It depends on the table, the chairs per table and the spacing you actually set — which is why a square-footage rule of thumb is usually wrong by a dozen tables. The capacity calculator answers it for your space, with your numbers, before you place anything.
Open Auto-Fill Setup, set the table and spacing, then choose Calculate maximum capacity. You get tables and seats for the actual event space, not an estimate.
Getting the number
- 1Open the diagram for the event space you are selling.
- 2Click Auto-Fill Setup on the left rail.
- 3Choose the layout style, the table, and how many chairs go on it.
- 4Set row and column spacing — this is the number that moves the answer most.
- 5Click Calculate maximum capacity.
A 150′ × 90′ ballroom with 60″ rounds at eight chairs and five feet between rows returns sixty-five tables and five hundred and twenty seats. Tighten the spacing and the number climbs; a room does not get bigger, but the answer changes because the spec changed.
Why spacing decides the answer
A 60″ round is five feet across, but a seated guest needs roughly another two feet behind them, and a server needs to get between chair backs. That is why capacity is a function of the aisle you are willing to run, not of area alone. If you have a house standard, set it once in Diagram Check and every plan gets held to it.
Answering it honestly for a client
The number the calculator gives you is a maximum for that spec. Once a stage, a dance floor and two bars are in the space, the usable count drops — and the plan should show that rather than the brochure number. Place the fixed pieces first, then fill around them.