This weekend, we launched a free online service called Musikal Chairs. The application, commissioned and built by Lyrek, Inc., allows for users to create events, import contacts/guests, create venues, assign seating and print full-color venue floor plans, seating charts, seating cards, attendee lists and a whole host of other features.

The conception of the application arose from the add-on service for Lyrek Contact and Events Management System (CEMS), a subscription-based application leased by a number of NYC- and L.A.-based PR and Events Production firms. Our clients were looking for a way to work with assigning seats for venues that was better than their traditional method of printing an over-sized venue floor plan and affixing return address labels with invitees’ name, company and title. The traditional method (surprisingly still employed by many large PR firms) was costly, wasteful and unintuitive.

Lyrek with Musikal Chairs enabled users to perform the tasks of seating, re-seating and double-/triple-seating venues through a wysiwyg, drag-n-drop interface. This enabled clients to access their Lyrek account from anywhere (hotels, event venues, client offices, Starbucks, etc.) with clients to work together to assign seating.

In the past, the seating charts were cumbersome and messy. Thus, Lyrek’s add-on “Musikal Chairs” was born.

Over the past year, Lyrek and era//404 Flash and PHP programmers worked to split out the add-on from Lyrek CEMS to create a free service online. The service is currently in beta, but subscribers are trickling in and providing feedback. An ad-driven service, the basic account is absolutely free (if you’re interested in advertising on Musikal Chairs, drop me a line or fill out this form, here), and offers events, venues, contact/guest import, drag-n-drop seating, print-to-pdf, email, download and tons of other options. We’re also working on the new Musikal Chairs Venue Gallery (where subscribers can contribute popular venues and layouts to the growing community), and online forums for customer collaboration and feedback.

Take a look. If you know anyone in the Events/Wedding Planning industries, or people that could benefit from advertising directly to this target demographic, tell them about Musikal Chairs. If you’re a bigger company looking to manage tens of thousands of contacts and events, Lyrek CEMS is our enterprise system proven to help save time, money and labor.

Comments and feedback always welcome!