It is arithmetic, and it is the arithmetic most briefs skip. Capacity equals open hours divided by the sum of one turn plus the reset between turns, multiplied by the number of units. The reset is the term everybody forgets, and on a busy floor it is often as long as the turn itself.
The formula
Capacity per unit per hour is sixty divided by turn length plus reset length. Total capacity is that multiplied by open hours and by the number of units. Nothing about it is complicated, which is why it is strange how rarely it appears in a brief.
| Term | What it actually covers |
|---|---|
| Turn length | From the moment the participant starts to the moment they finish. The part everybody quotes |
| Reset | Out of the seat, next person in, briefed, settled, started. On a busy floor this is frequently as long as the turn |
| Open hours | Not show hours. Subtract the first and last thirty minutes, when nobody is on the floor |
| Units | The only term you can buy more of on the day. Everything else is fixed by physics and by people |
Why the reset is the number that decides it
Shortening a turn feels like the way to serve more people, and it is the wrong lever twice over. A shorter turn produces a weaker experience and a shorter conversation, so you are buying throughput with the thing the activation exists to create.
The reset is where the real capacity lives, and it is bought with staffing, not with hardware. A host who briefs the next participant while the current one is still going removes most of it. A stand where the same person greets, explains, resets and collects data does not.
The question to ask a supplier
Not "how many people can it handle", which invites an optimistic number. Ask for turn length and reset length separately, then do the multiplication yourself. A supplier who has run this before will answer both without hesitating and will ask you how many staff are budgeted.
Then compare the result with the number of people you actually want to reach. If the arithmetic says you will serve a third of them, that is a decision to make in advance about units and staff, not a discovery to make at two in the afternoon with a queue you have to turn away.
What turning people away costs
A queue is an asset right up until it stops moving. Past that point every person who leaves is somebody who chose to engage with the brand and was refused, which is a worse outcome than never having attracted them, and it happens in front of everyone still waiting.
Questions people ask
- How many people can a racing simulator handle per hour?
- Sixty divided by the sum of one turn plus the reset between turns. The reset is the term most briefs omit, and on a busy floor it is frequently as long as the turn itself, which halves the capacity people assume they are buying.
- How do you increase capacity at an activation?
- With units and with staffing, not by shortening turns. A shorter turn buys throughput with the quality of the experience. A host who briefs the next participant while the current one is still going removes most of the reset instead.
- What should I ask a simulator supplier about capacity?
- Ask for turn length and reset length as two separate numbers rather than asking how many people it can handle, then do the multiplication yourself. A supplier who has run it before answers both without hesitating and asks how many staff are budgeted.