Seating plans for company dinners, galas and conferences
A company dinner, an award night and a conference dinner all come down to the same job: a lot of people, a lot of tables, and a list of who has to sit where that turns up the week before. This is an event seating plan you draw on the actual room, and one the venue and the caterer can work from.
Draw the room you actually have
Most event rooms are not just rows of round tables. There is a stage, or a lectern with a few rows of chairs in front of it for the speeches, or long tables down one side. All of that is there to place: round and long tables with up to 60 seats, benches, rows of chairs, a stage, a bar, a dance floor, doors and walls. It is drawn to scale, so if it does not fit on screen it will not fit on the night either.
Seat the people who matter, then everyone else
Import the attendee list as it comes out of your registration system; it picks up name, email, party size and dietary notes from the column headings. Put the board, the sponsors and the keynote table where they need to be by hand, then press Seat everyone and let it fill the rest. You will move a few people afterwards, but that is a lot quicker than placing two hundred one at a time. When you are done, the plan prints for the venue, the caterer gets the seat numbers and dietary notes, and the list goes back into Excel with table and seat filled in. Building is free at any size; exporting is free up to 15 attendees, and €12 once if you have more.