Author: Donal Martin

Donal Martin, head of products at Visrez explains how the new guest list import tool allows clients to manage on the day seating plans in our Floor Plan Builder software and how this benefits our users worldwide.

Importing guest lists to event plans allows your team to confirm on the day event seating arrangements in your Visrez event plans. This update transforms your plans from great sales tools to even more effective event planning tools as your team can share detailed seating plans using Visrez models. Guest Lists can be added by either uploading a CSV file or by entering guests manually on a table-per-table basis. Importing a CSV file is a lot faster than entering the names one by one so we recommend this option.

How it works: A new guest list icon is in the main left menu at the bottom.

This tool is only activated when tables have been saved to your event plan.

Once tables have been saved, then you can click the ‘Guests’ option in the left menu to open a new sidebar. This now includes the simplified table numbering tool which used to be found under the Edit Tools but has been moved to the Guests Tab).

Numbering Tables

The first step is to drawn on table numbers and save them in your plan. This can be done by either clicking on the tables one at a time or by clicking the left mouse button and drawing a path over the tables. Numbers must be saved before you can upload your list so once you are happy with the order click Save in the sidebar.

Importing from CSV

The easiest way to populate a guest list is to import from a CSV file. After tables numbers have been saved you can then import a CSV file by dragging it from your computer or by clicking within the import area.

Once selected click import to upload the list.

Please Note: CSV files should be formatted as follows

Adding or Editing Guests without Import

Guests can also be added on a per-table basis. This is done by selecting the table to add guests to and selecting the guests’ tool in the left side menu. Using the Add tool you can then manually enter guest names, table names for each table in your plan.

Viewing Guests

Once guests have been imported, all names in the plan are listed under the View tab.

Exporting Guest Lists

Guest lists can be exported on their own using the Export tab where it can be exported as a PDF.

The guest list can also be included with the PDF export under the sharing options in the builder.

Also included in this release, clients and team members can now approve event plans both on the shared links and in team accounts. Once a plan has been approved it is marked in the account and all team are notified This is really useful to ensure that clients approve their plans and any last minute changes after approval may be subject to additional costs.

While approving client can add notes which are saved under the Plan Settings. 

Plans Panel inside the Builder now allows users to search by Approved or Not Approved Plans.

Our team has added the Semi-Circle Layout Option in the Build tools which is something we have been meaning to do for a while. Now you can easily create semi-circle layouts without having to create a full circle and delete half !

Users will be delighted with the news that you can now collaborate with other team members on your event plans. You can now invite other team members to work on the same plan within your account. Users can still copy another users event plan but if you need to work with a colleague on the same event, multiple users can now access the same plan across their respective accounts. To do this click on Share > Team Sharing and add the users in the right sidebar to invite them to collaborate on the any event plan. When a plan is shared amongst team members you will see a new icon on the /plans page to indicate that this plan is shared with other members in your team.

In the next months release will be allowing outside partners to collaborate on event plans by enabling users to give restricted access to third parties. These accounts will be allowed to collaborate only on the plans which they have been shared and will have not have visibility over any other sections of your team’s account such as the Visrez library or client collections.

New Grouping Tool

A new Group / Ungroup tool has been added to allow users to combine objects together into a group when creating plans. This useful tool will speed up the process of creating complex by helping you to organize multiple objects into groups using the ‘G’ shortcut key. When objects are grouped you now see a yellow border around the objects. To ungroup just click the icon or use the G shortcut key to ungroup them.  A simple and highly effective addition to the Builder.

New Chat Support

Chat support is now integrated directly into the builder so if you are having problems or have a question you can now connect directly with a team member or find the right guide to help you.

This month we are introducing a feature to allows users to upload a client logo onto the screens inside a 3D event plan. This was a commonly asked question from our users and we are really excited to now have this functionality in the Floor Plan Builder. Customizing event diagrams with client branding is a superb way to engage with planners during the prospecting stage. Sharing a 3D event plan featuring the client’s logo on the screens will make your venue stand head and shoulders above your competition.

Your team is pitching for an important event and you want to demonstrate to the client that no detail is too small. Featuring the client’s logo in the screen within the 3D event plans will guarantee a great first impression is made. As anyone in the events business knows, small details are key and how better to demonstrates your team’s attention to detail by displaying the client logo in the proposal plan.

G2 Crowd Recognizes Floor Plan Builder as a High Performer

Each quarter the G2 Crowd evaluates software providers based on market presence and customer satisfaction to recognize high performers in each vertical. We are delighted to announce that Floor Plan Builder has been ranked as a High Performer by G2 Crowd in its’ Spring 2021 report. As we only started collecting reviews in January 2021 it is amazing to have received an accolade in our first quarter. Floor plan Builder has scored a 9.3 / 10 for Ease of Use and an 9.9 out of 10 for Quality of Support from our users.

Creating socially distanced event plans is the first step to getting clients back into hosting in-person meetings and events at your venue. Setting the distance between objects in an event plan is easier with the new update of the Floor Plan Builder spacing tool. This now allows users to automatically space a group of objects by setting the exact distance (in Meters, CM, Feet or Inches) in the new spacing sidebar. This will greatly speed up the process of creating socially distanced event plans allowing you to demonstrate that social distancing protocols are observed at their event.

How it works: 

Select the objects you want to space

Click on the Spacing icon in the left side menu

Select a Direction and input a distance in m/ cm / ft / f / in

Hit Apply Spacing

Measurement markings no longer need to be deleted one by one and can be removed with one click in the Measurements Tab of the Spacing Side Bar. Deleting measurement markings one by one was a source of frustration for users and now you can remove all markings at once. With the situation improving around the World the industry is finally starting to see more demand for events. The feedback from clients is the Floor Plan Builder is a great asset for their sales teams, helping clients to visualize and plan future events.

We are always looking for new ways to improve the experience our clients have with our products. We are currently working on a new set of tools within the floorplan builder which will substantially reduce the time it takes to create a new event plan. The new layout creator will allow a user to create a base layout at the point when a new layout is created.

New Layout

When creating a new layout there is a new option to select a template style to get started.

 

Selecting Objects

After a style is selected the user will then be prompted to select an object from the library which is related to that style chosen.

After selecting the desired object the user is presented with a simple set of options to create a base layout template.

• Enter the capacity
• Select the layout arrangement in length and width
• Choose from the arrangement style
• Select the distance between objects, standard, social distancing, or choose a custom distance using the slider.

Inserting the Layout

After clicking create just click on in the space to place the generated layout.

Example.

In this example, I create a theatre-style layout using suitable for post-covid-19 social distancing recommendations in less than a minute.

 

No more clicking around to find the diagram you need. Now you can view all plans created by the entire team on the new Builder page.

 

Just click on the plan you want to edit and load it directly from the main builder page.

 

New Spacing Tools

New spacing features have been added to the main menu. Simply highlight the objects and use the + & – options to increase or decrease the object spacing

Autosave Diagrams

Autosave is now live and will save & recover changes to your diagrams in the background as you create plans.

New Hot Keys

New Keyboard Shortcuts have activated to speed up the diagramming process

• Double Click to select
• Delete Key to delete
• CTRL + A to select all
• CTRL + C to copy
• CTRL + V to paste
• CTRL + Z to undo
• CTRL + S to save
• CTRL + X to remove
• Arrow Keys to move selected items
• A to Open Add New Menu
• S to select Object
• M to move
• D to duplicate
• R to rotate
• H to replace