Playbook: Reserved Seating

Start here: email clients@prekindle.com

Our Client Success team will build your first seat maps and event templates with you. After that, you can copy and adjust them yourself, and setting up each new event takes minutes.

7 topics

What's Inside

Start Here

Getting Started

Before your first reserved event goes on sale.

What to do

• Email clients@prekindle.com. Tell us your venue and each layout you run, such as fully reserved, GA pit with reserved terraces, or GA only.
• Send us what we need to build your map. Use the list below.
• Tell us which layouts you use most. We'll turn those into templates.
• Find your charts. Go to Preferences; Seating Charts. Your new charts, older (legacy) maps, and static image maps are all on this page. To add a static image map, email us.

What to send us

• A venue diagram or your current seat map including the stage, bars, exits, bathrooms 
• Section names, row letters, and seat numbers
• Tables and table names
• Each General Admission area and its maximum capacity
• Accessible and companion seat locations
• Your price zones (which sections sell at which price)
• Seats you always hold or kill, such as the sound board, production, or camera positions
• The layouts you reuse most
• Branding and logos you'd like to include on the map

Why it matters

The General Admission capacity built into your map is the most you can sell in that area. If the map is built right the first time, every event you create from it is correct too.

Seat Maps

Create a Seat Map

Start from a Prekindle build and make it your own.

What to do

1. Go to Preferences; Seating Charts.
2. Find the Prekindle-built chart closest to the layout you need and click Copy.
3. On the new copy, click Edit to open the chart editor.
4. Make your changes, such as renaming sections, changing GA areas, or switching a section between reserved and GA.
5. Give the copy a clear name. See the naming tip in Edit, Organize, and Archive Seat Maps below.
6. Save your changes. The chart is now ready to use for events.

Why it matters

Copying a chart keeps the one Prekindle built unchanged, so you can always go back to it. Each copy is yours to change as often as you need.

Seat Maps

Edit, Organize, and Archive Seat Maps

Keep your chart library clean so the right map is easy to find. Manage it all from Preferences; Seating Charts.

Keep your library organized

• Leave Prekindle's builds unchanged. Copy them and change the copy, so you always have a clean starting point.
• Use one naming style for every chart. Anyone on your team should be able to pick the right map from the name alone.
• Archive charts you no longer use, such as last season's layouts or test copies, so the list only shows what's current.
• Check the event count before you archive. If a chart shows "events use this chart," make sure you don't need it for upcoming events.

Events

Build an Event from a Seat Map

Best for new layouts and one-off events.

What to do

1. Open the Event Creation Wizard and select Use Template.
2. When prompted, choose SeatsIO Seating Chart.
3. Select your seat map and click Start.
4. Fill in Step 1 (event details).
5. Review Step 2. You'll set many seating options later, on the event dashboard.
6. Complete Step 3 and click Finish.

Your map starts blank. Finish setup before on-sale.

When you create an event from a seat map, it has no price levels, holds, or kills yet. From the event dashboard:

• Add your price levels.
• Assign price levels, place holds, and set kills in Event Manager (see Use Event Manager below).
• Set capacities and purchase quantities in Sales; Seats.
• Confirm the correct chart is attached in Sales; Price Levels.

Events

Build an Event from a Template

The fastest setup for layouts you run again and again.

What to do

1. Open the Event Creation Wizard and select Use Template.
2. Choose your saved reserved seating template and click Start.
3. Fill in Steps 1 to 3 and click Finish.
4. Review the event before it goes on sale. Use the list below.

Your price levels and kills are already set. Check them for this show.

• Update ticket prices if this show is priced differently
• Add holds for this show, such as artist, production, or sponsor seats
• Check that capacities in Sales; Seats match Event Manager
• Check the purchase quantities for each section in Sales; Seats

Need a new template?

If you’ve built the same layout from a seat map more than once, head to the Tools tab to turn it into a reusable layout. Or email clients@prekindle.com and we’ll help you get it set up.

Seat Management

Use Event Manager

Assign price levels, place holds, and set kills. Open it from Sales; Seats; Event Manager.

Kills are limited to 10 saves per event per day

You can click Apply Changes only 10 times per event per day. Make every change you need first, then save once. If you need to pause several sections, email clients@prekindle.com.

Example

Your map's Lawn holds 1,000, but you only want to sell 800 tonight.  Enter 200 under Partially Not for Sale in the Kills tab. Click into the Sales; Seats tab that your capacity has updated to 800 for the Lawn. 

Also in Sales; Seats

• Download the manifest for a full list of seats
• Set the Max Purchase Quantity per transaction per section

Guest List

Add Guests to the Guest List

Comps, artist guests, and sponsor tickets, with assigned seats.

What to do

1. From your Dashboard, click the event and open the Guests tab.
2. Click Add Guest. Enter a Name (required), plus an Email and a Note if you want them.
3. For seats on the map: click Select Seats, click the seats or sections you want, click Save, then click Create Tickets.
4. For areas not listed in the seatmap or held seats: choose the area from the dropdown, choose the ticket type and quantity, then click Create Tickets.
5. The tickets stay on the guest list until you send them. Click Send to email them to the guest.
6. To send every guest's tickets at once, open the Tools tab and click Deliver.

Learn how

Adding Guests in Reserved Events

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