Configuring Seat Types

Seat types let you categorize attendees and manage capacity for different groups within your event.

What Are Seat Types?

Seat types are categories you create to organize attendees. They can represent age groups (Adults, Children), seating areas (Main Floor, Balcony), or childcare needs (Infants 0-2, Toddlers 3-5).

For simple events where everyone is treated the same, create a single seat type like “General Admission” and set your capacity there.

When to Use Multiple Seat Types

Use multiple seat types when you need to track different groups separately, manage seating areas with different capacities, or plan childcare based on age groups.

If you just need total headcount, stick with one seat type. Simple is better.

Creating Seat Types

Seat types are defined at the event level and shared across all occurrences. You create them once, then set different capacities per occurrence.

When creating a seat type, you’ll set the name (what attendees see), display order, and default capacity settings. Each occurrence can then have its own capacity limits for that seat type.

Seat Type Examples

Age-Based Categories: Help you plan resources like bulletins and childcare.

  • Adults: 400 capacity, max 10 per RSVP
  • Children: 200 capacity, max 10 per RSVP

Seating Areas: Let attendees choose their preferred section while you manage each area separately.

  • Main Floor: 300 capacity
  • Balcony: 150 capacity
  • Wheelchair Accessible: 20 capacity

Childcare Planning: Tells you exactly how many volunteers you need and sets realistic limits based on staff availability.

  • Adults: Unlimited
  • Childcare - Infants 0-2: 15 capacity, max 3 per RSVP
  • Childcare - Toddlers 3-5: 25 capacity, max 3 per RSVP

Capacity Per Occurrence

The same seat types can have different capacities at different occurrences. Your 3pm Christmas Eve service might have Adults: 300 and Children: 200, while the 11pm service has Adults: 400 and Children: 20.

You can also set different capacity display thresholds per occurrence. Show capacity always, never, or only when you hit a threshold like 75% full. Showing capacity creates urgency and spreads people across time slots. Hiding it prevents broadcasting empty seats if registration is slow.

Max Seats Per RSVP

Limit how many seats one person can reserve. Set this based on typical group size: 8-10 for family services, 4-6 for concerts or special events, 50+ for virtual attendance or group registrations.

Managing Seat Types

You can edit seat types anytime—changes affect future RSVPs and the event landing page but don’t affect existing RSVPs. Be careful reducing capacity after people have already registered.

Deleting a seat type removes it from the event but preserves existing RSVPs in your historical data.

Common Patterns

Basic Church Service: Most churches don’t need seat types. Just track total attendance.

Service with Childcare: Track adults separately from children. Know how many childcare workers you need and set realistic limits by age group.

Multi-Campus Events: Use locations to differentiate campuses, then use seat types for other categorization like age groups or seating areas.

Conferences: Use seat types for different workshops or sessions. Set capacity based on room size and let attendees choose sessions.