Hello. The #1 reason I am moving my organization to Wild Apricot is the event management module and its integration with the overall system. I have reviewed every social networking, club or association management and event management web app I can find and not one of them do small, frequent event or activity (such as weekly club meetings) management well. Meetup.org comes the closest, but no cigar. Same with Facebook events.

Believe me, I know what I am speaking of in this regard. I have been an IT professional for 25 years and am currently the Vice President of HR & Systems (including software development) for a fifty person company that makes highly interactive web sites for elearning. See etrafficsolutions.com

On the side, I have a social activities business, and the event management software I want is for that. See socialcircles.ca.  I do my own websites and have had many of them over the years.

I am very tempted to just hire the people to create an event management web app, probably using PHP/AJAX, because it is not really too complicated and AJAX makes for a very user friendly interface. Since no one is doing a really comprehensive job of this particular functionality, there is probably a nice little market for it too. However, I would rather focus elsewhere and let you add the bit I need to your already excellent system.

One thing yours does not yet do, which is a wish list request from me, is to allow people to get on a waitlist when an event is full. In other words if ten people have registered for an event with a limit of ten attendees, then I would like any additional persons who would like to register to have the option of going on a waitlist. If someone registered cancels, the first person on the waitlist automatically gets an email telling them they are now registered or can register. The email, or the page it links to, might have a “decline registration” button. If they decline, the next person on the waitlist gets an email. And so on. Or something like that.

Please let me know if this functionality is anywhere in your future plans.

Thanks

 

Really appreciate the input. The waitlist came up a couple of times in the past and with your vote I made a note to officially add it to our roadmap.

I would really appreciate any other input you might have - you clearly have lots of experience in the industry - what else is missing/not ideal yet. 

---

Dmitry Buterin, Chief Apricot

Yes, this would be quite useful!

Just wanted to add my support to adding a wait list function.  We run ski trips, and are limited by bus size.  We don't want to oversell a bus, nor discourage others from signing up if bus is full, and can't run (nor want to bill members) for a second bus until we have enough on the wait list to pay for it. 

Hi I vote yes for this too.  Great idea.

Please add me to the list of customers wishing for a waitlist. We provide a lot of free events and with a waitlist I can see if I need to add more events, contact people that would have liked to sign up or expand the size of an event.

Is there any current status on when/if a wait list function will be included in a future release? 

This is still on the wishlist and not on the roadmap so for now it is not clear when/if this will be implemented.

---

Dmitry Buterin, Chief Apricot

Our club (OSAT.org) just moved to WA last month, and the automated waitlist function will be EAGERLY awaited.  Many of our events are wilderness climbs with specific limits on attendance and we always have more members signing up than we can accommodate.  Our previous, homegrown, site had a waitlist function on the calendar, and Its going to be a bit of a struggle for our climb leaders to manage the WA calendar system until you are able to implement an automated waitlist.

As a part of this function, members should be able to remove their own registration for an event themselves, rather than having to go through an administrator as seems to be the case now.  In fact, this improvement would be a good first step toward the ability to have a fully automated waitlist function. 

---

Rik Anderson

Thanks for your feedback Rik. I would appreciate more details about how would you ideally like to see this work.

---

Dmitry Buterin, Chief Apricot

I really need the wait list also, as I've said earlier in this thread.  However as far as allowing members to remove their own registrations, I think that's a separate thread.  I would not want to allow that (or make is admin. control for each event), since we have cancellation fees depending on time of cancellation, and refunds to process for on line payment which wouldn't happen if they removed themselves.  I think that only works when events are free.

If a wait list is not forthcoming, I could use some additional tools to help manage this better, since we are using WA to do it now. We create a separate Registration type "Wait List" that I would like to have the ability to manage differently within the event.

Now when an event reaches capacity, I currently disable all paid registration options and enable a free Wait List option and take off the event registration limit.   When we get enough registrations, we can run a 2nd bus, reopen paid registration and increase the registration limit.   (Or if we get a cancellation, we call the 1st wait list attendee, have them re-register all over so they can pay, and delete the wait list registration).  Lots of extra work here.

However all the Wait List attendees still appear on the attendee list (unless I manually take that off their registration), get all confirmed attendee reminder email blasts, and add to the number of registrants.  If the wait list attendee ultimately gets to go on the trip (cancellation or 2nd bus), they each have to be contacted individually to completely re-register and pay for the event, and their Wait List registration deleted. 

Ideally I would like to have the ability to designate this registration type so that names don't display on the list, emails are not sent, etc.  and when an opening comes up, simply allow the event manager to "transfer" the registration to payment due status, triggering WA to send them an invoice (they can then go in, update their registration to complete payment).  And if possible be able to email them as a separate group within the event to keep them posted on the wait list status until they are no longer on it (and not send them group emails to those already confirmed).

This might be an easier way to develop "wait list" capability without fully automating the process.

Our events often get filled, but sometimes attendees cancel at the last moment. It would be great to incorporate an Event Waiting List, so users could automatically be notified when a slot for an even opens up.

 

Thanks,
Rod

Ditto.  Almost every event we hold fills up to capacity at some point and it's a lot of manual work to make sure that people on the waiting list are migrated successfully to the main list.

 

So yes, we are totally on the waiting list for event waiting lists. :) 

absolutely would like this feature. We have several events that have limited seating and want to be sure to easily capture those who need to be called in event of cancellation and also to gauge interest to plan an additional session.

thank you for your consideration,

denise

Thanks for posting. We're aware of this thread but this is not in our plans for the nearest future - probably even till the end of 2012

---

Evgeny
Product Design Team

I would also like to see this as a new feature! We just had our first sell-out event, and didn't know what to do! A good problem to have, but still a problem. One person used our Contact form to tell us they would like to be on a list, but what about others that didn't reach out? We'd like some way to capture their information so that we can begin to send them event notices about future events, as well as tell them once a spot opens up. It would be nice if notification of open spots was automatic, but for now I'd really just love to capture their information somehow.

We're thinking about perhaps adding a link in the Event information to a form where people can enter their info, and then we will have to manually manage that data (enter them into WA, follow up, etc). 

---

Emily Carpenter
http://www.whizbangweb.com

I would also like to see this as a new feature! Looks like it is very popular,

our trip organiser is currently registering the 11th out of 10 person and putting the words "wait list"  after the persons name, that way when we list attendees it shows the 10 accepted and the 11th with "wait list" after his name.

 

I second this wish! Most of my cooking classes fill up and I am always scrambling to fill spots if someone bows out at the last minute. I waiting list would help me enormously.

Thank you!
Jennifer Clair

Home Cooking New York

I'll throw in our organization's vote for this feature as well.  That would be a nice addition.

Casting a vote as well.  :)

---

Sommer Cronck, Executive Director
Technology Alliance Group (TAG) for Northwest Washington
www.tagnw.org

Yes, we would also find it very useful to have a waiting list.

Me, too! I think this would be a really nifty feature!

---

Kerrie-Anne
My Social Circle - Social Events & Activities Network
www.mysocialcircle.com.au

A big wish for me as well.