Limited capacity? No problem! Easily enable a waitlist workflow for GC Events and invite constituents off the waitlist as additional space becomes available.
How it works:
- Enabling the waitlist feature will allow registrants the opportunity to join a waitlist when the overall guest limit for an event is reached.
- Administrators can also configure the waitlist to be activated when the guest limit for one or more event-level ticket types is reached.
- Constituents who join the waitlist will provide their name, email address, number of guests and affiliation.
- Prior to inviting constituents from the waitlist to register for the event, administrators must add capacity by increasing the guest limit or changing the RSVP status of one or more existing guests to ‘Not Attending’.
- Administrators will define the expiration timeline for registration invitations sent to waitlisted constituents and may choose to disable the waitlist and reopen registration if capacity remains once the waitlist is cleared.
Keep in mind:
- Enabling the waitlist feature is only available for GC Events created after February 5, 2025. If cloning an event created prior to February 5, 2025, the waitlist features will be available in the cloned version of the event.
- In addition to enabling the waitlist when the overall event guest limit is reached, only event-level ticket types with a guest limit will be eligible to activate the waitlist. Activity-level waitlists are not available at this time.
- Invitations cannot be sent to waitlisted constituents if there are fewer tickets available than guests in the party. Prior to inviting waitlisted constituents to register for the event, always confirm that at least one relevant ticket type will be available for each guest to select; especially when leveraging affiliation-restricted ticket types.
How to configure a waitlist:
Navigate to the Ticketing section in the Edit Event menu.
- Configure Waitlist: When ‘Configure Waitlist’ is checked, the waitlist will automatically activate when the overall guest limit for the event is reached. At that point, potential attendees can join the waitlist and tell you how many guests they would like to bring.
- If ‘Configure Waitlist’ is selected, an Overall Guest Limit must be set for the event.
- Once ‘Configure Waitlist’ is enabled, you have the option of activating the waitlist based on one or more ticket types reaching their guest limit. Remember, the waitlist will also activate if your event reaches its overall capacity.
- Only event-level ticket types with limited capacity will be eligible to activate the waitlist.
- Time until invitation expires (hours): When a waitlisted constituent is invited to register for the event, this field defines the number of hours until the invitation expires.
- Once the waitlist is cleared and all outstanding waitlist invitations have expired, an administrator may disable the waitlist and reopen registration for the event if capacity remains.
Email settings for a waitlist:
Once ‘Configure Waitlist’ is enabled for an event, navigate to the Email Settings section in the Edit Event menu. There are two additional email templates available to configure for waitlisted constituents.
- Waitlist Confirmation: This email sends when a constituent joins the waitlist and provides instructions on how to register for the event if invited.
- Waitlist Invitation: This email sends when a waitlisted constituent is invited to register for the event and includes a limited-time registration link and event details.
Additional merge tags for waitlist emails:
- Waitlist Invite Expiration Hours: The number of hours entered in the field “Time until invitation expires (hours)” under Edit Event > Ticketing. This represents the amount of time a waitlisted constituent will have to register for the event after receiving their waitlist invitation email.
- Waitlist Invite Expires At: The date and time the invitation to register for the event will expire. This merge tag should only be included in the Waitlist Invitation email template.
- Waitlist Invite Registration Link: This tag will display the link that the waitlisted constituent will use to register for the event. This link will expire according to the invitation expiration timeline defined in the Edit Event > Ticketing section. This merge tag should only be included in the Waitlist Invitation email template.
- Waitlist Joined At: This token displays the date and time the constituent joined the waitlist.
- Waitlist Number of Guests: This token displays the number of guests the constituent indicated on the waitlist form that they would be registering if space became available.
Managing a waitlist:
Once ‘Configure Waitlist’ is enabled for an event, navigate to the Waitlist section in the Event menu.
- Use the ‘Preview Waitlist Form’ button to view how the waitlist form will appear once activated.
- Constituents will be required to provide their first name, last name, email, affiliation, and number of guests (including yourself) in order to join the waitlist.
- The fields included on the waitlist form are not configurable at this time.
- If invited to register for the event from the waitlist, a constituent will not be permitted to register more than the total number of guests they indicated on the waitlist form.
- When the criteria to activate the waitlist is met, the registration button on the event landing page will be replaced with a ‘Join Waitlist’ button linking to the waitlist form.
- Once constituents have added themselves to the waitlist, each constituent will appear in the ‘Waitlist’ tab.
- In the Actions column of the waitlist tab, administrators can click ‘Invite’ to send the waitlist invitation to register for the event.
- Before inviting waitlisted constituents to register for the event, an administrator must first increase the capacity of the event by increasing the guest limit or changing the RSVP status of one or more existing guests to ‘Not Attending’.
- Invitations cannot be sent to waitlisted constituents if there are fewer tickets available than guests in the party.
- The registration link in the waitlist invitation email will expire based on the number of hours defined in the waitlist section of the Ticketing tab in the event settings.
- Once a waitlist invitation has been sent, the waitlisted constituent will move to the ‘Invited’ tab where administrators can ‘Reinvite’ the constituent to join the waitlist.
- If reinvited, the expiration timeline for the invitation link will reset based on when the latest invitation was sent.
- Administrators may also choose to remove a waitlisted constituent using the trash can icon in the Actions column.
- Constituents are not notified if they are removed from the waitlist.
- Once invited, constituents cannot be removed from the waitlist.
- Once the waitlist has been cleared and all outstanding invitations have expired, registration will automatically reopen if capacity remains.