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Configure Sessions for events

Sessions make it easy to set up and manage events in Waitwhile.

Jakob Larsson Stern avatar
Written by Jakob Larsson Stern
Updated today

Use this guide to set up an event with one or multiple sessions that guests can select in a single registration. You will add a Session service, define each session occurrence with capacity and resources, and prepare check‑in and communications.

Before you start, here are a few things that might be helpful to keep in mind:

  • Define your event agenda with titles, times, and capacities

  • Identify resources needed per session such as rooms or hosts

  • Decide if guests may book overlapping sessions

Let's dive into it!

Setting up your event

Step 1: Create a Session service for the event

When creating events, we suggest you set up a new location to host the event.

In the new location, go to Location settings → Services → Create service to start setting up your service.

  1. Under “Service type”, select Session

  2. Name the service clearly, for example “Keynote Session”

  3. Select an already existing category or create a new one so guests can find it easily

  4. Update the service duration

Step 2: Configure the Session details

  1. Under the section called “Sessions”, click + Add session to add a new one

  2. Set start date and start time for the session

  3. If this is a one-off event, leave the “Repeats” checkbox open

  4. Set the number of spots that should be the capacity of the session

  5. Select any resources needed to provide the session, e.g. rooms or hosts

  6. Click Save to create the session and then click Save again to create the service

The session service will appear in your list of services, distinguished by a small calendar icon.

Additional configuration options

Decide whether to allow, disallow, or warn on overlapping session selections and configure this in Service options. Choose what happens if guests try to book multiple sessions that overlap in time:

  • Allow: Guests can book conflicting sessions

  • Disallow: Guests can only book one at a time

  • Warn: Guests see a warning but can still proceed

If you want to allow party size bookings in sessions, make sure the following settings are turned on:

For any additional configurations — including lead time, cutoff rules, and much more — see Location settings > Bookings.

Customize and test the registration flow

You can customize the registration flow as you usually would. You can read all about it in our articles on the Customer journey.

To test the registration flow to make sure it works as intended, just follow these steps:

  1. Access the link from the sidebar

  2. Open your booking link for the event service and select one or multiple sessions from the schedule

  3. Complete registration to receive a single confirmation

  4. The status page will include all sessions that the customer has signed up for

Managing your events as a staff member

We recommend using the Calendar when managing guests or customers attending an event. Here’s how to add new attendees or manage current ones:

  1. In Calendar, find the session you’re looking for and click on it to review the roster

  2. To add a customer, simply click Add customer and add any requested information (Session specific details will be automatically added)

  3. To manage signed-up attendees, you have access to a number of actions:

    1. Serve: Move the customer to the Serving state (recommended if you want to record the serve time)

    2. Complete: Move the customer straight to the Completed state

    3. Alert: Send the “Booking alert” message

    4. Arrived: Add the “Arrived” tag to the customer

    5. Message: Send a custom message or a saved reply

    6. No-show: Mark the customer as a no-show

    7. Delete: Delete the visit from the event (including all analytics)

  4. To perform these actions on multiple visits at once, simply select multiple or all attendees and click on Actions to open a list of these actions

Canceling or updating an event occurrence

To cancel an event, simply follow these steps:

  1. Locate the session in the Calendar and click on it

  2. In the sidebar that opens, click on the menu and then Cancel session

  3. When canceling a session, you’ll see a confirmation window that lets you send a cancellation message to the attendees. The message will be sent via SMS, or via email if there is no phone number available.

  4. Click Cancel session to confirm

Note: Canceling a session only cancels that specific session occurrence. If there are other (or recurring) sessions connected to that same session service, those will remain.

To make any other changes to your session service or schedules, go back to Location settings > Services and select the service you want to edit. If you make updates to your session schedules, please be mindful of the following:

If you change start time or update an attached resource to an unavailable one, all current bookings will be cancelled and attendees will be notified. All other changes will not impact bookings for the current session.

Reporting

Track per‑session metrics such as bookings, check‑ins, no‑shows, and utilization from Analytics. It lets you compare sessions by attendance to inform future agendas, and much more.

Troubleshooting

  • I don’t see Sessions as an option when creating a service

    • Contact support or your account team to enable the feature

  • Staff cannot add a guest to multiple sessions at once

    • This is expected. Staff add one session at a time. Guests can register for multiple sessions in one flow

  • A session is double‑booked with another service

    • Ensure the session has the correct resources assigned so calendars block properly

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