One of the biggest questions we get asked at SimpleTix is: How do I create a seating chart?

I know it’s exciting to get started on your first event’s ticket sales.  But, before you start the process of creating a seating chart here are a view tips to make the process easier. Please see our knowledge base articles for specific details about creating your interactive seating chart.

https://simpletix.zendesk.com/forums/21757926-Create-Venues-for-Ticketing-by-Seat-Events

Start by Getting Organized –

1. For Large venues, analyze and have a plan for dividing up your seating chart – A common mistake we get is when a client divides their chart up by price. Although the world won’t end if you do it. The overall chart may not have a nice, even, cohesive look, or sections divided up by price may make a chart difficult to map.  If price is an issue, setting default prices per row is your best option when you up load seating data.  If necessary, after you have created an event in the administrative panel you can set pricing per seat.

2.  Have your images ready – For large venues this is super important. Create one large image that represents your whole venue. It must be at least 1000px wide. Have your smaller section images divided up evenly with no more than 200 seats per section. The seating section images should be at least 600-800px wide.

Not actual sizes just examples.

3. Have your seat data on spreadsheets – If the seats are in numerical order, using the bulk upload option may be the best way to add seating chart data.  You can do the bulk upload once and copy to rest of the rows in a section. If you have a seating chart using odd/ even numbers you may have to create a spreadsheet for the seating data in csv format.  When you create the csv sections in your spreadsheet, make sure you have one row per csv file and not in tabs. Label your spreadsheet with section name and row name. This will make it easier to identify when it is time to upload.

4. Verify that your section images match your seating data – It is important that these things match, as you could end up spending time deleting extra seats or adding seats that you forgot.

Create Your Venue – After all that prep now you are ready to work in SimpleTix.

• 1. Create your venue and add details
• 2. Upload seating data
• 3. Upload seating images
• 4. Select the correct style of seating chart for your event

Map Your Seating Chart – Start mapping your chart and assigning seats.

• 1. Use the clone tool to map seats faster. Create a single or multiple hot spots, use the selector to highlight the seats you want to clone. Press ctrl+c and move your hot spots to the correct location on the chart.

Create a Test Event – Create a test event to verify the integrity of your chart. If there are any discrepancies, missing sections, seats or hot spots here is your chance to make corrections before using on a live event.

For more information about creating seating charts please email us at support {at} simpletix.com