guest list wanting to create groups

[Teenie11357]

I am planning an event. I would like to allow my guests to be able to choose which coach they would like to work with. We have 5 coaches, 3000 guests, I will have 300 groups of 10 guests each. I want to send and email out to my guests asking them to give me their 1st choice, 2nd choice, 3rd choice, 4th choice and 5th Choice coach. I would like to hopefully be able to match everyone to their 1st choice coach. If that doesnt happen it will than be their 2nd choice and so on on.

Is their a formula for this?

Thank you

[GeneralDisarray]

What are you using to collect the choices? Are the recipients of the email sending you an excel workbook with their choices?

Also, are they choosing just a coach or a coach/session time & date (you mention 5 coaches but are planning 300 groups of 10... is that 60 groups per coach on different times/days?)

You could accomplish matching coaches/sessions with guest using excel VBA, but it's a lot more complicated than a single formula. You would need to set up some visual basic to handle the returned excel sheets in a way that gives priority to ealier recipients... it's a bit of a task.

Routines could be made to open each respondents returned file, and extract their choices, then fill in some master schedule (which would exist as another workbook) - in the order they are received.

Do you have any VBA experience to attempt this?

[Teenie11357]

Thank you so much for getting back to me.

I do not have any VBA experience. I was thinking I would send the guests an excel workbook with the information i need from them. once i recieve it back copy and paste it into a new work book that would be the master list.

There are actually 2 sessions- Session A and Session B- 150 groups per session- 10 people go in at a time 2 per coach.

And yest the early they submit the better chance they have on getting the coach the want. Other wise i will match them to there 2nd and 3rd picks.

[GeneralDisarray]

If you can post an example of the master workbook, then I (or someone else in the forum) can take a crack at it for you. Just get the layout down and fill the workbook with some made-up data.

Without a really specific example, there's not much I could do.