Overview
Quick Events
Create a simpler event in minutes and send a premium mobile-first invitation. Capacity, waitlists, RSVP deadlines, guest questions, and follow-ups, on the same guest profiles as your largest events.
Free for existing Gatsby customers
The dinner for twelve never felt worth the full event builder.
So it went to a consumer invite tool, and the guest list went with it. Six months later nobody can tell you who came, and the RSVP never made it onto the contact record. Quick Events gives those events a flow of their own without moving them out of Gatsby.
A separate, narrower flow
Create Quick Event opens a four-step surface instead of the full event builder. Curated choices, no landing-page editor, no campaign setup.
A real event underneath
Same guest profiles, same RSVP statuses, same events list. Quick Events changes the interface, not the underlying event and contact data.
Don’t see Create Quick Event? Quick Events is in limited release and enabled per organization. Email us and we’ll turn it on for your team. Until then, nothing about your existing events changes.
Step 1: Details
Section titled “Step 1: Details”The essentials, and nothing else. Add an Event name, then check Starts, Time zone, and Location. The start and timezone are filled in for you, and the end time defaults to two hours after the start. A short note, the RSVP settings, and the questions you ask your guests are all optional and all live on this step.
The timezone is shown on the guest page, so someone reading the invitation in another region sees the time correctly.
Filling in the Details Step
-
Enter the Event name. The header updates to the name as you type.
-
Set Starts, and adjust Ends if two hours isn’t right.
-
Pick the Time zone. This is what guests see on the invitation.
-
Choose In person or Online:
In person accepts a venue or location name you type yourself. Pick a result from the address suggestions when you want Gatsby to add a precise View map link on the guest page. Editing a selected place turns it back into a manually entered location and removes that precise map link until you pick another suggestion.
Online takes a Zoom, Google Meet, phone, or plain link. The guest page shows a labelled join link instead of a map.
-
Add A short note if you want one. It takes bold, italic, underline, bullet lists, and links, so a running order or a dress code reads the way you typed it. The counter turns red past 500 characters but never stops you typing.
-
Open Guest questions if you want to ask your guests something as they RSVP. Off by default.
An event is either in person or online. Quick Events doesn’t do both at once.
RSVP Settings
Four controls, grouped together on the Details step. All default off except Maybe.
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Capacity limit | Off | Caps how many guests can accept. Turning it on reveals a Max guests field. Off means unlimited. |
| Waitlist | Off | When capacity is reached, new acceptances go to the waitlist instead of being turned away. |
| RSVP deadline | Off | Stops new acceptances at a date and time. If the waitlist is on, guests can still join it after the deadline. The deadline is shown on the guest page while regular RSVPs are open. |
| Offer Maybe | On | Gives guests a third answer. Turning it off hides the Maybe button and disables its label field in Design. |
Only guests with an Accepted status count against capacity.
Guest Questions
A quick event can ask a few questions at the moment someone RSVPs. Guest questions sits directly under RSVP settings, switched off and collapsed to a single row.
Switch it on and you get four choices. Nothing is pre-selected, so switching the section on doesn’t quietly start asking anything.
| Question | Wording | Where the answer goes |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Gatsby’s own, “Where do you work?” | The contact’s Company field |
| Position | Gatsby’s own, “Your title” | The contact’s Position field |
| Dietary restrictions | Gatsby’s own, “Any dietary restrictions?” | The contact’s dietary restrictions |
| A question of your own | Yours, up to 80 characters | The quick event’s Guests roster |
The first three are Gatsby’s standard questions and carry their own wording, so there’s nothing to write. Only your own question needs a prompt, and guests see it exactly as you type it.
Each selected question gets a Required switch, on when you tick the question. Required questions block the RSVP until they’re answered; optional ones are labelled “optional” on the guest page before anyone starts typing.
Questions stay editable after invitations have gone out, and adding or removing one never sends a change notice.
Switching the whole section off clears the questions. Turning it back on starts from nothing selected, so untick a single question if you only mean to drop one.
Step 2: Design
Section titled “Step 2: Design”Pick a template and make it yours. There are six, each with its own typeface set, color palette, and arrival animation: Dinner, Garden, Gala, Soirée, Happy Hour, and Celebration.
You get the typefaces and colors that belong to the template you picked, not a free font list and a hex picker. Every palette is pre-tuned, so no combination comes out unreadable.
Choosing a Template
Browse with the ‹ and › arrows beside the preview. The name, its occasion tag, and a row of dots show where you are in the set. The preview updates as you browse.
Once invitations have gone out, the Design step carries a reminder that you’re editing a live event. You can browse templates and preview your changes before using Save Changes to update the guest page.
Adding Your Logo
Upload a PNG or JPG. Transparency is preserved and the image is resized for you.
The logo sits in a wide slot at the top of the invitation and is scaled to fit rather than cropped. On a dark template where a dark logo would disappear, Gatsby puts a subtle backing plate behind it so it stays legible. Remove returns to the no-logo layout.
Typeface, Color, and Button Labels
Typeface is the shortlist belonging to the current template. The title and the RSVP prompt follow your choice.
Color theme is the template’s palette. Picking one sets the accent used on the RSVP button and the dividing rules.
Button labels rewrite the Accept, Decline, and Maybe copy. “Count me in” and “Can’t make it” read better than Yes and No for some events. Leave a field empty to fall back to the template’s wording.
If Offer Maybe is off, the Maybe label field stays visible but dimmed, with a link back to Details to turn it on.
Step 3: Guests
Section titled “Step 3: Guests”Add guests in any of three ways: search your Gatsby contacts, type a new name or email, or upload a CSV.
Every guest gets a personal RSVP link that belongs to them and isn’t transferable. Statuses update live as answers come in, using Gatsby’s normal RSVP vocabulary and colors.
RSVP Statuses
| Status | Color | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Accepted | Green | Coming. Counts against capacity. |
| Declined | Red | Not coming. |
| Maybe | Orange | Tentative, if you left Maybe on. |
| Invited | Blue | Invitation sent, no answer yet. |
| Waitlist | Purple | Accepted after capacity was reached. |
| No Response | Grey | No recorded response. This includes guests who haven’t been invited yet and some failed or blocked deliveries. |
The Public RSVP Link
Off by default. Turn it on and you get a shareable link anyone can register through, useful when you want a partner to forward the invitation.
Public sign-ups count toward the same invite total as everyone else. Turn the toggle off and anyone who opens the link sees that it isn’t active, without event details or RSVP controls.
Managing the Waitlist
Guests who join the waitlist show Waitlist in the RSVP column. To move someone off it, open their RSVP status and choose Accepted or Declined. Leave the status as Waitlist to keep them there.
This is manual in this release. Gatsby doesn’t promote people automatically when a spot opens. Changing a waitlisted guest to Accepted sends the Quick Event confirmation email. You can make that change even when capacity is already met; it’s treated as a deliberate override.
Reading Guest Question Answers
If you turned on Guest questions on the Details step, the roster grows one column per question, in the same order the guests saw them. Turn a question off and its column goes away; turn it back on and it returns with the answers intact.
| The cell reads | It means |
|---|---|
| An answer | They answered it |
| Several pills | A dietary answer with more than one selection |
| — | They haven’t answered yet, or left an optional question blank |
| Not asked | They declined, so they were never shown the questions |
Name stays pinned as you scroll sideways. On a phone the guest’s row opens a sheet with an Answers section instead of columns.
Company, Position, and Dietary restrictions are saved to the guest’s contact record. An answer to your own question stays with this quick event and remains available in its Guests roster.
Step 4: Invite
Section titled “Step 4: Invite”One premium invitation that mirrors the guest page you designed, with the logo, accent, and typeface carried across so the email and the page look like the same object.
You write the subject and a short message. The date, location, and RSVP button are added for you, and a live preview sits beside the form as you type.
Sending, Scheduling, and Testing
-
Set Send from. This is your linked Google, Outlook, or SendGrid address, each labelled with which of the three it is. The number of guests who’ll be invited shows underneath it.
-
Write the Subject.
-
Write the Message. There’s a 300-character limit with a counter, and you can personalize it with merge tags like
{firstName}. Bold, italic, underline, lists, and links are available. There’s no full email editor and no marketing mode. -
Choose Send now, or Schedule and pick a date and time.
-
Optionally Send test to me. A test creates no invitation records and doesn’t touch your guests.
-
Send. Gatsby creates one invitation per guest in a single operation.
You can’t send with an empty guest list. Sending only targets guests who haven’t been invited yet, so nobody gets the same invitation twice.
The Confirmation Email
When a guest accepts, they get the Quick Event confirmation email, which matches the invitation.
If your organization has set org-wide default emails under Team Settings, those don’t apply to quick events. Quick Events use their own templates so the confirmation matches the design you picked, and guests who join the waitlist get the matching waitlist confirmation.
The invitation and the RSVP
Section titled “The invitation and the RSVP”The page opens with a short arrival animation, then the invitation: your logo, the event name, the date and time with its timezone, the location, and your note. In-person events get a View map link. Online events get a labelled join link instead.
Answering takes one tap. If you’re asking guest questions, they appear on the card itself the moment the guest picks an answer, above a single Submit — no second page, and no separate form to abandon. Personally invited guests can copy their link after answering, and public registrants receive a personal return link in their confirmation email.
Every RSVP State
Open
Accept, Decline, and Maybe, using your labels. If you set a deadline, an “RSVPs close [date]” line appears.
Nearly full
A restrained note that spots are limited. Buttons stay active. Gatsby never shows an exact remaining count or a countdown.
Full, with a waitlist
Accept is replaced by Join the waitlist. Decline stays available and Maybe is hidden. Joining sets the guest to Waitlist and sends the waitlist email.
Full, without a waitlist
An “Event full” message and a single disabled button. No RSVP actions.
Closed
Closed manually, or past the deadline when the waitlist is off. An “RSVP closed” message and no actions. When the waitlist is on, passing the deadline switches the affirmative action to Join the waitlist instead.
The full and closed states apply to returning guests too. Their current response still appears in the acknowledgement band, but the RSVP controls are unavailable until the event is reopened or capacity is available.
The Questions on the Guest Page
Questions only appear after a guest chooses an answer, and only for Yes, Maybe, and joining the waitlist. Someone who declines is never asked anything, on either kind of link.
Required questions carry an accent asterisk; optional ones say “optional”, both visible before the guest starts typing. Submitting with a required question blank is blocked, and the page scrolls back to the question that needs an answer rather than leaving them hunting.
Dietary restrictions is a set of tappable chips rather than a dropdown, grouped into Diet and Something to avoid, with an Other… chip that opens a text field for anything not on the list. Nothing to scroll through and no keyboard in the way.
On a personal link the guest’s name and email are filled in and locked above the questions, so they can check it’s them before answering. On the public link they type their own name and email as before.
Coming Back Later
A guest who opens their link again doesn’t see a blank invitation. In place of “Will you join us?” the card shows a band in the template’s own colors and typeface, naming them and stating where they stand — You’re going, You said maybe, You’re on the waitlist, or You said you can’t make it — with a line telling them they can change it below.
On a personal link, any questions the guest answered come back filled in and editable, while their name and email stay locked. The arrival animation is skipped on a return visit.
Naming the guest also gives away a forwarded link: open someone else’s personal link and you see their name, not yours.
Personal and Public Links
Personal links are unique to one guest and aren’t transferable. Forwarding one doesn’t give someone else a seat under their own name.
The public link is a separate, optional link for open registration. It only works while the toggle is on.
Both are short and work on your custom domain as well as on gatsby.events. Existing RSVP links for your other events are unaffected.
Accessibility and Motion
The arrival animation can be tapped to skip and plays once per guest. If a guest’s device is set to reduce motion, the page skips straight to its final state.
Delivery, resends, and follow-ups
Section titled “Delivery, resends, and follow-ups”The Invitations step becomes Invitations & Follow-Ups. Delivery statistics sit on one side and a follow-up composer takes the main pane.
Gatsby distinguishes a mailbox that was temporarily unavailable from an address that doesn’t exist, and only offers a resend where a resend can actually work.
Reading Delivery Stats
Four numbers: Delivered, Opened, Accepted, and Failed. When nothing failed, the Failed count isn’t emphasised and no failure list appears.
Failed recipients are listed with a reason:
Temporary failure
A full mailbox or a server that was briefly unavailable. These get a Resend action, and a bulk Resend failed covers the group.
Undeliverable
The address doesn’t exist. These show “Undeliverable, check the address” with an Edit address action and no resend, so you fix the typo instead of sending into a void.
Following Up by Answer
Pick a group and Gatsby writes to exactly those people. Each shows a live count, and a group with nobody in it is disabled rather than hidden.
| Group | Who’s in it |
|---|---|
| Accepted | Everyone coming |
| Declined | Everyone who said no |
| Maybe | Tentative answers |
| Waitlist | Everyone waiting for a spot, when the event uses a waitlist |
| No RSVP | Invited guests who haven’t answered |
Accepted, Declined, Maybe, and No RSVP each have a suggested note you can load in one click, edit, and send. Accepted also has a post-event thank-you. The Waitlist group starts blank so you can write the message that fits the situation.
Follow-ups use the event’s design and include a calendar invite unless your organization has disabled calendar attachments. Following up never changes anyone’s RSVP status.
Branded Follow-Ups
Every follow-up is wrapped in the event’s design, using the logo, typeface, and colors from your quick event. A live preview beside the composer shows how the message will look before you send it.
Inviting People You Added Later
Adding guests after the first send gives you a Send to new guests action covering only the people who haven’t been invited. It’s deliberately separate from follow-ups and from resending failures, so there’s no way to accidentally re-invite the whole list.
Editing after you’ve sent
Section titled “Editing after you’ve sent”Details and Design stay editable, with an amber reminder that invitations are already out. Changes commit when you press Save Changes, not as you type.
Because the guest page reads live data, a saved edit is visible to anyone who opens their link. Emails already delivered keep the details they were sent with.
Changing the Date, Time, or Location
These are the changes guests need to know about, so Gatsby asks.
Saving a new start date or time, timezone, or location shows a prompt with the old and new details side by side. You can Send change notice to everyone already invited, whatever their answer, or Skip. Changing only the end time doesn’t open this prompt.
Skipping is a real choice, not a trap. The guest page still updates either way. Use it when you’ve already told people directly.
Design changes carry the same live-event caution and go live when you press Save Changes, without opening a change-notice prompt.
Setting Defaults for Your Team
Admins can set a house style once under Team Settings › Event Defaults, in Default Quick Event Design: template, logo, typeface, palette, and button labels. New quick events start from it, and anyone can still change any of it per event.
Changing the default doesn’t alter quick events that already exist. If no default is set, new events start from Gatsby’s.
The same page holds your organization’s Default Emails, which apply to standard events but not to quick events.
Common Questions
Section titled “Common Questions” How do I get Quick Events turned on?
It’s in limited release and enabled per organization. Email us and we’ll switch it on for your team. While it’s off you won’t see a Create Quick Event button, and nothing about your existing events changes.
Can a quick event do seating, check-in, or ticketing?
No. Quick Events covers invitations, RSVPs, capacity, waitlists, a few questions at the RSVP, and follow-ups. Seating charts, name badges, door check-in, paid ticketing, documents, tasks, full registration forms, and post-event surveys are full-event features. For an event that needs those, create a standard event.
Can I ask my guests questions when they RSVP?
Yes, up to four. Switch on Guest questions on the Details step and pick from Company, Position, Dietary restrictions, and one question of your own. Guests answer on the invitation itself, right after they choose their answer, and each question can be required or optional.
It’s a short set on purpose, not a form builder. The four questions can’t be reordered, there’s no branching or conditional logic, and only the one custom question has wording you write. For anything larger, use a standard event with a registration form.
Where do the answers to guest questions end up?
Company, Position, and dietary restrictions land on the guest’s profile fields, so those answers are available anywhere you use that contact. Your own question stays with the quick event instead of creating an organization-wide contact field.
You’ll see every selected question as a column on the quick event’s Guests roster. If you rename your own question, the column keeps its existing answers under the new wording.
Can I convert a quick event into a full event?
Not in this release. If an event grows past what the quick flow covers, create a standard event for it. Your contacts and their history are shared across both, so nothing about the guests has to be rebuilt.
Do plus-ones work on quick events?
No. Capacity counts one seat per accepted guest. If you need plus-ones, guest-of-guest registration, or more than the four guest questions, use a standard event.
Do RSVPs from a quick event reach the contact record and our CRM?
Yes. A quick event is a real Gatsby event on your real contacts, so RSVP history and the standard Company, Position, and Dietary restrictions answers update the contact and can flow through your existing CRM integrations. An answer to your own question stays on the quick event’s Guests roster rather than becoming a CRM contact field.
Can I create a quick event on my phone?
Yes, the whole flow. All four steps work on mobile web, with a segmented Edit / Preview toggle instead of a side-by-side preview and a step picker in place of the desktop sidebar. Sending invitations, reading delivery stats, and writing follow-ups all work the same way.
What does a quick-event link look like when someone shares it?
Gatsby generates a preview image for every quick event from the template you picked, so a link pasted into Slack, iMessage, or email unfurls as your invitation rather than a generic Gatsby graphic. It carries your logo, or your organization’s name if you haven’t added one, and the event name.
There’s nothing to configure and no image to upload. It refreshes when you change the event name, template, color, or logo. The date and location aren’t drawn on the image on purpose, since messaging apps cache an unfurl and a cached picture of a changed date would be wrong rather than merely stale; the date goes in the link’s description text instead, which apps re-fetch.
Can I remove the Powered by Gatsby mark from the guest page?
No. It appears on every quick-event page and always in Gatsby’s own green, never your accent color. For a fully unbranded page, use a standard event with a custom landing page on your own domain.
Why don't my organization's default emails apply?
Quick events use their own confirmation and waitlist emails so they match the design you picked. This is intentional and only affects quick events. Your defaults still apply to every standard event.
Does someone get promoted automatically when a spot opens?
Not in this release. Waitlisted guests stay put until an organizer changes their RSVP status from Waitlist to Accepted or Declined.
What happens if someone forwards their RSVP link?
A personal link is tied to one guest and isn’t transferable, so forwarding it doesn’t create a seat for someone else under their own name. If you want people to be able to pass the invitation along, turn on the public RSVP link.
Can I duplicate a quick event?
Yes, and the copy is a quick event too, keeping its design and its capacity, waitlist, and deadline settings. Check In Guests doesn’t appear in a quick event’s menu, since check-in isn’t part of Quick Events.