I totally see your confusion. Our intended audience is online cohort-based programs.

Think online courses, bootcamps, or private commmunities.

Google calendar is great for 1-on-1 and small groups, but when you're managing hundreds of zoom events for a number of different subgroups within a larger community, it's a nightmare.

I used to do meetups for some hobbies before the pandemic. For me, managing no-shows is very important. Many events have an attendance limit, and everyone who flakes takes space from someone who intended on going.

I only started getting no-shows and late cancellations under control once I started kicking people out for doing more than X no-shows. Also, it really helps to take money for reserving a spot, contrary to your assertion.

For me, especially with pandemic restrictions, managing no-shows is a very important feature.

I run dozens of events a year. Online and even now in-person. I don't have any "space" issues with virtual events. Which platform that you're using has registered attendee limits (vs. actual live attendee limits) and how does a no-show at a virtual event take away space from someone who is going?

All the streaming / event platforms I use charge based on actual viewers and attendees or active users on the platform. If I had a limit of 100 live, I could literally have 1000 people registered with 900 no-shows and that wouldn't be any issue. The no-shows are not taking anything away from the shows.

The only reason to manage no-shows is to manage active engagement. And that's more of a community building thing than a platform thing.

Virtually, from what I can tell, is managing Zoom events, which are entirely online events, so live in-person attendee limits don't seem to be a factor here.

The issue is if you have a 100 live limit, what risk are you taking in the community by allowing 1000 to register? It’s not a problem when you get 900 no-shows. It’s a big problem when you get 800 no-shows and 100 did-shows who got rejected.