Bring your attendees into a fly-in in one go — pull them straight from your RSVPs or upload a CSV, and we'll match them to offices automatically.
👥 Who Are Attendees?
Attendees are the advocates joining your fly-in, who will walk into legislator offices and meet with lawmakers and their staff. Getting them into your fly-in is what powers the rest of your event:
- Matching each attendee to the right offices based on their address or state
- Scheduling them into meetings with times, rooms, and staff contacts
- Emailing each attendee a personalized itinerary of their day
You've got two ways to add them: import from RSVPs (an existing AdvocacyAI event) or upload a CSV.
✅ Let's Add Your Attendees
Make sure you are logged in to your AdvocacyAI account. On the navigation bar, locate the “Events” section and click on the Fly-Ins tab to search for your event. Within the fly-in, open the Attendees tab.
On the Attendees section, click on the “Add Attendees” button on the top right. Here, you’ll see the option to import attendees from RSVPs or through a CSV file.
#1 Import from RSVPs
If advocates already RSVP'd to a previous event, this is the fastest way to add them (no file needed).
Import from RSVPs: Click the "Import from RSVPs" button to pull in everyone who RSVP'd to an existing event tied to this fly-in. We'll bring them in as attendees and skip anyone who's already been added.
Already added some attendees another way? No worries! RSVP import skips anyone who's already on your fly-in, so you can run it without creating duplicates.
#2 Upload a CSV
Bringing attendees from a spreadsheet? Upload a CSV and we'll create or match each person for you.
- Choose your file: Click the file picker and select a
.csvfile from your computer (max 20 MB).
- Import CSV: Once your file is selected, click the "Import CSV" button to start.
Your CSV should have these columns:
- email (required): Each attendee's email address. This is how we match to existing advocates or create a new one if the email is new.
- first_name (optional): The attendee's first name.
- last_name (optional): The attendee's last name.
- state (optional): Their state, used to match them to the right offices. You can use a two-letter code (like
CA) or the full name (likeCalifornia) — either works.
The email column is the only one that's required, but adding state is what lets us auto-match attendees to their offices. Include it whenever you can to save yourself the manual matching later.
#3 Watch Your Import Progress
A "Recent imports" section appears below the import options and updates on its own while your import runs. You'll see it move from Waiting to start… to Processing to a final summary.
When it's done, you'll see how many attendees were added, how many were skipped, and how many were auto-assigned to offices.
Skipped rows: If any rows had a problem (like a missing or invalid email) you can expand the details to see exactly which rows were affected.
#4 Review & Organize
Once your import finishes, click the "View Attendees" button to jump to the Attendees tab, where you can search, filter, assign attendees to offices, and check people in.
Attendees whose state didn't match an office in your fly-in will come in unassigned. Use the bulk actions on the Attendees tab to assign them by hand, or re-run office matching after adding more offices.
❓FAQs
Do imported attendees get an email right away?
No. Importing just adds people to your fly-in, it doesn't email them. You'll send meeting details later from the Itineraries tab, once meetings are scheduled.
What file types can I upload?
CSV files (.csv). If your data lives in Excel or Google Sheets, use Save As or Download as and choose the CSV option.
What happens if the same email is in my file twice?
Only one entry is kept, so you won't get duplicates. To be safe, it's worth removing duplicate rows before you upload.
Why were some of my rows skipped?
Rows are skipped when the email is missing or isn't a valid email address, or when that person is already an attendee on this fly-in. Expand the details in the import report to see which rows and why.
My CSV import didn't work at all — what happened?
The most common cause is a missing email column. Make sure your file has a column with the header email (capitalization doesn't matter) and try again.
How does auto-matching to offices work?
We match attendees to the offices in your fly-in based on their state. Anyone we can't place is left unassigned so you can sort them out on the Attendees tab.
➡️ What's Next?
Your Overview dashboard walks you through the rest of the process. We recommend that you open up a registration page so other attendees can sign up to attend your fly-in.
👋 Need More Help?
Reach out to us at help@advocacyai.com and we'll get you back on track!