Feature — Seat Management

Event seat management that never double-books

Manual seat assignment is a spreadsheet problem masquerading as an event problem. The moment two people register at the same time, you have a race condition — and someone gets assigned the same seat twice. SignupDesk solves this at the database level, not the spreadsheet level. Every seat number is guaranteed unique, even under concurrent load.

VIP and General categories

Every event on SignupDesk has two registration tracks: VIP and General. Each track has its own seat count, its own seat number sequence, and its own prefix.

Seat prefixes are fully configurable per event. Use V and G, or VVIP and DEL, or any prefix your client prefers. The prefix and the sequential number together form the seat label that appears on the QR pass, the dashboard, and every export.

Atomic seat allocation

When two registrations arrive at the same moment — which happens every time an event announcement goes out — most systems assign both the same seat number because they check "what is the next available seat" before the first transaction has committed.

SignupDesk uses database-level row locking (SELECT ... FOR UPDATE) inside a transaction. The first registration acquires the lock, counts existing seats in that category, assigns the next number, and commits. The second registration waits until the lock is released, then gets an accurate count and a different number.

Coupon code system for VIP access

VIP seats are not open registration. They are unlocked by single-use coupon codes that you generate and distribute to specific attendees. Here is how the flow works:

• Generate codes in bulk: Create 50, 100, or 500 VIP codes for an event in one action. Each code is a unique alphanumeric string (e.g. VIP-A3KX9Z).
• Distribute to VIPs: Download the codes as a CSV and share them with invited guests via email, WhatsApp, or invitation card.
• Attendee redeems the code: On the registration form, the attendee enters their coupon code. The system validates it instantly — unused codes are accepted, used or invalid codes are rejected.
• Code locks on registration: Once a code is used, it is permanently marked as redeemed and linked to that registration. It cannot be used again by anyone else.

Coupon validation deliberately does not distinguish between "wrong code" and "already used code" — it just says "invalid code." This prevents attendees from probing which codes have been used.

Seat limits and registration windows

Each event has independent seat limits for VIP and General categories. When a category reaches its limit, registration for that category closes automatically — no manual intervention needed. Late arrivals see a clear "seats full" message rather than an error.

Registration windows let you control exactly when registration opens and closes:

• Set a registration open date — the form is inaccessible before this timestamp
• Set a registration close date — the form closes automatically at this time
• Seats filling up close registration independently of the close date

This means you can schedule registration to open at 10:00 AM on a Monday (when the announcement goes out) and close automatically at 5:00 PM the following Friday — or earlier if seats fill. No one needs to be watching the dashboard.

Export and reporting

Export the full registration list at any time — before the event, during, or after. The export includes every field collected during registration, plus system-generated fields:

• Seat number and category (VIP / General)
• Attendee name, email, mobile, company, designation, city
• Any custom fields you added to the registration form
• Registration timestamp
• Check-in status (checked in / not checked in)
• Check-in timestamp and which staff member checked them in

Export to Excel (.xlsx) or CSV. Filter the export by category, check-in status, or both. The export is always available from the admin panel — no need to request it from us.