Gala and awards dinner seating plans that keep up on the night

Staggered rounds for sightlines

Enter the room in metres or feet, pick round, rectangular or square tables and how many you need (up to 80, with up to 20 chairs each). BES lays the tables out in rows to fit the room. Switch to staggered rows so the front row sits in the gaps, then use the Spacing slider to go from tables together to evenly spread, and the Room to stand slider to keep walkways behind the chairs.

Staggered rows help guests at the back see the stage between the tables in front.

One plan for the screens and the phones

Turn on sharing to get a guest link with a QR code and an optional password, plus a display link for screens in the room. Both read from the same plan. Change a seat on a laptop or tablet and the screens and guest search catch up within about 15 seconds, with nothing to re-export or reprint.

Foyer and reception screens

Display mode shows the plan on foyer or reception screens, either side by side or cycling between a plan page and a names page, with timings you set. It refreshes by itself about every 15 seconds.

Sponsors, speakers and VIPs

Every chair gets a letter, such as 7C, and can show who sits on either side, so you can check who's next to whom before the night. Private chair notes hold things like access needs or a speaker who has to leave early, and guests never see them.

How the live plan works

Every BES table plan is saved in your account, not in one browser. You set the room in metres or feet, add round, rectangular or square tables, and the maker lays them out in straight or staggered rows. Two sliders control the spacing between tables and the room to stand behind each chair, and you can drag any table by hand, with Snap and Tidy to keep the rows neat.

Names go onto lettered chairs: type them, paste a list and press Fill empty seats (names fill empty chairs in table-number order), or upload a CSV. When you turn on sharing you get two links, protected by an optional password: a guest link with name search and a QR code, and a display link for room screens. Both check for changes about every 15 seconds while they're open, so an edit made on a laptop or tablet reaches the screens and guests' phones without re-exporting or reprinting anything.