Designing Seat Maps
A seat map in Hi.Events is a reusable plan of your venue: rows of seats, tables, standing areas and the stage. You design it once for your organizer, then attach it to any event that sells reserved seats.
Reserved seating is in early access. Email [email protected] and we'll turn it on for you.
How to Get There
- Go to your organizer dashboard
- Click Seat Maps in the left sidebar (under Library)
- Click Create seat map
Starting a Map
Give the map a Name (for example “Main auditorium”), then choose how to start:
| Option | What you get |
|---|---|
| Start from scratch | An empty plan |
| Theatre | Curved rows and a balcony |
| Banquet | Round tables for dinners |
| Club | Standing floor and mezzanine |
| Conference | Straight rows, central aisle |
| Thrust | Seats on three sides |
Click Create and start designing. Everything in a template can be changed in the designer.
The Designer
The toolbar on the left holds the drawing tools. The panel on the right shows the settings for whatever you have selected.
| Tool | How to use it |
|---|---|
| Select and move | Click an item to select it, drag to move it |
| Edit individual seats | Click seats or drag a box around them to change their band, mark them accessible or remove them |
| Pan | Drag to move around the plan (or hold Space) |
| Draw rows of seats | Press where the first seat goes and drag: sideways for more seats, down for more rows |
| Place tables | Click to place a table, then set its chairs and shape |
| Draw a standing zone | Click to add corners; click the first corner or press Enter to finish |
| Draw a stage or other object | Drag to draw a stage, then change it to a bar, dance floor, entrance, pillar or wall |
| Add a text label | Click to place a label and type its text |
Undo and redo, zoom and Fit to screen are in the top bar, along with a running seat count. Keyboard shortcuts work too: Ctrl/Cmd+Z to undo (add Shift to redo), Ctrl/Cmd+D to duplicate, Delete to remove, and the arrow keys to nudge (hold Shift for bigger steps).
Click Save when you’re done. Changes aren’t saved until you do, and you’re warned if you try to leave with unsaved changes.
Rows and Sections
Select a block of rows to change its Rows, Seats per row, Row spacing, Seat spacing, Curve, Rotation and Extra seats per row (for rows that get wider towards the back). Aisles after seats splits every row at the seat numbers you list.
Row labels can be letters, letters skipping I and O, or numbers. Seat numbering can be consecutive, odd and even from the centre, odd or even numbers only, or continuous across rows, counted from the left or the right.
Tables and Standing Zones
Tables can be round or rectangular, with 2 to 40 chairs. A standing zone is a shape you draw with a Capacity (up to 10,000): buyers choose how many places they want in it rather than a seat.
Individual Seats
With Edit individual seats, select one or more seats to:
- Move them to another Band
- Mark them as a Wheelchair space or Companion seat under Accessibility
- Add a Note shown to buyers, such as “Restricted view”
- Remove from map, for a pillar or a sound desk (you can restore removed seats later)
Price Bands
Bands group seats that share a price, such as Premium, Stalls and Balcony. Add them under Price bands in the right-hand panel. New rows and tables use the highlighted band. To delete a band, move its seats to another band first.
A map can have up to 20 bands. You link tickets to each band when you attach the map to an event, so the band itself doesn’t carry a price. See Selling Reserved Seats.
Areas
Use areas for separate parts of the venue, like stalls and balcony. Each area is its own tab above the plan. Best available seats are chosen nearest the stage in each area.
Limits
| Maximum | |
|---|---|
| Seats on one map | 3,000 |
| Price bands | 20 |
| Areas | 20 |
Tips
- Name bands after what buyers see (“Front stalls”, “Balcony”) rather than prices, which can change per event
- Mark wheelchair spaces and companion seats in the designer, not after tickets go on sale
- If a seat has a poor view, add a note instead of removing it, so buyers can still choose it knowingly
- Deleting a seat map doesn’t affect events that already use it: each event keeps its own copy
- Editing a seat map doesn’t change events that already use it either. Each event can pull your changes in when you’re ready (see Selling Reserved Seats)
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