Assign tables at check-in

Table seating gives each person a table as they check in. You don't build a seating chart beforehand — nobody has a table until they walk through the door, and the room fills in arrival order.

It works on top of check-in, so check-in has to be on for the event. Table seating is also still rolling out: if you don't see the panel described below, it isn't available on your account yet.

Turning it on

Open your event and choose Edit — or set this up while creating it. In the check-in section, find Table seating and switch on Assign tables at check-in.

Two numbers, both required:

Fill in only one and the save is refused — turning seating on needs both. Each has to be a whole number above zero, and no larger than 1,000.

Then choose Save seating settings.

The form will let you type a number larger than 1,000, but the save then fails with "Could not save table settings. Please try again." Retrying won't help. If you hit that, check both numbers are 1,000 or under.

How people get seated

When someone checks in — scanned by you, or checking themselves in with the code — they're given a table right then.

A party sits together. If someone RSVP'd with guests, the whole party is seated at one table and counted as one block. They're never split across two.

Tables fill before new ones open. Gathrings looks for the fullest table that still has room for the entire party and seats them there. Only when no open table can fit them does it start a new one.

That's deliberate. Early arrivals aren't scattered one-per-table around an empty room, and people arriving late join tables that already have someone at them instead of sitting alone.

Tables keep opening as they're needed, until you reach Maximum tables.

Naming tables

Tables are numbered — Table 1, Table 2 — and for most events that's enough. When some tables are worth naming, you can name them.

Naming is only available once the event exists, so save it first and come back to Edit. Under Named tables (optional), choose Add table and give it a name like Garden or Patio. Up to 120 characters.

A name sits on top of the number rather than replacing it. Someone seated at the table you named Garden sees Table 1, with Garden underneath.

Any table you don't name is numbered automatically as it fills.

You can rename or remove a named table later from the same place — though a table with people already sitting at it can't be removed. See The live table view for that.

Changing the settings later

Edits never move anyone who's already sitting down.

Lower People per table midway through an event and the tables already in use keep the capacity they opened with. The new number only applies to tables opened from that point on. Lowering Maximum tables likewise won't close a table that's in use.

So you can raise either number during an event to make more room. Lowering them during an event does very little.

When somebody can't be seated

Two situations leave a person without a table: every table is full and you've reached your maximum, or their party is bigger than a whole table.

Either way they are still checked in. They're just unseated. They see:

You're checked in. A host will show you to a table shortly.

And they show up to you as unseated in the live table view.

Getting them seated is a two-step job, and it's the one genuinely awkward part of this feature. You can't move an unseated person onto a table — the Move action only works on someone who already has one. Instead:

1. Make room — raise Maximum tables, or un-check-in someone who has left.
2. Un-check that person in, then check them in again.

Checking in a second time doesn't re-run the seating; it just shows whatever seat they already have. Undoing the check-in first is what makes the next one count as fresh.

A party larger than People per table can never be seated automatically, however much room you add. If you're expecting a group of twelve and your tables hold eight, plan on placing them yourself.