Waitlists give learners the opportunity to join a live training event when the event is full. By joining a waitlist, learners will be on standby and if a seat becomes available, they will automatically be enrolled in the event. Skilljar admins can also capture and use data, such as even interest levels to plan future training and events. In this article, we’ll explain how the waitlist works, how to use the feature, and how learners can join them.
To learn more about how to create and manage live training sessions, see Managing Live Training Events.
Contents
What are waitlists?
A waitlist is an optional feature you can apply to your live training event, which allows learners to express interest in attending, even if there aren’t any seats available for it. If a seat becomes available, the next learner in line on the waitlist will receive an email notification and be automatically enrolled in the event.
Why should I use a waitlist?
There are a number of benefits to using waitlists with your events.
- Interested students don’t have to keep checking to see if a seat has opened up. They’ll automatically be enrolled and notified when one becomes available, providing an automated and seamless experience.
- Makes sure your live training events are as full as possible, thus maximizing your efforts and resources. This also prevents unnecessary empty seats from cancellations.
- Capture important data, such as event interest levels, plan future events accordingly, and see if additional training is needed.
Learner experience
When a learner tries to enroll in an event that is already full and the waitlist feature is enabled, they’ll see the “Join Waitlist” option. When they join the waitlist, they’ll receive a confirmation message in-app, as well as an email. Learners can also see their place in the waitlist whenever they visit the event page. 
How to enable waitlists
You can optionally enable the waitlist feature when you create a live event through your Skilljar dashboard. To learn more about how to create and manage live training sessions, see Managing Live Training Events.
To enable a waitlist for a new live event:
- Go to your Skilljar dashboard, expand the Course Management header and select Courses, or select Course Management from the home page.
- Select the course you want to add the live training event to.
- To learn how to create a course, see Create a Course.
- Select New lesson and then Live Training to open the creation options.
- Expand the + Content header to reveal more options.
- Under Events, select Enable Event Waitlist.
- Optional: In the Maximum Waitlist Seats box, enter the maximum number of learners allowed on the waitlist. This limits the number of learners that can join the waitlist queue and prevents it from growing to a size where learners are unlikely to get a seat.
- Select how many hours the waitlist will close ahead of the event in the Close Waitlist box. This is set at 24 hours by default and must be at least one hour before the event to give students enough notice.
- Add any additional details to the event.
- When you’re finished, select Save Lesson to create the event with the waitlist.
FAQ
Should I set a maximum for waitlist seats?
“Maximum Waitlists Seats” is an optional setting that will limit the number of learners that can join the waitlist queue. Setting a waitlist maximum makes sure the waitlist doesn’t grow to a size where learners are unlikely to get a seat. However, if you’d like to gauge the interest level for an event, you may not want to limit the number of waitlist seats available on it so that you can capture a full roster of interested learners.
Why must I set a “Close Waitlist” period?
Closing the waitlist will be important for learners so that they don’t get registered last minute for an event that they are not able to attend. This is set to a minimum of one hour before the event starts, but can change (such as 24 or 48 hours ahead of the scheduled event).
What happens if a spot doesn’t open up?
If a seat hasn’t opened up by your Waitlist Closed timeframe, an automated email will be sent to the learner notifying them that they didn’t get into the event and encouraging them to find another offering.
What happens if a spot opens up AFTER the waitlist is closed?
If a seat opens up after your Waitlist Closed timeframe, an automated email will be sent to all waitlisted learners to offer them this open seat on a first-come, first-serve basis. This will help you fill all available event seats.
Can I remove learners from the waitlist?
You can’t remove learners from a waitlist at this time. However, learners can remove themselves from the waitlist (or request that the organization sign in as the student to remove them from the waitlist on their behalf).
Can I move a learner from the waitlist to being enrolled?
Not at this time. You are welcome to increase the Total Seats for the event, which will automatically enroll the student(s) at the top of the event’s waitlist.
Where can learners join a waitlist?
Learners may join an event’s waitlist from the Lesson Detail page, Checkout page, and/or Curriculum page (if enabled).
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