Capacity tracking lets you limit how many people can register for an event, join a session, or buy a function ticket. When you turn it on, Rhythm compares registrations with the capacity you set, then marks the event, session, or function sold out when it fills. If you also turn on a waitlist, people can join the waiting list instead of being turned away, and Rhythm can automatically offer an open place to someone on that list.
What It Controls
The Capacity Tracking & Waitlist Management section appears on each record you can limit: the event, a session, or a function. When you turn on capacity tracking, Rhythm shows the Capacity field and, if you choose, the waitlist options. As soon as you save the change, Rhythm recalculates whether that event, session, or function is sold out.
Prerequisites
For a session or function to send waitlist offers, your Rhythm account must already have at least one active waitlist process. Until then, you will not have any processes to choose from.
Tip
Choose the waitlist level based on what you need to protect. Use event-level capacity and a waitlist when you need to control overall attendance for the event. Use session-level capacity and a waitlist when the event can stay open, but a specific session needs its own limit. You can turn both on for the same event when you need to protect overall attendance and a specific session separately, because each one is configured and enforced on its own.
Where to Find It
Capacity and waitlist settings live on the record they control, not on a separate page:
- For the event itself: Meetings & Shows › Events › (the event) › Setup, in the Capacity Tracking & Waitlist Management section of the event's details.
- For a session: on the session's create or edit form.
- For a function: on the function's create or edit form.
The Settings
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity Tracking & Waitlist Management | On, off | Off | Turns capacity tracking on for this event, session, or function. Turning it off hides the fields below and stops enforcing them, but it does not clear the saved capacity or waitlist choice |
| Capacity: | A whole number, zero or more | Empty | Required once tracking is on. 0 means the record is already full |
| Enable waitlist? | On, off | Off | Lets people join a waiting list once the record is full |
| Waitlist Process: | One of your Rhythm account's active waitlist processes | Empty | Required when the waitlist is on. Rhythm only offers active processes. If a saved process is later deactivated, the field shows no selection, but the record still uses that process until you change it |
Warning
Only the registration forms in the Console and Portal stop a new registration after capacity is reached. You can set capacity below the number already registered; nobody already registered is removed, but the record becomes sold out the next time its status is recalculated. Guests added to a parent registration are counted before the order is processed, so adding a guest that would push the event over capacity returns an error, just like any other registration that would exceed capacity.
Turning the waitlist off keeps everyone already on the waitlist. As long as capacity tracking stays on, those entries still count toward whether the record shows sold out. If a record stays sold out after you disable the waitlist, that is usually why: the waitlisted entries are still using capacity. To reopen registration, turn the waitlist back on, remove the contacts from it, and then turn the waitlist off again if you do not want to use it going forward. If you turn the waitlist off while an automatic offer is already running, that offer stops partway through and any reminder tied to it ends early.
Tip
Function capacity is meant to stop a registrant from selecting more tickets than remain once the function is sold out. For a partially filled function that is not yet sold out, reports have varied on whether this works consistently. In some cases, a registrant may still be able to select more tickets than the remaining quantity before the function reaches capacity. If you notice this, check the registration after checkout instead of assuming the request was blocked.
Dependencies and Precedence
- Sold-out status is recalculated only when you change capacity tracking or the capacity options. Saving any other change to the event, session, or function leaves the sold-out mark exactly as it was.
- A waitlist needs a waitlist process, which decides how Rhythm offers a freed place to the next person once one becomes available.
- A booth fee or add-on product does not have its own capacity or waitlist. Booth availability is tracked separately through the booths themselves.
- Event capacity and session capacity are independent, and each one is managed on the record it controls. An event can allow unlimited overall registrations while an individual session still enforces its own capacity and waitlist. If event capacity is on and the event itself is full, people cannot start the registration flow at all, which means they also cannot add themselves to a session's waitlist until an event-level place opens up.
- Group registration follows the same capacity and waitlist rules as individual registration. Once an event, session, or function is full, a group order is expected to honor the waitlist the same way a one-off registration does, rather than letting attendees through beyond capacity.
- To monitor how full several sessions are getting, use a query instead of this settings page. Add the session capacity output field to a registration-level query, then filter or group by session to compare registration counts with capacity yourself.
Change Impact and How to Revert
- Raising capacity on a record that already has waitlisted people can start automatic offers to fill the new places; lowering it does not remove anyone already registered.
- Turning capacity tracking off hides the fields but keeps the saved capacity and waitlist choice, so turning it back on later restores what was there before.
- Turning the waitlist off mid-offer stops that offer from completing and ends its reminder early; anyone who already accepted an offer keeps their place.
Permissions
You need the permission your Rhythm account grants for editing the event, session, or function whose capacity you are changing.
Validation and Errors
If capacity tracking is on and you leave Capacity blank, the form marks it required and will not let you save. If the waitlist is on and you do not choose a process, the form refuses the save because every active waitlist needs a waitlist process.