we try to hold the tickets for the individual who requested the tickets first. We'll let them know we have "X" number of seats open and they can register their guests up to the number of available seats. If they choose to not purchase, we pass it to the next individual.
- It's required for most of our events.
Thank you!
Kanhai Shah
Erin Fumiko Kinney Elizabeth Babb ’82 Thank you for the detailed notes. I just had one follow-up question: are waitlists generally implemented at the main event level, or are they also available at the sub-event level?
H
HUC-JIR Admin AS
Kanhai Shah So pleased this request is being considered. Though I’m not Erin or Elizabeth, I voted for this request and can share that we have needed this option for both the main level and sub events.
Kanhai Shah
HUC-JIR Admin AS: That would be really helpful.
If you could share answers to following questions, it would give us better idea
1) How are you managing waitlist at main event and sub event level today?
2) What all different notifications do you send out to waitlisted registrations?
3) What all details you would ask when registration is put to waitlist?
4) If the newly open capacity (for example 3 slots are open) is lower than what is required for most priority waitlisted registration, how do you handle this scenario?
R
Robert James Odoardi
HUC-JIR Admin AS I am in agreement! We didn't start this request but we voted on it. We currently use an Almabase form that we paste the link into the event description for folks to add their name, class year, email address, etc. It would be ideal to have this functionality built in so that as a spot opens up due to a cancelation the next person in line is notified of their registration versus this needing to be done manually.
However, if that is too complex we will settle for waitlist functionality to automatically go into place once we hit capacity.
H
HUC-JIR Admin AS
Kanhai Shah I'm in agreement with all of John Todd Boone's responses above. Here are my additional responses:
- Manually, and it's quite a pain! We change the description in the main/sub-event listing to include a link to a microsoft form, where they provide their info. Then we follow-up with them directly as space opens, and modify the max guest count individually so they can register!
- We reach out individually to the waitlist members to register them. As John mentioned, it would be helpful to have the ability to send & schedule an email/text to everyone on the waitlist, but having it automated should be optional. There are times that the admin would need to adjust the ordering of the waitlist, so best to have the option of sending them manually through almabase letting them know a spot is now available, and they have the option to confirm their registration. As Elizabeth noted, it would be nice to have a time limit for confirming their registration - and best if we had already captured all of their necessary info (except payment), so they would just need to accept their registration spot.
Finally, it's important to have the ability to turn off the waitlist prior to launching an event or even once registration is open.
- All of the same details as required for the main event or sub-event, unless there is an associated cost. I imagine you wouldn't want the CC info on file, but will defer to Almabase on process.
- This is the scenario mentioned in question 2 - where admin may need more manual control of the waitlist.
Kanhai Shah
marked this post as
under review
We are looking into possibility of building this
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