How to Create a Reservation Queue in Slack

Replace awkward polling logic with MegaVote's Reservation Queue feature. It helps your team organize first-come, first-served events and limited-seat invitations.

This post explains how to organize Reservation Queue events for your team. Before continuing, install MegaVote in your Slack workspace and become familiar with polling and voting in Slack. If you need an introduction, start with How to Create a Poll in Slack. Now, let's get started!

Scenario 1: Organize a Reservation Event in Slack

Mistake 1: Using a Traditional Poll for a Reservation Event

The instinctive approach is to create a traditional poll with the command below:

/megavote "🍔🥤 Friday Lunch 🥤🍔: Will you be joining us? 🤔💭💭 Please register now! 💻📝👇" "Heck yes! 🙌🎉" "Nope sorry! 😴"

The poll has 2 options:

1. Heck yes! 🙌🎉
2. Nope sorry! 😴

Notice that no one chooses option #2, NO. People who cannot or do not want to join often remain politely silent. Instead of offering only two options, let's use a more effective approach.

Fix 1: Organize Events with Reservation Queues

@MegaVote lets you solve the same problem with a Reservation Queue. Enter the following command in the message box:

/queue 🍔🥤 Friday Lunch 🥤🍔: Will you be joining us? 🤔💭💭 Please register now! 💻📝👇

The queue creation form will appear. Select Unlimited Queue | No Waiting so anyone interested can register. That's it!

When the Reservation Queue is first posted to the channel, it will look like the screenshot below:

• Register and Unregister buttons that let people respond to the invitation
• The Queue Length is Unlimited
• No Waitlist

Team members can select Register to join or Unregister to leave the queue later. After registration closes, you can review the results shown below.

See how easy it is to organize a reservation queue with @MegaVote. Instead of relying on an awkward poll or survey, use this native Slack app to manage recurring team events. Your team will appreciate the clear, convenient experience.

Scenario 2: Organize a Limited-Seat Event in Slack

Mistake 2: Using a Traditional Poll for a Limited-Seat Event

As in the previous scenario, people often use a traditional poll for a limited-seat event:

/megavote "🏃‍♀️🏃 Hurry up to take the last 2 remaining `FREE` 😋💸 movie tickets 🎪, first come, first served 🎉🙌❤️" "Let me in 🙌🎉" "Nah 😴"

The poll has 2 options:

1. Let me in 🙌🎉
2. Nah 😴

This poll has two problems:

• No one chose NO. Most people, if they cannot or do not want to register, politely remain quiet.
• We only offered 2 tickets, but there are 4 people registered. What if the number of offers is larger, such as 30 to 100? Can we tell from the screen who is eligible for registration based on who arrived first?

Let's use a more effective solution. Instead of offering two options when one is usually ignored, we can track registration order and separate people by criteria such as availability or priority.

Fix 2: Organize Events with a Limited-Seat Queue

@MegaVote lets you handle this scenario with a Limited-Seat Queue. Enter the following command in the message box:

/queue 🏃‍♀️🏃 Hurry up to take the last 2 remaining `FREE` 😋💸 movie tickets 🎪, first come, first served 🎉🙌❤️

The queue creation form will appear. Choose:

• Limited Queue | Unlimited Waiting for Queue Length
• 2 for Max users in Queue

This setup offers two tickets to the earliest registrants and places later registrants on the waitlist. If someone in the queue selects Unregister, the earliest member of the waitlist moves into the queue.

When the Limited-Seat Queue is first posted to the channel, it will look like the screenshot below:

• Register and Unregister buttons that let people respond to the invitation
• The Queue Length is limited to 2
• Waitlist is Unlimited

Team members can select Register to join. Anyone who changes their mind can select Unregister to leave the queue. When registration is complete, close it to view the results shown below.

The results make manual on-screen counting unnecessary:

• The first two people in the queue receive the offered tickets.
• The next two people remain on the waitlist.

@MegaVote provides a native Slack experience for organizing events like these. Teams throughout your workspace can use it for recurring events and enjoy a clear, convenient registration process.

BONUS: The clip below walks you through the complete scenario.

Conclusion

This guide covered the @MegaVote Reservation Queue feature in Slack, which replaces awkward polling logic for queue scenarios. If you haven't already, install @MegaVote in your Slack workspace.

You can also find more posts on our blog to help you engage your team with @MegaVote.

Thanks for reading!