Update a contact

PUT/v1/event/{eventId}/contacts/{contactId}

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

Update an existing contact. Requires the write:contacts scope. Optionally send updated_at for optimistic concurrency control. Sending null for a standard field clears it; omitting a key leaves it unchanged.

Request example

curl --request PUT \
  --url 'https://public-api.sessionboard.com/v1/event/{eventId}/contacts/{contactId}' \
  --header 'x-access-token: <api-token>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
  "updated_at": "2026-01-15T09:30:00Z",
  "first_name": "<string>",
  "last_name": "<string>",
  "email": "jane@example.com",
  "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/{contactId}', {
  method: 'PUT',
  headers: {
    "x-access-token": "<api-token>",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    "updated_at": "2026-01-15T09:30:00Z",
    "first_name": "<string>",
    "last_name": "<string>",
    "email": "jane@example.com",
    "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(
    "PUT",
    "https://public-api.sessionboard.com/v1/event/{eventId}/contacts/{contactId}",
    headers={
        "x-access-token": "<api-token>",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    },
    json={
        "updated_at": "2026-01-15T09:30:00Z",
        "first_name": "<string>",
        "last_name": "<string>",
        "email": "jane@example.com",
        "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/{contactId}",
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "PUT",
    CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => '{
  "updated_at": "2026-01-15T09:30:00Z",
  "first_name": "<string>",
  "last_name": "<string>",
  "email": "jane@example.com",
  "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("PUT", "https://public-api.sessionboard.com/v1/event/{eventId}/contacts/{contactId}", strings.NewReader(`{
  "updated_at": "2026-01-15T09:30:00Z",
  "first_name": "<string>",
  "last_name": "<string>",
  "email": "jane@example.com",
  "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/{contactId}"))
    .header("x-access-token", "<api-token>")
    .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
    .method("PUT", HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofString("{\n  \"updated_at\": \"2026-01-15T09:30:00Z\",\n  \"first_name\": \"<string>\",\n  \"last_name\": \"<string>\",\n  \"email\": \"jane@example.com\",\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*

contactId*

Body application/json

PUT

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.
contactIdstringpathrequired
The contact ID.

Request body

application/jsonrequired

updated_atstring<date-time>
Optional optimistic concurrency control. Send the updated_at value from the last-fetched contact (or from your last write's response); a contact changed since then returns 409 STALE_UPDATE.
first_namestring
last_namestring
emailstring<email>
companystring
titlestring
phonestring
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

{
  "updated_at": "2026-01-15T09:30:00Z",
  "first_name": "<string>",
  "last_name": "<string>",
  "email": "jane@example.com",
  "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 updated

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.

401

Unauthorized

403

Missing write:contacts scope

404

Contact not found

409

Stale update — contact modified since last fetch

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": []
}

Update a contact

Request example

Try it

Authorizations

Path parameters

Request body

Responses

200application/json

401

403

404

409

Response examples

200`application/json`