Create a contact

POST/v1/event/{eventId}/contacts/create

US Region: https://public-api.sessionboard.com · EU Region: https://public-api-eu.sessionboard.com

Create a new contact in an event. Requires the write:contacts scope. Subject to rate limiting (100 req/15min) and daily write quota (10,000/day per token).

Fields an event marks Required in Record Settings (the Add Contact layout) are not enforced here or by POST /v1/event/{eventId}/contacts/bulk; they apply only to the event's Add Contact form in the app. Validate them in your integration if you rely on them.

Request example

curl --request POST \
  --url 'https://public-api.sessionboard.com/v1/event/{eventId}/contacts/create' \
  --header 'x-access-token: <api-token>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
  "email": "jane@example.com",
  "first_name": "<string>",
  "last_name": "<string>",
  "company": "<string>",
  "title": "<string>",
  "phone": "<string>",
  "about": "<string>",
  "salutation": "<string>",
  "honorific": "<string>",
  "address_line_1": "<string>",
  "address_line_2": "<string>",
  "address_city": "<string>",
  "address_state": "<string>",
  "address_postal_code": "<string>",
  "address_country": "<string>",
  "custom_fields": {},
  "translated_fields": [
    {
      "parent_field_internal_name": "<string>",
      "translated_language": "<string>",
      "value": null
    }
  ]
}'

const response = await fetch('https://public-api.sessionboard.com/v1/event/{eventId}/contacts/create', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    "x-access-token": "<api-token>",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    "email": "jane@example.com",
    "first_name": "<string>",
    "last_name": "<string>",
    "company": "<string>",
    "title": "<string>",
    "phone": "<string>",
    "about": "<string>",
    "salutation": "<string>",
    "honorific": "<string>",
    "address_line_1": "<string>",
    "address_line_2": "<string>",
    "address_city": "<string>",
    "address_state": "<string>",
    "address_postal_code": "<string>",
    "address_country": "<string>",
    "custom_fields": {},
    "translated_fields": [
      {
        "parent_field_internal_name": "<string>",
        "translated_language": "<string>",
        "value": null
      }
    ]
  }),
});

const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

import requests

response = requests.request(
    "POST",
    "https://public-api.sessionboard.com/v1/event/{eventId}/contacts/create",
    headers={
        "x-access-token": "<api-token>",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    },
    json={
        "email": "jane@example.com",
        "first_name": "<string>",
        "last_name": "<string>",
        "company": "<string>",
        "title": "<string>",
        "phone": "<string>",
        "about": "<string>",
        "salutation": "<string>",
        "honorific": "<string>",
        "address_line_1": "<string>",
        "address_line_2": "<string>",
        "address_city": "<string>",
        "address_state": "<string>",
        "address_postal_code": "<string>",
        "address_country": "<string>",
        "custom_fields": {},
        "translated_fields": [
            {
                "parent_field_internal_name": "<string>",
                "translated_language": "<string>",
                "value": None
            }
        ]
    },
)

print(response.json())

<?php

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
    CURLOPT_URL => "https://public-api.sessionboard.com/v1/event/{eventId}/contacts/create",
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "POST",
    CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => '{
  "email": "jane@example.com",
  "first_name": "<string>",
  "last_name": "<string>",
  "company": "<string>",
  "title": "<string>",
  "phone": "<string>",
  "about": "<string>",
  "salutation": "<string>",
  "honorific": "<string>",
  "address_line_1": "<string>",
  "address_line_2": "<string>",
  "address_city": "<string>",
  "address_state": "<string>",
  "address_postal_code": "<string>",
  "address_country": "<string>",
  "custom_fields": {},
  "translated_fields": [
    {
      "parent_field_internal_name": "<string>",
      "translated_language": "<string>",
      "value": null
    }
  ]
}',
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
        "x-access-token: <api-token>",
        "Content-Type: application/json",
    ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
curl_close($curl);

echo $response;

package main

import (
  "fmt"
  "io"
  "net/http"
  "strings"
)

func main() {
  req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://public-api.sessionboard.com/v1/event/{eventId}/contacts/create", strings.NewReader(`{
  "email": "jane@example.com",
  "first_name": "<string>",
  "last_name": "<string>",
  "company": "<string>",
  "title": "<string>",
  "phone": "<string>",
  "about": "<string>",
  "salutation": "<string>",
  "honorific": "<string>",
  "address_line_1": "<string>",
  "address_line_2": "<string>",
  "address_city": "<string>",
  "address_state": "<string>",
  "address_postal_code": "<string>",
  "address_country": "<string>",
  "custom_fields": {},
  "translated_fields": [
    {
      "parent_field_internal_name": "<string>",
      "translated_language": "<string>",
      "value": null
    }
  ]
}`))
  req.Header.Add("x-access-token", "<api-token>")
  req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")

  res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
  defer res.Body.Close()
  body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)

  fmt.Println(string(body))
}

HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
    .uri(URI.create("https://public-api.sessionboard.com/v1/event/{eventId}/contacts/create"))
    .header("x-access-token", "<api-token>")
    .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
    .method("POST", HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofString("{\n  \"email\": \"jane@example.com\",\n  \"first_name\": \"<string>\",\n  \"last_name\": \"<string>\",\n  \"company\": \"<string>\",\n  \"title\": \"<string>\",\n  \"phone\": \"<string>\",\n  \"about\": \"<string>\",\n  \"salutation\": \"<string>\",\n  \"honorific\": \"<string>\",\n  \"address_line_1\": \"<string>\",\n  \"address_line_2\": \"<string>\",\n  \"address_city\": \"<string>\",\n  \"address_state\": \"<string>\",\n  \"address_postal_code\": \"<string>\",\n  \"address_country\": \"<string>\",\n  \"custom_fields\": {},\n  \"translated_fields\": [\n    {\n      \"parent_field_internal_name\": \"<string>\",\n      \"translated_language\": \"<string>\",\n      \"value\": null\n    }\n  ]\n}"))
    .build();

HttpResponse<String> response = HttpClient.newHttpClient()
    .send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());

System.out.println(response.body());

Try it

Region

Authorization

Send as

Token

Your token stays in this page. It is sent only to the region above and is never saved; it is gone when you leave or reload the page.

Path parameters

eventId*

Body application/json

POST

Response headers

Authorizations

x-access-tokenstringheader
Organization API token. Generate from Organization Settings → API Tokens.
AuthorizationBearer <token>headeror
OAuth 2.1 access token. Obtained via the OAuth PKCE flow at /oauth/token.

Send one of these. See Authentication.

Path parameters

eventIdintegerpathrequired
The event ID.

Request body

application/jsonrequired

emailstring<email>required
Contact email address (required, must be unique within the event).
first_namestring
First name.
last_namestring
Last name.
companystring
Company or organization name.
titlestring
Job title.
phonestring
Phone number.
aboutstring
Biography. HTML is allowed and stored as rich text.
salutationstring
honorificstring
address_line_1string
address_line_2string
address_citystring
address_statestring
address_postal_codestring
address_countrystring
ISO 3166-1 numeric code (as GET returns), alpha-2 or alpha-3 code, or English country name. Stored and returned as the numeric code. An unknown value returns 400 naming the field and nothing is written.
custom_fieldsobject
Custom field values keyed by field internal name.

For number, currency, and percent fields, an empty string ("") clears the stored value — identical to sending null. 0 and "0" store an actual zero.

For checkbox fields, send boolean true or false. On read, a checked box serializes as the string "Yes", an explicitly unchecked one as "No", and a box that was never set as null.

Fields owned by an integration (for example swoogo_session_id, cvent_session_id, visit_session_id) are hydrated by the connector and reject writes with 400 FIELD_READ_ONLY, naming the field in details.field. Omit them from custom_fields.
translated_fieldsTranslatedFieldWrite[]
Language variants to write using the same shape returned on reads. Omit this key on update to leave existing translations unchanged.
Show child attributes
- parent_field_internal_namestringrequired
- translated_languagestringrequired
  Locale code for the language variant (for example fr or ar). Must be enabled on the event; otherwise the request fails with 400.
- valueany
  Value for that locale. Same type as the parent field.

Example

{
  "email": "jane@example.com",
  "first_name": "<string>",
  "last_name": "<string>",
  "company": "<string>",
  "title": "<string>",
  "phone": "<string>",
  "about": "<string>",
  "salutation": "<string>",
  "honorific": "<string>",
  "address_line_1": "<string>",
  "address_line_2": "<string>",
  "address_city": "<string>",
  "address_state": "<string>",
  "address_postal_code": "<string>",
  "address_country": "<string>",
  "custom_fields": {},
  "translated_fields": [
    {
      "parent_field_internal_name": "<string>",
      "translated_language": "<string>",
      "value": null
    }
  ]
}

Responses

200`application/json`

Contact created

A contact (speaker, attendee, or organizational contact) in Sessionboard.

idstring
friendly_idstring
full_namestring
first_namestring
last_namestring
emailstring
created_atstring
updated_atstring<date-time>
When the contact last changed, from any source: an admin or portal edit, a sync, or a Public API write (create, update or bulk). Send it back as updated_at on PUT /v1/event/{eventId}/contacts/{contactId} or a bulk update for optimistic concurrency; the write returns the new value.
photo_urlstring
URL of the contact's headshot. Images larger than 2 MB are delivered resized from this URL, scaled to fit within 2400 x 2400 pixels (a PNG may arrive as WebP for clients that accept it). The uploaded file is stored unchanged; for full-resolution originals use the bulk download tools in Sessionboard, such as Download Headshots (Contacts, More menu).
company_namestring
titlestring
aboutstring
phone_homestring
phone_mobilestring
address_line_1string
address_line_2string
address_citystring
address_statestring
address_postal_codestring
address_countrystring
website_urlstring
linkedin_urlstring
twitter_urlstring
facebook_urlstring
honorificstring
salutationstring
pronounsstring
genderstring
past_companiesstring
educational_affiliationstring
highest_level_of_educationstring
ethnicitystring
languagesstring
speaker_scorestring
organization_contactstring
speaker_feestring
availabilitystring
preferred_session_formatstring
annual_revenuestring
headcountstring
years_in_operationstring
organization_structurestring
industrystring
global_regionstring
audience_typestring
target_age_rangestring
topic_expertisestring
brandstring
translated_fieldsTranslatedField[]
Show child attributes
- idstring
- namestring
- typestring
- parent_field_idstring
- parent_field_sourcestring
- parent_field_namestring
- parent_field_internal_namestring
- translated_languagestring
- valuestring
custom_fieldsCustomFieldValue[]
Show child attributes
- idstring
- namestring
- valuestring | boolean | null
  The formatted field value, or null when the field is empty. Numeric field types (number, currency, percent, quantity, formula) serialize a stored zero as its formatted value (for example "0") — null means the field has no value, not that the value is zero.
  
  checkbox fields serialize as the strings "Yes" (checked) and "No" (explicitly unchecked); a checkbox that was never set is null. Writes take boolean true / false.
  
  datetime fields serialize as ISO 8601. On event custom fields (GET /v1/events?expand=custom_fields) the value is event-local time with the event's UTC offset (for example 2026-08-15T09:00:00-03:00), falling back to the raw UTC instant (2026-08-15T12:00:00.000Z) when the event has no valid timezone. On session, speaker, sponsor, and exhibitor custom fields the value is the raw UTC instant.
  
  date (date-only) fields serialize as M-DD-YYYY: month without a leading zero, day with one, four-digit year (for example 9-22-2026 for 22 September 2026, 3-04-2026 for 4 March 2026). This is not ISO 8601; parse it with that exact pattern.
- typestring
- internal_namestring
- created_atstring
admin_urlstring<uri> | null
Deep link to this entity in the Sessionboard admin UI.

400

Validation error

401

Unauthorized

403

Insufficient scope or feature not enabled

429

Rate limit or daily quota exceeded

Response examples

{
  "id": "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890",
  "friendly_id": "SPK-42",
  "full_name": "Dr. Jane Smith",
  "first_name": "Jane",
  "last_name": "Smith",
  "email": "jane.smith@university.edu",
  "created_at": "2023-11-01T10:00:00Z",
  "updated_at": "2024-02-15T16:30:00Z",
  "photo_url": "https://cdn.sessionboard.com/photos/jane-smith.jpg",
  "company_name": "State University",
  "title": "Professor of Computer Science",
  "about": "Dr. Smith is a leading researcher in distributed systems.",
  "address_city": "Austin",
  "address_state": "TX",
  "address_country": "US",
  "honorific": "Dr.",
  "pronouns": "she/her",
  "topic_expertise": "Distributed Systems, Cloud Computing",
  "custom_fields": [],
  "translated_fields": []
}

Create a contact

Request example

Try it

Authorizations

Path parameters

Request body

Responses

200application/json

400

401

403

429

Response examples

200`application/json`