When an event, session, or function is full, the Portal may let you join a waitlist instead. This article explains how to join a waitlist and remove yourself later.
Before You Begin
Prerequisites
- You must be signed in to the Portal.
- A waitlist is available only when the association has turned it on for the event, session, or function you want to join.
Join a Waitlist
- Start registering for the sold-out event, or choose the sold-out session or function.
- When the Portal tells you it’s full, select the option to join the waitlist.
Result
You’re added to the waitlist. Each time you join, you go to the back of the queue, no matter how many people are already waiting. You can’t join higher up the list.
Tip
Joining a waitlist doesn’t send a confirmation email. To confirm that you’re on the waitlist, return to the same waitlist button. If you’re already on it, the button lets you leave instead of join.
You join the waitlist right away, even if you do not finish the registration. If you join a session or function waitlist and then leave the registration before completing it, you stay on that waitlist even though the registration was not finished.
The waitlist option appears only after the event, session, or function reaches capacity for people who are just starting to register. It does not interrupt a registration that was already in progress before capacity was reached.
Leave a Waitlist
- Return to the same place where you joined: the sold-out event’s registration start, or the session or function step in the registration form.
- Select the option to leave the waitlist.
Result
You’re removed from the waitlist immediately.
Rejoining Puts You at the Back Again
If you leave a waitlist and join again later, you go to the back of the queue, even if you had already waited a long time. You can’t keep your old place. Leaving and rejoining is also the only way to change the email address you used to join, because the Portal does not let you edit it after you’ve joined.
What Happens Next
When a place opens up, the association’s waitlist process decides who receives the offer based on each person’s place in the queue. Joining a waitlist never charges you. You’re only invited to purchase after a place opens up, and that invitation is an email with a limited window to complete the purchase. For a session waitlist specifically, once your status reaches Eligible to Register and you’ve received that notification, add the session by using Modify Order on your existing registration. For details about what happens after you’re offered a place, see How Automatic Waitlist Offers Work.
Related
- Register for an Event in the Portal
- Choose Sessions When You Register
- Register for and View Your Function Tickets
- How Automatic Waitlist Offers Work
- Sold Out: What It Means and What Happens