Launch an event: organizer checklist

Use this checklist before sharing an event and when you are ready to start admissions. It assumes you are signed in to your organization's QueueKat site with the Owner or Admin role. For role and account details, see Organizer getting started.

1. Check the team and organization details

• In Admin → Team, invite each person who needs access and choose Owner, Admin or Staff. Keep at least one Owner. Staff can operate events but cannot edit setup, manage the team or view metrics.
• In Settings → General, check the organization name, support email and default event timezone. Changing the default timezone affects new events, not existing ones.
• In Settings → Look and feel, review the organization's logo and theme. In Settings → Front page, review the public introduction and whether published events are listed. Email appearance controls the common email header, sign-off and footer note. Preview changes before saving.
• Your organization's QueueKat site address is displayed in settings but cannot be changed by an organizer.

2. Create the draft

From Admin → Events, select New event and enter:

• Name and Where it is.
• Timezone for this event. It starts with the organization default, but you can choose another timezone.
• Doors open and Doors close, entered as local times in the selected timezone.

Select Create. The event opens in Setup as a draft. For example, a fictional community workshop could use the name “Sample Repair Workshop” and its actual local venue and door times.

3. Prepare what attendees will see

In Setup, review Name, Where it is, Heading on the event page, Introduction on the event page, Additional information for attendees and the optional Event image. Keep practical arrival instructions clear. The event image is separate from the organization's logo and front-page branding.

Use Preview attendee page on the draft Overview. This is a read-only preview: it does not create a booking, pass or test notification.

4. Set arrival times and places

In Setup → Arrival windows and capacity:

1. Choose whether to split the event by the Length of each arrival time or by the Number of them.
2. Choose whether the places value is a Total across all windows or a number Per arrival time.
3. Select Set arrival times, then review each window and its places.

Generator settings save automatically, but only Set arrival times replaces the windows. Generating again replaces all existing windows and customized capacities. Changing a draft's timezone or door times also regenerates existing windows from the saved generator settings, replacing customized capacities.

Choose whether to Enable waitlist and whether to set a Limit (people). The waitlist is for when no arrival window has places available. Attendees can join it only while intake is open. Once the event is published, arrival-window start and end times cannot be changed. Capacity reductions are only available in a draft; increasing capacity for a published event requires first pausing bookings.

5. Review summons and notifications

In Setup, check Summons settings. Choose how early booked attendees may be summoned using Summon booked attendees early (minutes). Review Time to reach the line after being summoned (minutes) and how long someone has to accept a waitlist offer. A summons gives a booked attendee a pass and a limited time to reach the line. Planning values such as space capacity and expected stay are estimates, not a live count of people inside or a promised wait.

In Notifications, preview the automatic wording for each purpose and channel. Optional notifications can be turned on or off. Changes affect new notifications after saving; they do not rewrite notifications already created. A preview is not proof that a message can be delivered.

If you need a one-time update, use Send message instead. Choose attendee statuses and, if needed, an arrival time; review the audience and sample; then select Send to ~N people. The final send selects people matching the filters at that moment, so the reviewed count may change. Delivery is not confirmed by queueing.

6. Publish and share

Before publishing, confirm the event details, timezone, door times, attendee information, arrival windows and places. Publishing is consequential:

• It makes the event available for bookings.
• It locks the event timezone and door times, and the start and end times of arrival windows.
• It does not summon any attendees or start event admissions.

Select Publish when you are ready to accept bookings. On the event Overview, use Share link to copy or open the event page, or download its QR code. Publishing does not guarantee the event is listed on the QueueKat site front page; that depends on the List my published events setting.

7. Start admissions deliberately

When staff are ready, use Summon first group on Overview. After that first release, the heading becomes Summon more people. Review:

• Who to summon: Ready bookings, then waitlist summons eligible booked attendees and may offer remaining places to people on the waitlist. Next booked arrival time only summons bookings for the earliest arrival time with bookings not yet summoned and does not make waitlist offers. Choose how many people to summon; a party is kept together rather than split.

Select Summon first group to commit the release. For a booked attendee, the release sends a summons and creates a pass that works immediately, even before the scheduled door time. A waitlist offer must be accepted and its delivery is not guaranteed. Publishing or the scheduled door time does not start admissions; automatic summons begin only after the first committed staff release summons someone or issues a waitlist offer, unless automatic summons have been paused with Pause automatic summons.

8. Control intake without ending the event

At Event controls → Bookings, use Pause bookings to stop new bookings and waitlist joins. Existing bookings remain; staff can still summon attendees. Automatic summons continue unless paused separately. If you need to change waitlist settings on a published event, pause bookings first; resume bookings when the settings are ready.

Automatic summons have a separate control. Pause automatic summons leaves manual summons available; Resume automatic summons turns automatic summons back on. Neither control is the same as closing intake.

9. Close, archive or restore

These controls have different consequences. Review the affected people shown by the confirmation before committing a permanent closure.

Use Close event when nobody else should be admitted. Use Archive event when the event should be hidden and all attendee-facing operations stopped. Restoring an archived event does not reverse any earlier permanent closure.