Waitlist workaround in practice?

[David Plumstead]

Hello,

I’ve dug through a bunch of posts regarding waitlist functionality. Everyone wants it (yes, I voted) but it’s not core. I’ve seen the partial suggested workaround but would like some clarification.

But first: One thread from late last year made it sound like a waitlist existed? https://theeventscalendar.com/support/forums/topic/customise-waitlist-registration-information/ What’s that about? Does it?

If not, can we explore the suggested workaround a bit?

So the suggestion is to create another ticket with no RSVP cap. (In my case, we’re only dealing with RSVPs in the first place). Ok so I create an RSVP, name it something like Waitlist and…

…I’m guessing I:

• Have to manually watch for RSVP limit to be hit.
• Once I notice, I create a new ticket and name it as mentioned above?

This is a lot to happen in a short amount of time. I suppose I could create another RSVP ticket and set it to start way in the future so I just have to change the start date for it to appear once I notice RSVPs have run out.

• But what happens if I have multiple RSVP types to begin with that potentially have their own respective attendee information fields? That scenario isn’t very conducive to having just one other RSVP type. So in that case, (say Adults / Children with differing attendee info fields, I would need multiple “Waitlist” RSVP tickets ready to go. I hope you can appreciate how cumbersome this is sounding already.
• So then what? I get a bunch of people & their info under this new ticket type. How do I actually use it? Can I then assign those “waitlist RSVP” holders to another event? What does that process look like?
• If so, is any further action required on the user’s part?
• How are they notified that they’ve been (manually) added to another event?
• Can they themselves choose a future event date that works for them?
• I feel I’ve read about the ability to span a pool of tickets across multiple “sort of recurring” events. I’m not sure if that would make sense for these waitlist tickets. I guess it depends on how it’s implemented because I wouldn’t want waitlist to be an option on a future event that hasn’t reached its cap yet.

Sorry for all the questions, but given the popularity of this request, it seems as though some clarification around how this proposed workaround is supposed to work might be of help to more than just me.

TIA

[Jaime Marchwinski]

Hi Tyler,

Thanks so much for reaching out!

Unfortunately, the waitlist feature does not currently exist out of the box with our plugin.  What was mentioned in that thread is that it could be possible to customize our plugin in order to create a waitlist feature, although this is not something that we can assist with, as per our Support Policy.

If this functionality is a requirement for your intended project, I’d suggest that a third-party developer would be the best way to make this feature happen on a short timeline. ? We maintain a list of developers who work with our plugins on our Knowledgebase here:

https://theeventscalendar.com/knowledgebase/find-a-customizer/

In order to use the RSVP feature to create a waitlist, you will have to wait until you have reached capacity, and then create a new RSVP to act as a waitlist.

Unfortunately, this isn’t a perfect process, as it is just a workaround for a feature that does not exist.  There will be some manual work required on your end in order to then add the waitlisted individuals to the event.  You can try implementing the User Switching third-party plugin, to switch to the users and add them to the event via the front end.  Once you do, they will get an email that their RSVP has been confirmed.

Let me know if that helps and if you have any other questions on this topic!

 

Thanks,

Jaime

[David Plumstead]

Hi Jamie

So to be clear, with a group of ~300 potential attendees, if I create an event with a cap of say, 50 (due to space restrictions) and say, of the remaining potential attendees, 100 opt for the manually created RSVP “waitlist”, I would a) know there is plenty of demand to create another session and b) have to manually go into each one of those 200 users’ accounts and switch them to upcoming events – assuming the new date even works for them.

Hrmm.

If we were doing smaller events, I could see how that might be an acceptable workaround, but I think if I presented that idea, people would continue doing registrations by hand on paper… and honestly, it would probably be faster!

So. Weighing my options here. At what point is an idea on your board “popular enough” to make it into the product? I understand you can’t give a date for completion… but that request has been around for years. Is it even on the roadmap?

Thanks,
Tyler

[Jaime Marchwinski]

Hi Tyler,

If you are using the waitlist idea to see if there is interest in another event, you could then potentially email waitlisted users to let them know that a new session has been added.  Again, this is a workaround, rather than a feature, so it isn’t perfect.

Alternatively, you could try integrating a third-party plugin, like WooCommerce Waitlist, though I cannot guarantee compatibility.

I apologize but I cannot provide an ETA on if and when this feature will be available with our plugin.

Let me know if you have any other questions on this topic!

 

Thanks,

Jaime

[David Plumstead]

I’ve looked at WooCommerce waitlist. It has been suggested a number of times. Surely you must have clients who have gone ahead with some sort of integration there.

1) Do you know of anyone who has successfully gone this route? It would be nice to leverage work that has already been done instead of reinventing the wheel. I’m not opposed to getting a quote on custom work but again, it would be nice if we knew of someone who has already spent time coming up with a solution to this popular request.

2) Are any of the options on your find a customizer page Canadian by chance? It would be nice to be billed in our own currency if we go the custom integration route.

[Jaime Marchwinski]

Hi Tyler,

Unfortunately I cannot provide any specific examples to you of how other clients have implemented this customization.

I do know that WooCommerce has a 30 day full refund policy, so if the integration doesn’t work as expected, they can provide you with a full refund.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

 

Thanks,

Jaime

[Support Droid]

Hey there! This thread has been pretty quiet for the last three weeks, so we’re going to go ahead and close it to avoid confusion with other topics. If you’re still looking for help with this, please do open a new thread, reference this one and we’d be more than happy to continue the conversation over there.

Thanks so much!
The Events Calendar Support Team

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