Work backwards from the event date. Give an AI assistant your facts, ticket target and a table of real dates, and ask for a week-by-week calendar of emails, posts, partner approaches and reminders. Then check every date and claim yourself, tag each link so sales show their source, and compare tickets sold with a pacing target every week.
Assistants write a tidy, generic calendar and can then attach the wrong weekday to a date, so the plan below hands the assistant dates, numbers and policies instead of asking it to know them. The example is a one-night live music evening with a set supper in a 120-seat room; the same skeleton fits a talk, a screening or a charity quiz night. The figures are illustrative, so swap in your own.
Start from the empty seats, not the first post
Before any copy exists, the calendar needs four numbers: how many tickets must sell, what each one earns, where the break-even sits and how many should be sold by the end of each week. The example event is a Saturday evening, doors at 6:30pm, supper at 7pm and music from 8pm, in a room that seats 120. Eight seats are held back for the performers' guests, partners' giveaways and staff, which leaves 112 to sell at $45 a ticket, supper included.
| Figure | Amount | How it is worked out |
|---|---|---|
| Seats in the room | 120 | The room's seated capacity |
| Held back | 8 | Performers' guests, partner giveaways, staff |
| Tickets on sale | 112 | 120 minus 8 |
| Revenue if all 112 sell | $5,040 | 112 × $45 |
| Fixed costs | $1,942 | Performers $1,200; extra staff $480; supper for the 8 held-back seats $112; printing and a small boost $150 |
| Supper cost per ticket | $14 | The kitchen's own figure |
| Left from each ticket | $31 | $45 minus $14 |
| Break-even | 63 tickets | $1,942 ÷ $31 is 62.6, rounded up |
| Profit if all 112 sell | $1,530 | 112 × $31 is $3,472, minus $1,942 |
Every figure in that table belongs to the venue; the assistant is never asked to choose a price or a target. The break-even earns its place because it gives the calendar a checkpoint with a consequence. In the plan below it should be passed during week 3; if it is not, two weeks remain to change course.
The pace line is the cumulative number of tickets sold by the end of each week: 12, 30, 48, 66, 88 and 112. It leans towards the end, with the last two weeks carrying 46 of the 112, and that shape is an assumption. Your last event's sales dates will show the real one, so replace it as soon as you have the evidence.
Plan the sources as well: 45 tickets from the email list, 22 from Instagram and other social posts, 28 from partners and 17 direct or by word of mouth (45 + 22 + 28 + 17 = 112). Tickets sell in groups, so convert before judging a source. At an assumed 2.5 tickets per order, 45 email tickets are 18 orders, a 2% order rate on a list of 900. If that looks high or low against your last event, change the target now rather than in week 4.
Give the assistant a date table, not a calendar to work out
Assistants write convincing dates and sometimes attach the wrong weekday to one. The cure is to supply the dates yourself and make the assistant repeat them before it builds anything. Weeks run Monday to Sunday, except week 1, which ends on the event.
| Week | Dates (2027) | What the week is for |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Mon 8 to Sun 14 Feb | Announce to the list; partners get their kits |
| 5 | Mon 15 to Sun 21 Feb | Give people a reason to come |
| 4 | Mon 22 to Sun 28 Feb | Partners carry the message; midpoint check |
| 3 | Mon 1 to Sun 7 Mar | Proof, answers and the break-even checkpoint |
| 2 | Mon 8 to Sun 14 Mar | Honest last call for groups and the list |
| 1 | Mon 15 to Sat 20 Mar | Practical details, reminders, doors at 6:30pm on Saturday |
Two limits from Instagram's own help pages sit on top of these dates. Event reminder posts can be created from one hour to three months before the event, so the whole plan fits inside that window. Scheduled posts can be queued up to 30 days ahead, so on Monday 8 February you can queue only as far as Wednesday 10 March, and the final ten days have to be queued later. That points to a rolling routine: every Monday, queue the next ten days. The section on what can and cannot be queued has the details.
The planning prompt, and the calendar it returned
Paste the numbers, the dates and every policy the assistant might otherwise invent, and tell it what to do about gaps. No subscriber names, addresses or phone numbers belong in the chat: the assistant writes the copy, and your email tool keeps the list. This is the prompt used for the example.
You are helping the manager of a small venue plan six weeks of promotion for one event. Use only the facts, dates and policies below. If something you need is missing, list it as a question at the end instead of guessing. Use placeholders for any names.
EVENT
Live acoustic music evening with a two-course set supper. 120-seat room, 112 tickets on sale. Saturday 20 March 2027: doors 6:30pm, supper 7pm, music from 8pm. Ticket $45, supper included, booked at [ticket link]. Confirmed: the headline act. Not confirmed: any support act. No early-bird price and no discounts.
REFUNDS
[paste the venue's exact refund wording]
AUDIENCES
Email list: 900 subscribers. Instagram: 2,100 followers. Six neighbouring businesses have agreed to share.
DATES (use exactly)
Week 6: Mon 8 Feb to Sun 14 Feb. Week 5: Mon 15 Feb to Sun 21 Feb. Week 4: Mon 22 Feb to Sun 28 Feb. Week 3: Mon 1 Mar to Sun 7 Mar. Week 2: Mon 8 Mar to Sun 14 Mar. Week 1: Mon 15 Mar to Sat 20 Mar.
PACE (cumulative tickets sold by the end of each week)
Week 6: 12. Week 5: 30. Week 4: 48. Week 3: 66. Week 2: 88. Week 1: 112.
TASK
First repeat the date table back to me. Then build a week-by-week calendar. For each week give: emails (day, purpose, subject line idea), Instagram and Facebook posts (day, format, purpose), partner actions, and one check to make on Friday. Use one new angle per send: announcement, menu, performer, proof, last call, logistics. No scarcity or sell-out claims and no promises I have not listed. At most five hashtags on any post.The first instruction in the task matters more than it looks, because the assistant's repeat of the date table is the quickest way to see whether it read the table the way you meant. Here are weeks 6 and 5 of what came back (illustrative, trimmed):
Dates confirmed as given.
WEEK 6 (Mon 8 Feb to Sun 14 Feb). Angle: announcement
Emails: Mon 8 Feb, 10am, full list. Purpose: date, price, what is included. Subject ideas: "Live acoustic music and supper, Saturday 20 March" / "Tickets are on: 120 seats, one night".
Posts: Wed 10 Feb, feed post with date, price and inclusions, with an event reminder. Fri 12 Feb, 20-second video of the room set for supper.
Partners: Thu 11 Feb, send the six partner kits.
Friday check (12 Feb): tickets sold against 12.
WEEK 5 (Mon 15 Feb to Sun 21 Feb). Angle: the supper
Emails: Thu 18 Feb, 10am, subscribers who clicked but did not buy. Purpose: the set supper, course by course. Early-bird price ends Friday.
Posts: Wed 16 Feb, carousel of the supper menu. Sat 20 Feb, "Limited seats remaining" story. #livemusic #supper #acoustic #datenight #weekend #community #foodie
Partners: Mon 15 Feb, reminder with a fresh image.
Friday check (19 Feb): tickets sold against 30.
[Weeks 4 to 1 follow in the same shape. Week 3 includes "Announce the support act".]Six things needed changing, and they are the kind of slip to look for in any first draft:
- "Early-bird price ends Friday": there is no early-bird price. Deleted.
- "Limited seats remaining" in week 5, when only 30 of 112 tickets are gone. The prompt banned scarcity claims and the draft made one anyway. Deleted until it is true.
- "Wed 16 Feb": 16 February 2027 is a Tuesday. The date table caught it, which is the reason the table exists.
- Seven hashtags on one post, against Instagram's cap of five.
- "120 seats" in a subject line, when 112 are on sale.
- "Announce the support act" in week 3, for an act that is not confirmed. Replaced by a post about how the room is set for supper.
None of these is a surprise. A fluent writer fills a gap with something plausible, and the prompt closes most gaps while the read-through closes the rest. Treat the first draft as a draft.
The six weeks, one at a time
The calendar the assistant returns is a starting point. These are the decisions behind each week, with the venue's own choices flagged as choices.
Week 6, 8 to 14 February: the list hears first
On Monday at 10am the announcement goes to the full email list. It carries the date, doors time, what the ticket includes, the price, the one confirmed act, a single button to the tagged ticket link and the refund line pasted from your own policy. Send only to people who agreed to hear from you, and keep the unsubscribe link your email tool adds. Ask the assistant for five subject lines and choose one yourself; a subject that names the date and the draw is easier to defend than a slogan. Before sending, run the email newsletter QA checklist.
The public post follows on Wednesday, with an event reminder attached. What separates a weak draft from a useful one is how many questions it answers. The weak one: "Join us for an unforgettable evening of live music and great food!" The useful one: "Saturday 20 March: live acoustic music and a two-course supper. Doors 6:30pm, music from 8pm, $45 including supper, 112 seats. Link in bio." Twenty-three words, and it covers when, what, how much, how many and where to click. The ticket page deserves the same treatment, and the tutorial on ticket-page copy for small events covers it.
Week 5, 15 to 21 February: the reason to come
Week 5 is for the details that make a stranger say yes: the supper course by course, a short clip of the headline act (with their permission) and how the evening runs from doors to final song. The second email goes only to subscribers who clicked the first but did not buy, because they have shown interest and need a different reason, not a repeat. Many email tools can build that segment from click data. Give the assistant the first email's subject line and tell it to open differently. The Friday check is against 30 tickets.
Week 4, 22 to 28 February: partners carry the message
By now partners should be posting. Send each one a fresh image and two lines of copy, and ask the headline act for a Collab post, which Instagram's scheduler does not currently support, so it goes out by hand. This is also the week to choose one offer that costs nothing in margin, such as a reserved table for groups of six at the standard price. That is a pricing decision and it stays with the manager. The Friday check is the midpoint: 48 tickets on plan, and the first time the ladder of changes further down may apply.
Week 3, 1 to 7 March: proof and answers
Proof beats adjectives. Use photographs from a previous night, with permission from anyone recognisable, and quote real comments only with the speaker's consent. Add a short post answering the questions the venue actually gets, such as step-free access, parking and how dietary needs are handled, using only facts you can confirm. A third email shows the evening as a timeline from doors to close. On plan, sales pass break-even (63) during this week and reach 66 by Sunday. If the Sunday number is below 63, two weeks remain to change something.
Week 2, 8 to 14 March: the honest last call
Monday's email to the whole list says how many seats are left, but only if the number is real, read from the ticketing dashboard that morning. Set a group deadline (Friday 12 March in the example) for the date by which the kitchen needs final numbers, and close the dietary form the same day. Send partners the same seat count so they neither promote a sold-out night nor stay quiet about a half-empty one. The Friday check is against 88.
Week 1, 15 to 20 March: practical details, then the evening
Week 1 is mostly logistics. On Monday, ticket holders get the practical email: doors, supper time, access details and what the ticket includes. Wednesday's last call to the list uses the real seat count again. Thursday brings the short reminder email covered below, Friday a "tomorrow" post and story, and Saturday morning a two-line day-of email to ticket holders plus a story. The last check, on Friday 19 March, is the number the kitchen cooks to.
Partner emails that get answered
A partner shares what is easy to share. The email's job is to make saying yes a two-minute task, so the kit does the work: a two-line blurb, one image and a booking link tagged with that partner's own name. The table shows who to ask for what. A partner who might pay for visibility is a different job, covered in the tutorial on sponsorship proposals and pitch emails.
| Partner | The ask | What they get back |
|---|---|---|
| Neighbouring café or shop | One post, or a counter card with the tagged link | A mention in your next email and on your Stories |
| The headline act | A Collab post and one story | A full room |
| A club or community group | One message to members with a group offer | A reserved table for six or more |
| A nearby employer | A line in a staff email or on a noticeboard | Easy group booking |
| A free listings site or newsletter | A free event listing | A useful entry for their readers |
Write a 90-word email from the venue manager to a neighbouring business, asking them to share our event with their customers. Facts: [paste the EVENT block]. The ask: one post or one message, using the kit attached (a two-line blurb, an image and a booking link tagged with their name, [partner link]). What they get: a mention in our next email, and a reserved table if a group of theirs books six or more. Tone: friendly and plain, no hype. Address it to [first name] and sign off as [your name]. Do not offer anything I have not listed.The version worth sending looked like this:
Subject: Could you share our supper night on 20 March?
Hi [first name],
We're hosting a live acoustic music evening with a two-course supper on Saturday 20 March: doors 6:30pm, music from 8pm, $45 a ticket. Would you share it with your customers, in one post or one message?
I've attached a two-line blurb, an image and your own booking link, which is tagged with your name so we can see what your shout-out brings in. If a group of yours books six or more, we'll reserve you a table, and we'll mention you in our next email.
Happy to send anything else that would make it easier.
Best,
[your name]The first draft was warmer and wrong. It called the night "the must-see event of the season" and offered each partner two complimentary tickets, which the venue had not listed. The tickets came out. A perk the assistant invents is a promise the manager has to keep, and the reserved table the prompt allowed is the only incentive on offer. Give every partner a different tag, so that the Friday check can say which of them delivered.
The reminder email, and the refund line the assistant invented
Ticket holders get three short emails in the last week, and the one most likely to go wrong is the middle one, because it lists practical facts. Take the Thursday email, two days before the event. As an illustration of how it fails, the first draft promised "free parking behind the venue" and "full refunds up to 48 hours before the event". The venue has no parking of its own and its policy allows seven days. Nothing in the prompt had supplied either fact, so the assistant supplied plausible ones, and a ticket holder who quotes the 48 hours back has a fair point.
The fix has two parts: paste the facts, and forbid the rest.
Write the Thursday reminder email to ticket holders for Saturday 20 March. Use only these facts: doors 6:30pm; supper served 7pm; music from 8pm; tickets work on a phone or printed; the entrance is step-free (confirmed by the venue); refunds: [paste the exact policy]. If parking, transport, dietary handling or anything else is not listed here, say nothing about it. Under 120 words. Sign off as [your name].Subject: Saturday: doors 6:30pm, supper at 7pm
Hi [first name],
Two days to go. Doors open at 6:30pm, supper is served at 7pm and the music starts at 8pm. Your ticket works on your phone or printed. The entrance is step-free.
Our refund policy is the one on your booking confirmation: [exact policy wording].
If anything about your booking needs to change, reply to this email and we will help.
See you on Saturday,
[your name]Every claim a venue is tempted to let the assistant fill in has a place where the truth lives, and that place is what you paste.
| Claim | Where the truth lives |
|---|---|
| Refunds and transfers | The written policy, pasted word for word |
| Parking and transport | Your own access page, or nothing at all |
| Step-free access and other access details | Your access statement, confirmed by someone who has walked the route |
| Dietary handling | What the kitchen can actually do, in the kitchen's own words |
| Who is playing | Confirmations you hold in writing, not conversations |
| Seats left | The ticketing dashboard on the day of sending |
The rule that follows is short: anything not in the prompt is not in the email, and anything in the email can be traced to a line you pasted.
Tag every link so the sheet knows where buyers came from
The Friday check is only as good as its source column, and the source column comes from tagged links. Google's help page on campaign URLs says that when you add parameters you should always use utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign, that the values are case sensitive, and that you build a tagged link by adding a question mark to the base address and then name-and-value pairs joined by ampersands. Whether the tags then show up in your ticketing platform's report or only in your website's analytics depends on the platform, which is why the test booking below matters.
| Where the link sits | Ending added to the ticket link |
|---|---|
| Announcement email | ?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=supper-night |
| Instagram bio and posts | ?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=supper-night |
| A partner café | ?utm_source=partner-cafe&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=supper-night |
| The headline act's Collab post | ?utm_source=headline-act&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=supper-night |
| Poster QR code | ?utm_source=poster&utm_medium=print&utm_campaign=supper-night |
Keep every value lowercase with hyphens, and keep a one-row-per-link sheet so the same source is never spelt two ways. Build the endings with a formula rather than by hand or by chatbot: =A2&"?utm_source="&B2&"&utm_medium="&C2&"&utm_campaign=supper-night", where A2 holds the plain ticket link, B2 the source and C2 the medium. Then run the test that saves the plan: make a test booking through each tagged link before launch. Some ticketing pages drop the tags. If yours does, use a promo code per source and add a "how did you hear about us" question at checkout instead.
The Friday check: pace against plan, by source
Every Friday, add the week's ticket numbers to the sheet and set them against the pace line. This is the end of week 4 in the example, and every figure is illustrative.
| Source | Planned by end of week 4 | Actual | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | 21 | +2 | |
| Instagram and other social | 10 | 6 | -4 |
| Partners | 12 | 9 | -3 |
| Direct and word of mouth | 7 | 3 | -4 |
| Total | 48 | 39 | -9 |
The planned column is the channel shares from earlier, 40%, 20%, 25% and 15% of 48, rounded to whole tickets. The partner tags explain the partner row: partner A brought 5 tickets, B and C two each, and D to F none, so three of the six partners have not shared yet. Paste the table into the assistant with a prompt that asks for judgement without conclusions:
Here is my pace plan and this week's actual tickets by source: [paste the table]. Tell me: (1) how many tickets and what per cent I am ahead or behind; (2) which source explains most of the gap; (3) two actions for next week that use only things already in my plan; (4) what you cannot tell from this data.You are 9 tickets behind plan (39 sold against 48), which is 19% behind. Email is the only source ahead (+2), making it the clear winner. Social (-4), direct (-4) and partners (-3) account for the gap. Partner tags show partners D to F have sold nothing, which suggests they have not shared yet.
Actions: 1) Send partners D to F a ready-to-post caption and ask for a posting date. 2) Re-send the supper email to subscribers who clicked but did not buy. 3) Offer a limited-time discount to close the gap.
Cannot tell: whether the social shortfall comes from the posts or the audience, because there are no reach figures.Three things needed correcting. "Clear winner" for a two-ticket lead is noise. The discount is a pricing decision that the plan had ruled out, so the next version of the prompt adds "Do not suggest price changes or discounts". And it gave three actions when the prompt asked for two. The arithmetic was right: 9 of 48 is 18.75%, which it rounded to 19%. Check that sum every week anyway, because the day it is wrong is the day you act on it.
If tickets run behind the line: a ladder of changes
The gap above is 18.75% of the pace line, so it falls in the middle band of the ladder below. Write the ladder before launch, while nobody is worried, so that Friday's decision is a lookup instead of an argument.
| Gap at a Friday check | What to do | Who decides |
|---|---|---|
| Under 10% behind | Stay on plan; confirm the ticket link works from a phone | Manager |
| 10% to 25% behind | One extra partner push with a ready-made caption; re-send a new angle to subscribers who clicked but did not buy; no price change | Manager |
| More than 25% behind | Change the offer (a reserved table for six at the same price), close a section so the room still looks full, or move the date | Owner |
Week 4's gap of 9 tickets triggers the middle row, which is what the sample actions above do, minus the discount. If you are ahead, the ladder runs the other way: stop promising seats, update every post that still says tickets are on sale and start a waiting list.
What can and cannot be queued ahead
Instagram's help page on scheduled posts says, as of October 2026, that the account must be public, that you can schedule up to 25 posts a day and up to 30 days ahead, and it names reels, photos and carousels as the formats. It also says product tagging, collaborative posts, sponsored posts and fundraisers are not compatible with scheduled content at this time. It does not mention Stories or posts with event reminders. The help page on event reminder posts says they are for professional accounts, can be created from one hour to three months before the start, and send followers who tap the bell a notification 24 hours before, 15 minutes before and at the start.
That gives a clean split between what is queued and what is done by hand:
- Queue: feed posts, carousels and Reels, ten days at a time, and every email in your email tool's own scheduler.
- By hand: the Collab post with the headline act, any post you want an event reminder attached to (test once whether your account lets you queue one), and Stories unless your scheduling tool handles them.
The Monday routine takes about twenty minutes. Read the assistant's draft for the next ten days against the date table, queue the posts and emails, and put the by-hand items in your calendar for the days they fall due. Anything more than 30 days away waits for a later Monday.
Hours and cost across the six weeks
These hours are illustrative, for a manager running promotion alongside the day job: a block up front for the numbers and the plan, then two to three hours a week.
| Stage | Hours |
|---|---|
| Numbers, date table and planning prompt | 3.0 |
| Week 6: email, announcement post, partner kits | 3.0 |
| Week 5 | 2.0 |
| Week 4 | 2.5 |
| Week 3 | 2.0 |
| Week 2 | 2.0 |
| Week 1: logistics emails, day-of stories | 3.0 |
| Total | 17.5 |
The money is smaller than the hours. The $150 of printing and promotion is already inside the fixed costs. Planning plus six weeks of promotion runs past one billing month, so allow two months of a $20 plan (ChatGPT Plus is $20 a month, and Claude Pro is $20 on monthly billing), which brings promotion to $190, or about $1.70 a ticket if all 112 sell. The 17.5 hours are the real cost, and a second event should cost fewer, because the sheet, the date template and the prompts carry over.
After the doors close
On the Monday after, add the final ticket numbers by source to the sheet and paste the whole thing, plan columns included, into the assistant with one question: where did the actuals differ from the plan, and which assumption was wrong? The answer feeds the next event's pace line and channel shares, which is how the late-weighted pace and the 40% email share turn from guesses into your own data. Then send the thank-you email and the feedback survey while the evening is fresh; the tutorial on writing an event survey and summarising the answers covers both. Keep the date table, the prompts and the tag sheet as templates, so that the next event starts from a copy rather than a blank page.
Questions venues ask when the plan meets real sales
What if tickets sell out in week four?
Stop the countdown messaging, keep one waiting-list link and tell partners so they stop sending people to a dead page. Update every queued post that still says tickets are on sale, then decide whether a second night is realistic. The pace line has done its job; the rest of the plan becomes a thank-you and a waiting list.
Does the plan work for a free event with RSVPs?
Yes, with one change. RSVPs overstate turnout, so set the pace line above capacity using the gap between RSVPs and attendance at a past event of yours, and send a 'can you still come?' message a week out so cancellations free seats for anyone on a waiting list.
How do I stop six weeks of emails repeating each other?
Give the assistant one angle per send (announcement, menu, performer, proof, last call, logistics) and paste the earlier subject lines into the prompt with an instruction not to reuse their openings. Read the sends side by side before scheduling, and rewrite one yourself if two start the same way.
What if my ticketing page strips the tags from my links?
Test with a pretend purchase through each link before launch. If the tags disappear, rely on a promo code per source and a 'how did you hear about us' question at checkout. Most ticketing tools offer both, though the names vary, so check what yours calls them.
Further reads
- Event Planning Checklist: Build One Per Event Type With AI — Build the run-of-show checklist that sits beside this promotion plan.
- Event Venue Marketing: Corporate Away-Day Campaign Written With AI — A venue campaign aimed at corporate bookings instead of ticket buyers.
- Event Planning Using AI After the Day: Feedback, Sponsor Reports, Debrief — Turn the night's results into a debrief and sponsor report.
- Venue Booking Software: Calendar, Deposits and AI Replies Compared — Booking software for the enquiries that follow a successful event.
- AI in Live Events: Postponed-Show Messages and Refund Replies — What to send ticket holders if the date has to move.
- Bookshop Event Ideas: Author Nights, Book Clubs and Signings With AI — Smaller recurring events a venue can promote with the same method.
- Yoga Workshop Ideas: Plan, Price and Promote a Weekend With AI — A worked weekend workshop: the break-even ticket count, three price tiers, a fact sheet, three emails, five posts and a weekly sales check for studio owners.
- AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.
Sources: Google Analytics help page on campaign URLs; Instagram's help pages on scheduled posts and event reminder posts; ChatGPT and Claude pricing pages.