Contact Lists

Why it matters

Events need dates. Not everything you track does.

You need addresses from 50 partners. Feedback from attendees three weeks after a conference. A newsletter subscriber list that lives alongside your contact records. None of that fits an event.

How it works

Events Without Dates

Same guest list tools. No calendar complexity. Just a landing page that stays open.

Unified Contact Management

Your contacts live in one place. Data follows them across events and lists.

Why Lists Exist

You need to collect addresses from 50 partners. Or survey attendees three weeks after an event. Or track newsletter subscribers.

None of that has a date.

Lists handle this. They share most tools with events. No dates, times, or calendar invites.

For detailed documentation on how the list interface works, see Guest Lists and Events. Views, columns, filters, sections, and bulk actions all work identically. The rest of this page focuses on differences and use cases.

How Lists Work

You already know how to run an event in Gatsby. Lists work almost identically.

Creating a List

The Lists dashboard mirrors the Events dashboard. My Lists shows lists you created or collaborate on. All Lists shows everything your team is running.

Creating a List

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Click Create List to open the dialog. Much simpler than events.

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List Details

• List name (required)
• Internal name (optional, for your reference)
• Template selection
• Collaborators

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Advanced Settings

• Enable parent-child linking
• Select parent or child lists

No dates. No times. No location. Just a name and you’re ready.

Key Differences from Events

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Feature	Events	Lists
Status tracking	RSVP Status	Link Status
Registration tool	RSVP tool	Landing Page tool
Calendar invites	Yes	No
Registration deadline	Configurable	Always open
Plus-ones	Configurable	Not available
Capacity limits	Configurable	Not available

The navigation inside a list is nearly identical: List, Seating Chart, Documents, Files, Landing Page, Campaigns, Tasks. The only swap is Landing Page instead of RSVP.

Link Status vs RSVP Status

Lists use Link Status instead of RSVP Status. The lifecycle is simpler.

The lifecycle:

Link Sent → Visited → Completed

No Accept or Decline because there’s nothing to decline. Guests either complete the survey or they don’t.

Link Status Reference

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Status	Meaning
Blank	Not sent a link
Link Sent	Received a campaign with their unique link
Visited	Clicked the link. Viewed the landing page.
Completed	Finished the survey
Survey Incomplete	Started but didn’t finish required questions
Bounced	Email bounced
Failed	Email failed to send
Blocked	Previous bounce detected

Use Cases

Lists unlock workflows that don’t fit the event model. Here’s how teams use them.

Newsletter Subscribers

Your newsletter lives in Mailchimp or HubSpot. Your relationship data lives in Gatsby. You want subscribers in your contact database without creating fake events to hold them.

Use a list. The landing page can act as your subscription form. Contacts join your database with their full history intact. Survey questions capture preferences, interests, and segments. Nothing fake, nothing cluttering your events dashboard.

Newsletters Playbook

Post-Event Surveys

You want feedback three weeks after your conference. If you use an event for this, your follow-up could trigger a calendar invite and registration confirmations for guests who already attended. Confusing at best…

Use a list. No calendar complications. The survey stays open. Add attendees from the original event.

Network Intelligence Dashboards

You want to see your entire contact network: who’s engaged, who’s dormant, who RSVPs yes but never shows.

Create a list for this. Add Event History columns to see engagement patterns. Filter by total events attended, RSVP patterns, engagement level. Create views for different segments: highly engaged, needs re-engagement, VIPs who never show. No date means no confusion with your actual events calendar.

Internal Directories

Your team needs a shared reference for key contacts: board members, LP contacts, portfolio company executives. A spreadsheet works until someone needs to filter by relationship owner or see when a contact last attended an event.

Create a list. Organize contacts by relationship type. Add custom columns for internal notes, relationship owners, last contact date. Share views with team members. Password protect if needed. Contact profiles link to full engagement history.

Event Series Dashboards

You run a quarterly dinner series. You want to see everyone who’s ever attended any dinner in one place. Individual events show individual dinners. You need the aggregate view.

Create a parent list with child events. Guests bubble up from child events to the parent. Add RSVP Status columns from each child event. Now you see who’s been to one dinner and who’s been to all four.

Holiday Gift Address Collection

December hits. You need mailing addresses from 50 partners.

Google Forms sends responses to a spreadsheet that has nothing to do with your contact records. Chasing addresses over email means every update lives in someone’s inbox.

Use a list. Your branded landing page replaces the generic form. Personal links tie responses to existing contact records automatically. Addresses sync to contact profiles and persist year over year. Contacts can update if something changed, or confirm what’s already on file. Reuse the same list next year.

Collecting Addresses Playbook

Parent-Child Lists for External Collaborators

You’re co-hosting an event. Each contributor has their own invite list. You don’t want them seeing each other’s contacts or your event settings. But you need everyone in one place for the actual event.

Use your event as a “parent” and create child lists for each contributor.

Each contributor gets access to their child list only. They upload their contacts to their child list. Contacts bubble up to the parent automatically. Contributors never see each other’s contacts or the main event settings.

This pattern works for co-hosted events, sponsor outreach, decentralized invite management, and any situation where multiple people contribute contacts without seeing the full picture.

Everything Else Works the Same

Views, columns, filters, sections. Guest actions like bulk edit, send message, add tags, export. The Campaigns tool. Documents, Files, and Tasks.

All identical to events.

For detailed documentation on these features, see Guest Lists and Events.

Common Questions

What's the difference between Events and Lists?

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Events have dates. Lists don’t.

Use Events for gatherings. You get calendar invites, RSVP tracking, check-in, and attendance data.

Use Lists for ongoing groups (newsletter subscribers, guest directories, internal team, etc.) and for sending out survey forms (post-event surveys, address updates, event preferences, etc. ). Perfect for multi-event tracking (e.g. event series dashboard).

Both get the same tools: campaigns, landing pages, documents, tasks. Events add the date-specific stuff and different registration modes (waitlist, maybe, decline).

Can I convert a List into an Event later?

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No direct conversion. But you can add list contacts to any event. The contacts and their data carry over.

Can I use the seating chart in a List?

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Yes, the tool is available. Use cases include room assignments, table arrangements for ongoing groups, or organizational charts.