Event organisers on email: answer every attendee, speaker and sponsor without drowning in the run-up
In the six weeks before a conference or trade show, the events inbox turns into three inboxes at once. Attendees ask where to park, whether lunch is included and how to change the name on a ticket. Speakers ask about slide formats, travel and timings. Sponsors ask about stand sizes, deliveries and the exhibitor pack. Most of the answers already sit in a document somewhere, and the team is busy building the event itself. An AI agent can answer those emails from your own mailbox, one person at a time, using a short event note you write. Refunds, contracts, accessibility needs and anything with money attached stay with a person. This playbook shows how to set it up, where to draw the line and why announcements to your whole list belong in your ticketing or newsletter tool rather than in the agent.
Why the events inbox fills up in waves
Event email arrives in bursts. There is a wave when tickets go on sale, a quieter stretch, then a flood in the final fortnight as people book travel and read the joining instructions properly for the first time. The same twenty questions come in again and again, from people who each feel their question is the only one.
Those people are not being difficult. They are deciding whether to book a train, whether to bring a colleague or whether their dietary needs will be met. A quick, accurate answer makes them more likely to turn up, and a slow one sends them to your social channels or the venue switchboard, where the answer may be wrong. The goal is simple: every routine question gets a correct reply within the hour, and every question that needs judgement reaches the right person on your team.
Three audiences, three sets of answers
Attendees, speakers and sponsors need different things, and the agent should know which one it is talking to. Attendees want logistics: times, venue, food, tickets and what to bring. Speakers want production details: slot length, slide format, rehearsal times, travel and who their contact is. Sponsors and exhibitors want commercial and practical details: stand size, build-up times, deliveries, badge allowances and what their package includes.
Write one section of the note for each audience and tell the agent to work out which one a sender belongs to from the email, or to ask politely if it cannot tell. A sponsor who gets the attendee answer about parking will feel like a number. A speaker who gets the sponsor answer about stand deliveries will wonder whether anyone read their message.
What the agent should not do: mass announcements
Spaces sends one email at a time to one person from your own mailbox. It does not send bulk email, it has no blind copy and it adds no tracking pixels. A reply to someone who wrote to you in the last week is never held back by the daily limits, and new threads you start are capped at 8 an hour and 40 a day.
That makes it the wrong tool for "the venue has changed" or "doors now open at 8:30" sent to every ticket holder. Send those from your ticketing platform or your newsletter tool, which are built for lists and handle unsubscribes properly. Then give the agent the same wording, so when people reply to the announcement with questions, it answers them one by one, in line with what you sent.
What customers ask on Email
- What time do doors open, and when does the last session finish?
- Is lunch included? I'm vegan and have a nut allergy.
- Can I transfer my ticket to a colleague?
- Where is the nearest car park, and is there step-free access?
- I'm speaking on day two. What format should my slides be in, and when is the tech check?
- What size is our stand, and when can our delivery arrive?
- I can no longer come. Can I have a refund?
An example conversation
This illustration shows an attendee email that mixes a routine question with one that needs a person. Names and details are examples.
| Who | Message |
|---|---|
| Sophie (attendee) | Hi, I have a ticket for the Retail Futures day on 12 March. Is lunch included, and can you cater for coeliac? Also, I use a wheelchair. Is the main hall step-free? |
| AI agent | Hi Sophie, thank you for getting in touch. Lunch is included on the day, and the catering team can provide gluten-free meals that are prepared separately. I have added a note to your booking request so the caterers know. I have passed your access question to Hannah on our team, who looks after accessibility, so she can confirm the details for the main hall and your seating. She will reply to you directly by the end of tomorrow. |
| Hannah (events team) | Hi Sophie, Hannah here. The main hall and the breakout rooms are all step-free, and there is an accessible toilet next to the registration desk. I have reserved a space for you near the front with easy access to the aisle. Do let me know if there is anything else that would help on the day. |
| Sophie (attendee) | That's brilliant, thank you both. |
What the agent answers
- Dates, times, the running order and where each session takes place.
- Venue address, travel options, parking and the nearest station, from your joining instructions.
- What the ticket includes, such as lunch, refreshments and the evening reception.
- Ticket transfers and name changes, by explaining your process and sending the link to do it.
- Speaker logistics such as slide format, slot length, rehearsal times and their named contact.
- Exhibitor practicalities such as stand size, build-up and break-down times and delivery addresses.
What it always hands to you
- Refunds, cancellations and any request for money back or a discount.
- Accessibility needs and anything about health, allergies beyond your standard catering wording, or personal circumstances.
- Sponsor contracts, invoices, package changes and anything a sponsor is unhappy about.
- Speaker fees, expenses and any change to the programme.
- Press enquiries and requests to film or record.
- Complaints, safety concerns and anything said in anger.
Keep one source of truth for the event
Event details change often in the last month: a room swap, a new speaker, a later lunch. If the agent reads an old note, it gives confident wrong answers. Keep one event note that the whole team edits, put the date of the last change at the top and tell the agent to answer only from that note. When something changes, update the note first and send the announcement second, so the agent and the announcement always agree.
The Email limits that matter here
| Limit | Spaces limit per Email account |
|---|---|
| Messages | Up to 100 a day |
| Gap between messages | At least 30 seconds |
| New conversations you start | 8 an hour, 40 a day |
A new chat here is a new email thread. A reply to an email that arrived in the last week is never held back by the daily limits. Spaces sends one email at a time to one person, never bulk email.
Set it up in an afternoon
- Write an event note with a section each for attendees, speakers and sponsors, plus the list of topics that always go to a person and who on the team owns each one. There is an example below.
- Connect the events mailbox in Spaces. You sign in to Gmail or Outlook through a secure link and approve the connection, or enter your mail server details for any other mailbox. Use the address that appears on your tickets and joining instructions, so replies come from the place people expect.
- Connect your AI agent using the steps on our agents page. Chat apps such as Claude or ChatGPT reply when you ask them in a chat, so for replies through the day without you asking, use an always-on agent such as Claude Code, Codex, OpenClaw or Hermes. Give it the event note. Spaces does not connect to ticketing platforms, so the agent explains how to transfer or change a ticket and sends your link, and your team handles anything inside the ticketing system.
- Agree owners for handed-over emails: one person for accessibility, one for sponsors, one for speakers and one for refunds. Tell the agent their names so it can say who will reply.
- Decide when the agent answers. Many organisers let it reply during office hours in the quiet months and through the evening in the final week. Tell it in its notes, or pause sending when you want everything to wait.
- Ask your AI agent to hold replies as drafts for the first week or two, and nothing goes out until you approve it. Read each draft, fix the wording you would never use and add the fixes to the note. Once the drafts need almost no changes, let the routine replies go out on their own and keep drafts for anything sensitive.
- In the final fortnight, read the handed-over emails each morning. They tell you which details are missing from your joining instructions, and fixing those cuts the next day's emails.
A sample event note
Keep it to one page if you can, and put the details people ask about most at the top. Here is the shape of one, with example details.
EVENT: Retail Futures 2027, Thursday 12 March, Riverside Conference Centre,
4 Quay Street. Last updated: 20 February.
ATTENDEES
- Doors 8:30, first talk 9:15, close 17:30, reception 17:30 to 19:00.
- Ticket includes lunch, coffee and the reception.
- Catering: vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free on request. Note it and
tell them the caterers will see it. Any allergy beyond that: hand to Hannah.
- Transfers: free until 5 March using the link in the booking email.
- Parking: Quay Street multi-storey, 3 minutes' walk. Station: 10 minutes.
SPEAKERS
- Slides 16:9, PowerPoint or PDF, to Raj by 5 March.
- Tech check 30 minutes before your slot in the room you speak in.
- Travel and expenses: hand to Raj.
SPONSORS
- Stands 3m x 2m, build-up 7:00 to 8:15, break-down from 17:30.
- Deliveries to the goods entrance on Mill Lane, 11 March 14:00 to 18:00.
- Package, invoice or contract questions: hand to Grace.
ALWAYS HAND OVER: refunds, accessibility, complaints, press, safety,
anything about money. Say who will reply and by when.A second example: a sponsor email
Sponsor emails often mix a practical question with a commercial one. The agent answers the first and passes on the second. Names and details are examples.
| Who | Message |
|---|---|
| Mark (sponsor) | Hello, we're exhibiting at Retail Futures. When can our van deliver the stand, and can we add a second stand next to ours? Happy to pay. |
| AI agent | Hello Mark, thank you for exhibiting with us. Deliveries go to the goods entrance on Mill Lane on 11 March between 2pm and 6pm, and build-up on the day runs from 7am to 8:15am. I have passed your question about a second stand to Grace, who looks after sponsor packages, and she will reply to you by tomorrow afternoon with what is available. |
The agent did not quote a price or promise the space, even though Mark offered to pay. Changing a sponsor package affects the floor plan, the invoice and other exhibitors, so it belongs with Grace. Mark still got his delivery answer straight away.
What if the event changes at the last minute?
Speakers drop out, trains strike and rooms flood. When something changes, update the note first, with the new details and the time of the change. Then send your announcement from your ticketing or newsletter tool. If the change is serious, such as a cancellation or a new venue, ask your AI agent to hold every reply as a draft for that day, so a person reads each one before it goes.
If you need everything to stop while you work out what to say, pause sending in Spaces under Settings, then Pause everything. Emails keep arriving in your mailbox as normal, and nothing goes out until you resume.
Common mistakes event organisers make
- Using the agent to email the whole attendee list. Send announcements from your ticketing or newsletter tool and let the agent answer the replies.
- Leaving old details in the note after a change, so the agent repeats the previous room or time.
- Letting the agent confirm dietary or access arrangements it cannot check. It should note the request and hand it to the person who can.
- Answering sponsors with the attendee wording because the agent was never told who is who.
- Forgetting the week after the event, when feedback, certificates and "where are the slides?" emails arrive. Add a short post-event section to the note.
Who you message
In short
For an event organiser, an AI agent on email takes the repeated questions off the team in the busiest weeks: times, venue, food, tickets, slides and stand deliveries. It answers each person from your own mailbox, one at a time, and passes refunds, access, sponsor deals and complaints to the person who owns them.
Keep the event note current, send announcements from the tool built for lists, and start with drafts. Spaces paces every email and keeps your mailbox inside safe limits, but a good inbox still depends on accurate details and a team that picks up what is handed over.
Pricing
FAQ
Can the agent email all our attendees about a change?
No. Spaces sends one email at a time to one person and does not do bulk email. Send announcements from your ticketing platform or newsletter tool, then give the agent the same wording so it can answer the replies.
Can it change or transfer tickets?
Spaces does not connect to ticketing platforms. The agent explains your transfer process and sends the link from your booking email, and your team handles anything that needs changing inside the ticketing system. If you have set up your AI agent with its own access to your ticketing tool, that is a separate connection you control.
How does it tell attendees, speakers and sponsors apart?
From what the email says, and from any lists you give it, such as the speaker and sponsor contacts. If it cannot tell, the note should tell it to ask politely, for example "Are you attending, speaking or exhibiting?" before it answers.
What about accessibility and allergy questions?
The agent can share your standard catering and venue wording, but anything personal goes to a named person on your team. They can check with the venue and the caterers and reply with care, which a note cannot do.
Will replies come from our usual events address?
Yes. You connect your own Gmail, Outlook or other mailbox, and replies go from that address in the same thread. They appear in your sent folder like any other email.
Can several people on the team see what the agent sent?
If you connect a shared events mailbox, everyone with access to it sees the sent emails in the usual way. Many teams also ask the agent for a short summary of what it answered and what it handed over each day.
What happens after the event?
Add a short post-event section to the note covering slides, recordings, certificates and feedback. The agent answers those questions too, and hands complaints and refund requests to a person as before.
Should it say it is an AI?
It is a good idea. A short line at the end of each reply, such as "This reply was written by our AI agent, and a person on the events team reads every handed-over question", sets expectations and builds trust.