Use this checklist before opening session bookings
A programme is easier to run when session choices, physical rooms and delegate instructions agree. Use this checklist in a planning meeting, then return to it before launch and again before the doors open. It applies whether you manage bookings in Confently or another system.
Programme and rooms
- Give every session a clear title and description that helps delegates judge whether it is relevant.
- Confirm the speaker names, room and start and end times with the programme team.
- Check that session dates and times use one event timezone.
- Confirm each room's usable capacity for the planned furniture and equipment layout.
- Distinguish bookable workshops from keynotes, breaks and other items for everyone.
- Review overlaps, including sessions that start or end at different times rather than sharing a neat hour-long slot.
- Allow realistic time to move between rooms. A technically non-overlapping programme can still be difficult to follow if the rooms are far apart.
Room capacity should come from your venue arrangements. Booking software can enforce a number you enter, but it cannot assess whether that number is appropriate for a room.
Access and delegate communications
- Decide whether anyone with the event link may book or whether booking is restricted to registered attendees.
- Collect delegates' own email addresses where an organisation or assistant buys tickets on their behalf.
- Explain which email address people should use to sign in.
- Send the booking link, any genuine deadline and a monitored contact address for questions.
- Explain that joining a waitlist does not confirm a seat.
- Include a simple instruction for cancelling a place that is no longer needed.
- Make sure delegates know where to find their personal schedule.
Test the instructions with someone who did not help configure the event. Ask them to choose a session and explain whether their place is confirmed. Their questions are often more useful than another review by the organisers.
Booking launch checks
- Open the agenda on a phone as well as a laptop.
- Check session descriptions, room names, dates and timezone displays.
- Verify a representative confirmed booking and a waitlist journey in a suitable test event.
- Check that programme items for everyone appear without a booking action.
- Review the event's plan or approved community access before publishing.
- Confirm that co-organisers can reach the tools they will use.
If you use a live event for testing, clearly identify the test records and remove them when finished. Do not casually fill real sessions or send unnecessary booking notifications to delegates.
Changes before and during the event
- Name the person responsible for approving room and time changes.
- Review affected delegates and clashes before moving a booked session.
- Check whether a capacity reduction would leave more confirmed bookings than seats.
- Tell the room team how to handle last-minute changes and unexpected arrivals.
- Remind delegates to refresh or re-save their schedules after changes.
In Confently, moving a session keeps its bookings. The preview helps you assess new clashes; it does not automatically choose which of a delegate's existing places to cancel.
Door team and connectivity
- Test the check-in device, camera permission and network connection in the venue.
- Prepare printable room sheets and explain when they were produced.
- Confirm that the team checks the booking for the relevant session, rather than treating an event pass as access to every room.
- Explain the offline schedule option to delegates who want a saved reference on their phones.
- Agree how the team will record or resolve problems if its connection fails.
A delegate's saved QR pass can be displayed offline. Checking the current booking and submitting attendance in Confently require an organiser connection.
After the event
- Compare booked places with recorded attendance.
- Read feedback alongside the booking and attendance figures.
- Record which sessions had unmet demand and which rooms were difficult to find.
- Update the programme notes before cloning or rebuilding the next event.
Read how to manage conference session bookings for the full process, or start setting up an event with Confently.