Turn on registration (RSVP) for a session so attendees reserve a seat in the app. Set a capacity, choose whether you approve each registration or keep a waitlist, and follow who has registered.
Before you start
You need to be an organization admin or an event admin.
RSVP works for content slots only. Networking slots can't use it.
Event-wide RSVP behavior (overlapping RSVPs, status messages) is set in Content > Schedule > Settings > RSVP. See Schedule RSVP settings: overlapping RSVPs and status messages.
Where to find it
Content > Schedule > Timeslots in the admin panel. Select Edit on a session, then open the Preferences tab. For a new session, select New content slot and open Preferences.
Choose the registration flow
Keep Enable registration (RSVP required) and Allow registrations via app on for each of these options:
Immediate reservation: leave Require RSVP approval and Waitlist mode off. Attendees receive a seat as soon as they register. For example, use a capacity of 30 for a workshop; the 31st attendee cannot reserve until a seat is free.
Approval: turn on Require RSVP approval. Each request waits for your team to approve or reject it. For example, review applications for a limited roundtable before assigning its seats. Requests do not hold a seat.
Automatic waitlist: leave Require RSVP approval off, set a capacity and turn on Waitlist mode. For example, a full 30-seat workshop puts the next attendee in the queue and automatically confirms them when a seat becomes available, subject to the overlap rules below.
Approval and waitlist cannot be on together. Set the flow before opening registration: changing an existing approval or waitlist mode can confirm or reject waiting registrations.
Turn on registration for a session
Open the session's Preferences tab.
Turn on Enable registration (RSVP required). The RSVP options appear under it.
Turn on Allow registrations via app. It is off by default. Attendees can register only while it is on.
For approval, turn on Require RSVP approval. For immediate reservation or an automatic waitlist, leave it off.
To cap attendance, turn on Limit the number of registrations and enter the Capacity.
For an automatic waitlist, turn on Waitlist mode under Capacity. Leave it off for the other flows. It is unavailable while Require RSVP approval is on.
Select Create for a new session or Update for an existing one.
Settings
Setting | What it does | Default |
Enable registration (RSVP required) | Attendees must register to join the session. Shows the other RSVP options. | Off |
Allow registrations via app | Attendees can register in the app. Turn it off to stop new registrations. Existing registrations stay. | Off |
Require RSVP approval | New registrations from attendees start as Tentative and get a seat only when you approve them. Can't be combined with Waitlist mode. | Off |
Allow cancellations | Attendees can cancel their own seat. When off, the Cancel RSVP button is disabled and the app says "Cancellation is not available for this session." | On |
Limit the number of registrations | Shows the Capacity field. | Off |
Capacity | Maximum number of seats, filled from all sources (app, admin panel, API). Only confirmed and attended registrations take a seat. Minimum 1. | 1 when turned on |
Waitlist mode | When the session is full, new registrations join a waitlist. When a seat frees up, Brella confirms the next person in the queue. Not available while Require RSVP approval is on. | Off |
Reserve registrations for integrations | Shows Minimum reserve for the API or integrations. | Off |
Minimum reserve for the API or integrations | Seats within the capacity that the app can't fill. The API, integrations and registrations you add in the admin panel can use them. App registrations stop when the confirmed registrations reach the capacity minus this reserve. | 1 when turned on |
Show registered people | Attendees with a seat are listed under Attending on the session page, and other attendees can open their profiles. | On |
Show QR code on tickets | The attendee's View ticket screen shows their QR code. | Off |
Note: The defaults apply to sessions created in the admin panel. Sessions created through the API or a schedule import that does not set these options have Show QR code on tickets on and Show registered people off.
How capacity works
Only Confirmed and Attended registrations take a seat. Registrations waiting for approval, on the waitlist or rejected don't count.
When the confirmed registrations, from any source, reach the capacity minus any reserve for integrations, Allow registrations via app switches off automatically. The Timeslots table then shows Stopped. With Waitlist mode on, it stays on and attendees join the waitlist instead.
When a seat frees up, Allow registrations via app switches back on automatically. This happens only if Brella switched it off. With Waitlist mode on, Brella first confirms the next person on the waitlist.
You can't lower the capacity below the current number of confirmed registrations. The form shows "Cannot decrease RSVP limit. Please delete registrants first before decreasing the limit."
When the capacity equals the number of confirmed registrations, the Allow registrations via app switch is disabled with the text "Increase limit to be able to activate RSVP again".
Registrations you add in the admin panel count toward the capacity but ignore Allow registrations via app. See Manage session registrations.
Approve registrations
With Require RSVP approval on:
Attendees see Request seat instead of Reserve seat. Their registration starts as Tentative. The session's Registrations tab lists it under Waiting for approval.
Approve or reject it from its Status tag, in the session's Registrations tab or on Content > Schedule > Registrations. See Manage session registrations.
Requests don't hold seats, so more attendees can request a seat than the session has. Approving needs a free seat.
Brella sends the attendee a push notification when you approve ("Your RSVP confirmed") or reject ("Your RSVP not confirmed") the request.
Registrations you add in the admin panel also start as Tentative.
To turn approval off, turn off Require RSVP approval and select Update. If approval was saved as on, the switch first asks "Disable RSVP approval?". Confirm with Disable approval. Pending registrations are then confirmed up to the capacity, in the order they applied, and the rest are rejected. Brella skips the same people as when a seat frees up from a waitlist: those with a meeting at the same time while Prevent overlaps between RSVPs and meetings is on, and those with a seat in an overlapping session while Allow overlapping RSVPs is off. Attendees get the push notifications. If Allow registrations via app is on, Brella switches it off while it works through the requests and back on when it is done, unless the session is then full.
Keep a waitlist
With Limit the number of registrations and Waitlist mode on:
While seats are free, attendees reserve seats as usual.
When the session is full, attendees see Join waitlist. Their registration is Tentative and shows as Waitlisted in the session's Registrations tab. Allow registrations via app stays on.
When a seat frees up, Brella confirms the first person in the queue and sends them a push notification: "A seat opened up". Seats free up when a registration is deleted, canceled or rejected, or when you raise the Capacity or lower the reserve for integrations.
Brella skips a person who has a meeting at the same time while Prevent overlaps between RSVPs and meetings is on. It also skips a person with a seat in an overlapping session while Allow overlapping RSVPs is off. Their waitlist registration is rejected, they get "Your RSVP not confirmed", and the next person in the queue gets the seat.
You can't approve or reject waitlisted registrations by hand.
To turn the waitlist off, turn off Waitlist mode and select Update. The switch first asks "Disable waitlist mode?". Confirm with Disable waitlist. Waitlisted registrations are then confirmed up to the capacity, in queue order and with the same skips as above, and the rest are rejected. Turning on Require RSVP approval in a session with a saved waitlist asks "Enable RSVP approval?" and has the same effect, because it turns Waitlist mode off.
Track RSVPs
In the Timeslots table
Bookmarks shows the bookmark count for every session.
When at least one session has RSVP on, two more columns appear: RSVP (via app) with Active, Stopped or N/A, and Confirmed registrants. Confirmed registrants shows the number of confirmed and attended registrations, or count / capacity when a capacity is set. Under it, "+N awaiting approval" or "+N waitlisted" counts the pending requests or the waitlisted registrations.
In the session's Registrations tab
The Registrations tab appears in the session editor once the session is saved with Enable registration (RSVP required) on. The tab name includes the number of registrations in every status, for example Registrations (12).
With Require RSVP approval on, tabs filter the list: All, Confirmed, Waiting for approval and Rejected. With Waitlist mode on, the tabs are All, Registered and Waitlisted. Each tab shows its count.
The table lists Registrant (name, company), RSVP time in the event's time zone and Status. With no registrations it says "No registrations yet".
Select a Status tag to change it: mark a Registered attendee as Attended and back, or approve or reject a Tentative registration.
Use Search by name or email to find a registration.
Select Add registration(s) to register attendees yourself.
Select Export registrations (.csv). Brella emails you a zip with the CSV file of confirmed and attended registrations. Columns:
RSVP time,Name,Email,Company name,Title,Ticket type list.Select Delete in a row to remove a registration, then confirm with Yes. This can't be undone. The session stays bookmarked for the attendee.
What attendees see
On the session page, a status message (default: "This session requires registration.") and a Reserve seat button. When a capacity is set and registration is open, the page shows "N seats left".
Selecting Reserve seat opens a confirmation titled "Reserve a seat". When Allow cancellations is off, the confirmation adds "Please note cancellations are not allowed for this session."
After reserving, the message changes (default: "You've registered for this session."), the button becomes Cancel RSVP, and a View ticket button opens the attendee's ticket. Registering also bookmarks the session, so it appears in My Schedule.
With Require RSVP approval on, the button reads Request seat and the confirmation is titled "Request to join session?". While the request waits, the message reads "Your registration is pending approval" and the button becomes Cancel request. A rejected request reads "Your RSVP was not confirmed".
With Waitlist mode on and the session full, the button reads Join waitlist and the page shows how many people are on the waitlist. After joining, the attendee sees their place, for example "You're #3 on the waitlist", and Leave waitlist. The message is the closed text (default: "This session no longer accepts registrations.").
Attendees can cancel a request or leave the waitlist even when Allow cancellations is off.
On schedule tiles, "RSVP required" shows under the time while the attendee has no seat. A check icon shows once they have one, and a clock icon while they wait for approval or on the waitlist.
When Show registered people is on, an Attending (N) list with profile pictures and See all. It lists attendees with a seat.
When the session is full without a waitlist, or Allow registrations via app is off, the button is disabled. The message reads "This session no longer accepts registrations." by default. Both can be hidden; see Schedule RSVP settings: overlapping RSVPs and status messages.
The mobile app and the web app show the same screens.
Limits
Networking slots can't use RSVP.
Capacity: minimum 1, never below the current number of confirmed registrations.
Require RSVP approval and Waitlist mode can't be on at the same time. Waitlist mode needs a capacity.
Deleting a registration can't be undone.
Attendees get no email. They get a push notification only when a request is approved or rejected, or when the waitlist gives them a seat or turns them away. Reserving a seat themselves or having it deleted by you sends nothing.
Because registering bookmarks the session, attendees with a registration get the session reminder push notification before the start, like other bookmarkers.
Troubleshooting
Attendees can't reserve a seat
Allow registrations via app is off, or the session is full. Check the RSVP (via app) and Confirmed registrants columns in the Timeslots table.
"Zero registrations left for the app. Either disable "Allow registrations via app" setting or reduce the minimum reserve for API registrations."
The reserve for integrations equals the capacity, so no seats are left for the app. Lower the reserve or turn off Allow registrations via app.
The Registrations tab is missing
The tab appears only after the session is saved with Enable registration (RSVP required) on. Select Update, then reopen the session.
Waitlist mode is grayed out
Require RSVP approval is on. The tooltip reads "Waitlist is not available for sessions that require RSVP approval". Turn off approval first.
Waitlist mode is missing
Limit the number of registrations is off. Turn it on and set a Capacity.
Allow registrations via app is off after you turned off approval
Brella is confirming or rejecting the pending requests. It switches back on when it is done, unless the session is then full.
"Attendance registration cannot be opened because the session is full"
You turned on Allow registrations via app while the seats open to the app are taken: the confirmed registrations have reached the capacity minus the reserve for integrations. Raise the Capacity, lower the reserve or remove registrations first.