Abstract: A system and a method perform a priority-based determination of attendance in a target area with minimized processing and computational requirements. The system dynamically generates seat preference information of each attendee of the target area for generating a prioritized attendee scan data set (PASDS) including one or more priority pairs of attendees frequently identified at each seat. The system generates a reduced feature scan data set including one or more distinct features of each attendee in each priority pair and dynamically configures a seat scan order. For each seat in the seat scan order, the system performs rapid facial recognition of the distinct features of each attendee in each priority pair; and based on the recognition, locks occupancy of the current seat by a recognized attendee and dynamically reduces the PASDS for the subsequent seat, or proceeds to scan the subsequent seat, or determines an absentee in the target area.