How placement works

How PickAndRank decides who goes where

Let everyone pick, and stop sorting people by hand. When the event closes, PickAndRank places everyone fairly, as close to their top choices as the seats allow. Here's how, in plain words.

A mixed group at a pottery table, one showing her ranked choices on a phone.
On this page
  1. When you submit doesn't matter
  2. Everyone is considered together
  3. The goal: as little disappointment as possible
  4. Who gets the last seat?
  5. What if everyone ranks the same way?
  6. Rounds: when to use them, and how they work
  7. Several rounds: nobody misses out again and again
  8. Settings you can choose
  9. Your rules always come first
  10. "Proven best" and "Very close to best"
  11. Everyone can see why
  12. Changes after results go out
  13. What PickAndRank never does

1. When you submit doesn't matter

Nothing is decided while the event is open. Ranking on day one or one minute before the deadline gives you exactly the same chance. There's no first come, first served. The one exception is joining: once an event reaches its plan's people limit, nobody else can join until the organizer raises it.

2. Everyone is considered together

A sign-up sheet fills seats one person at a time, so early people take the best spots. PickAndRank looks at everyone's rankings at the same time and searches for the arrangement that works best for the whole group.

3. The goal: as little disappointment as possible

Every placement is scored. Getting your 1st choice scores nothing. Your 2nd choice adds a little, your 3rd a bit more, and each step further down your list adds more than the last. PickAndRank finds the arrangement with the lowest total score for the group. That's how the default setting, Balanced, works; the other settings below change how steps are scored.

Because the score grows faster the further down your list you go, it avoids pushing anyone far down their list if there's a better way.

4. Who gets the last seat?

When two people want the same last seat, it usually goes to the person who'd be pushed further down their list without it, because that keeps the group's total score lowest.

Example: Ana and Ben both ranked Pottery first, and one seat is left. If Ana misses out, she gets Painting, her 2nd choice. If Ben misses out, his next two choices are full, so he'd get his 4th. Ben gets Pottery; Ana gets Painting.

Real groups. Limited seats. Everyone ranked.

A busy workshop with three stations: people at a pottery table, at an easel and at a woodworking bench, while two others walk through holding their tickets.

5. What if everyone ranks the same way?

Then the seats decide how many people land in each option, and a fair random draw decides who. The draw uses a secure random number created for your event. The organizer can't see it or change it, and it never changes, so placing everyone again with the same rankings and seats gives the same result. Nobody can keep re-running it until a friend gets the seat. Organizers can still move people by hand, and every move is recorded.

For the technically curious

When an event is created, it gets a 32-byte random seed from a cryptographic random number generator. The seed stays on our servers, never appears in the app, exports or logs, and never changes, even when you edit the event or run it again. Each person's place in the draw is HMAC-SHA256 of that seed and a private ID we create for them, so names and sign-up order can't affect it. Each run is logged with a SHA-256 fingerprint of its inputs, which is how PickAndRank can confirm "Same inputs, same result". The fingerprint also records which version of our placement method ran, so if we improve it, your results page says so before you place everyone again.

6. Rounds: when to use them, and how they work

A round is one time slot, like a morning session, a day of camp or a school term. Use rounds when everyone does more than one thing in the same event:

  • Sessions in a day: morning, afternoon, evening
  • Days of a camp: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3
  • Electives by term: Term 1, Term 2
  • Conference slots: breakout 1, breakout 2

Use one round when each person gets just one place. If people would rank the choices differently at different times, make separate events instead.

How they work

  • Everyone ranks once. The same list covers every round, so nobody fills in a form for each one.
  • Everyone gets a place in each round, as long as there are seats they can take. Never the same option twice.
  • Each option has its own seats in each round. Leave a round empty if the option doesn't run then.
  • Top picks go wherever there's room. Your 1st choice might be in the afternoon and your 2nd in the morning.
  • Ask for at least as many picks as there are rounds, and a spare or two. If someone's list runs out, they may get an open option they didn't rank, and their result says why.

7. Several rounds: nobody misses out again and again

With more than one round, PickAndRank plans all the rounds together, not one at a time. When seats run short, it then spreads the empty slots out as evenly as it can without making the overall result worse, so the same people don't miss out round after round while others get a place in every round. And nobody is placed in the same option twice.

8. Settings you can choose

  • Balanced (default): a good spot for everyone, avoiding very low choices.
  • Fairness first: works hardest to keep anyone from landing far down their list, even if fewer people get their 1st choice.
  • Most first choices: gives as many people as possible their top pick, even if a few land lower, without putting anyone in an option they didn't rank to do it.
  • Priority: mark some people High or Highest, for example final-year students or people who missed out last time. They count for more when seats are tight. It makes a better choice more likely for them, but it doesn't guarantee one.
  • AnPainting2nd
  • BePainting1st
  • CyPottery4th
  • DiPottery2nd
  • EdDrawing1st
  • Fa★Woodwork1st

3 first choices, with one person landing 4th.

  • AnPainting2nd
  • BePottery3rd
  • CyPainting3rd
  • DiPottery2nd
  • EdDrawing1st
  • FaWoodwork1st

Nobody lands 4th, and fewer people get their 1st choice.

  • AnDrawing1st
  • BePainting1st
  • CyPottery4th
  • DiPainting1st
  • EdPottery4th
  • FaWoodwork1st

4 first choices, and two people land 4th.

9. Your rules always come first

Some things are never broken:

  • No option goes over its seat limit, unless you move someone yourself and confirm it.

  • Nobody is placed in an option they're not eligible for, unless you move them yourself and confirm it.

  • Options only run in the rounds you set.

  • If an option has a minimum and doesn't reach it, it's cancelled for that round and those people are placed elsewhere. They're told why.

  • If you place everyone again, you choose whether to keep your moves. Moves that still break no rule are kept; any that would now go over a seat limit, or break a minimum or who's eligible, are dropped, and we'll tell you how many.

10. "Proven best" and "Very close to best"

For most events, PickAndRank can prove no better arrangement exists, and your results say "Proven best". For some very complex events (many rounds, uneven seats, lots of minimums), checking every possibility would take too long, so it stops at an excellent answer and says "Very close to best". In our tests on deliberately hard events, where we could work out the best possible arrangement, these came within 1.5% of it, usually within 0.5%, and never left more people without a place.

If you move people yourself, results say "Adjusted by you".

11. Everyone can see why

Each person gets a plain reason with their spot, like "Your 2nd choice. Pottery (your 1st) was full." Organizers see every placement and every reason, and every change is recorded: moves, people removed or placed late, replaced links and plan changes, by whom and when. They can export it all.

12. Changes after results go out

Organizers can still move people after publishing, for example when someone drops out. Anyone whose spot changes sees their new spot straight away, and every move is recorded so the organizer can explain it. People who join after everyone's been placed can be given the seats left over, or the organizer can place everyone again.

What PickAndRank never does

  • It never favours early submitters.

  • It never uses rules the organizer can't see, or paid priority.

  • It never shows anyone else's rankings to participants.

  • It never changes a published result without the organizer doing it, and the people affected can see their new spot.

Two friends laughing at a phone, with a coral ticket floating above them.

See it for yourself

Try the demo with eight people, or set up your first event for free.

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