A waitlist holds people who want a place at an event, session, or function that is full. This article shows you how to review the list, add, edit, or remove entries, see every waitlist one person is on, and return someone to waiting after a missed offer. For automatic offers when places open, see the concept article on automatic waitlist offers.
Before You Begin
Prerequisites
- You need Console access to Meetings & Shows, with the event, session, or function open.
- You do not need permission beyond general Console access to view, add, edit, or remove a waitlist entry.
- An event's Waitlist menu entry appears only when the event has capacity tracking and a waitlist switched on. If the menu entry is not shown, you can still open the page directly by address.
See Who's Waiting
- For an event, go to Meetings & Shows › Events ›
<event name>› Waitlist. - For a session or function, open the session or function, then select its Waitlist tab.
Result
The waitlist shows each person's priority, the date they joined, their name, and their status: Waiting, Processing, Eligible to Register, or Missed Registration Window.
Entries sort by priority first, then by the date they joined. A blank priority works the same as a priority of zero, so those entries sort last by join date.
Warning
The waitlist shows only the first page of entries. Rhythm does not mark the list as partial when the waitlist is longer, so use the Filter Waitlisted Contacts box to search for a specific person if you think entries are missing.
Entries with the Missed Registration Window status are hidden by default. Select (show all) in the count line to include them; when shown, they appear muted.
Warning
Rhythm does not notify staff when someone joins a waitlist, and waitlist activity cannot be delivered on a schedule through a query or report. Check the waitlist page itself when you need to know whether someone new has joined.
Warning
You can view a session's waitlist entries only on the session's own Waitlist tab; they cannot be returned in a query. Fields on the session related to enabling or configuring its waitlist are settings, not a list of who is actually waiting, so do not expect to find waitlisted people by searching or querying those fields.
Add Someone to a Waitlist Yourself
- On the waitlist, select Add to Waitlist.
- Choose the Contact. This fills in a notification email and, if the contact has a mobile number, turns on SMS notification with that number.
- Adjust the Notification Email, Enable SMS Notification?, and Mobile Phone as needed.
- Set the Date Placed on Waitlist and Priority if you want to control their position, and choose a Status. New entries default to Waiting.
- Add any Notes, then select Save Changes.
Result
The entry is added, and the waitlist reloads so you can see it.
Warning
Adding someone to a waitlist does not check whether the event, session, or function is sold out. You can add someone even when free places are still available. Because of this, adding someone by hand does not recreate a true at-capacity waitlist scenario for testing; notification emails and other behavior that depend on capacity being reached may not trigger, even though nothing is wrong.
Tip
A person's name and organization on a waitlist entry are copied from their contact record each time you save the entry. They do not update automatically if the contact record changes later, so edit and save the entry again to refresh them.
Edit or Remove an Entry
- On the waitlist, select the Edit icon on the row you want to change, or the Delete icon to remove it.
- If you are editing, update the fields you need — notification details, priority, date placed, status, or notes — and select Save Changes. If you are deleting, confirm when asked.
Result
An edit updates the entry in place. A removal takes the person off the waitlist entirely and cannot be undone from here.
Warning
A locked entry hides its Edit and Delete options. Deleting a person's entry does not warn you if they currently hold an offer or have one running; the entry is removed without any further notice.
Tip
If the person at the front of the waitlist is not moving forward, removing that entry can let the next person in line be considered for the next offer or place.
Warning
After a waitlisted contact completes registration and is automatically removed from the waitlist, their waitlist history is no longer visible anywhere. There is no way to look back later and confirm that a registrant had previously been on the waitlist.
See Every Waitlist One Person Is On
- Open the person's registration record.
- Select the Waitlists tab.
Result
The tab lists every waitlist entry for this person — event, session, or function — along with its type, what it is for, and their status on it.
Give a Lapsed Entry Another Chance
If a person's offer window lapsed, or their entry became stuck, you can return them to waiting so they are considered again.
- Open the entry from the event, session, or function's waitlist.
- Change the Status to Waiting.
- Save.
Result
The person is set back to waiting. This does not start a new offer by itself; they wait until the next time a place opens under whatever process runs this waitlist.
Warning
If this waitlist runs automatically, and you do this within 90 days of the person's last offer, the next automatic offer run can fail to start and leave the entry back in Processing instead of moving it forward. If that happens, check the entry again after some time has passed, or offer the person a place by hand instead. See Offer a Waitlist Place by Hand.
What Keeps a Waitlist Entry Accurate
A waitlist entry stays linked to the contact, organization, event, session, or function it names. If you try to delete any of those records while a waitlist entry still points to it, including a lapsed one, Rhythm refuses the deletion until you remove the related waitlist entries first.
If It Fails
- "Unable to load waitlist." Reload the page and try again.
- "Unable to save waitlisted contact." Confirm that you chose a contact, entered a notification email, and entered a mobile phone number if SMS is on.
- "Unable to delete contact." Try removing the entry again from its row. If it keeps failing, the entry may already be gone.
- You can't delete a contact, organization, event, session, or function. Check whether a waitlist entry still names it, including a lapsed one. Rhythm refuses the deletion until every related entry is removed.