Cover an empty chair with a dep request

When a section comes up short, you need a specific person on a specific chair — not another message to everyone.

Flag the chair

On the event, an admin marks a chair as needing cover. You say which section and instrument, and add a note if there is something the player should know: the programme, where to park, that it is a march card job.

Let someone claim it

Members see the open chair and press I'll cover. That is the whole transaction. If their plans change they can release it again, and it goes back to being open.

Admins can remove a request that is no longer needed.

Why not just ask in the chat

Because a chat message asks forty people a question that concerns two of them, and the answer disappears up the screen by Thursday. A dep request is attached to the event, it says which chair, and when someone takes it the band can see that it is covered.