Seating is the networking plan
At a corporate event, the seating chart quietly does the org-development work. Left unassigned, people sit exactly where they always sit: sales with sales, engineering with engineering, the new hires marooned by the door. Assigned tables are how you manufacture the cross-team conversations the event was budgeted for. The preset above — rounds of six facing a speakers' table — is the standard kickoff shape; every chair can see the screen, and no table is big enough for a side meeting.
The five-minute method: paste the attendee list (CSV export from your RSVP form works — first column is read as the name), auto-seat everyone, then curate. Give each table one senior host. Cap any single department at half a table. Put the account team at the client's table at customer dinners, and seat the executive sponsor where the walk to the podium is short. Rename tables in the side panel to match your theme — city names, product lines, values — because "Table 7" is a missed branding rep.
Choosing a room shape
- Cabaret rounds (loaded above): presentations plus discussion — kickoffs, trainings, all-hands dinners. Keep 5–6 per round so nobody faces away from the stage.
- Full rounds of 8–10: holiday parties and award dinners where the program is short and conversation is the point. See the banquet layout guide for spacing math.
- Long boardroom rows: build with banquet tables end-to-end for working sessions and exec offsites under 25 people; everyone shares one conversation.
- Theater rows: rows of chairs (no tables) for product launches and town halls where nobody needs a writing surface — then rounds in a second room for dinner.
Logistics the venue will ask about
Send the PDF export with your BEO (banquet event order): it shows table positions, per-table seat counts, and your table names, which is precisely what the banquet captain sets the floor from. Keep 54–60 inches between table edges for service, keep a straight aisle from the doors to the buffet or bar, and leave the two tables nearest the AV rack unassigned until you know where the camera tripod lands. When the RSVP count moves the day before — it will — open the autosaved chart, delete or add a table, re-run auto-seat for the stragglers, and re-send one clean page.
Running the company awards banquet or a team celebration? The banquet seating maker handles head tables and sponsor placement; the template gallery has every starting layout.