Can I set up text-to-join the day before my talk?

Yes. You can set up text-to-join the night before a talk, or the morning of it. Textiful runs on two shared short codes, 33777 and 55444, that are already approved with US carriers, so your keyword or QR code works the day you set it up, as soon as your trial or plan is active. Most texting tools need a number registered first, which takes one to two weeks.

That matters because the idea usually arrives late. The deck is nearly done, the last slide says "Thank you" or a web address, and it occurs to you that most of the room won't type that address. A day is enough.

What to do the day before

Allow about an hour. Most of it is deciding what to offer and testing on your own phone.

1. Decide what you'll give. Your slides are the easiest: people photograph them anyway. A worksheet, a checklist, or the recording also work. A specific offer gets far more of the room than "join my list." See what to offer for texting in.
2. Start your trial and pick a keyword. Choose a short word that's easy to spell when heard, on 33777 or 55444. If it's taken on one code, try the other. Add a QR code too; it's free.
3. Load a template. "Send my slide deck" asks for an email and sends the deck as a download link the moment someone replies. Upload the file to Handouts and add a question if you want one, such as their company or what brought them.
4. Connect your email tool or CRM. Mailchimp, Kit, ActiveCampaign, and HubSpot connect directly; anything else goes through Zapier. If there's no time, skip it: contacts wait in Textiful and you can export them after the talk.
5. Test it on your phone. Text the keyword, answer the questions, and check the deck arrives. Then scan the QR code and do it again.
6. Put it on the last slide. The offer, the keyword, the short code, and the QR code, in letters the back row can read. "Get today's slides. Text DEMO to 55444, or scan the code."

The morning of the talk

• Text the keyword one more time from your phone.
• If the room is bigger than your trial's remaining conversations (Settings > Billing shows the count), start your plan so nobody is turned away.
• Turn on "Email me a notification" if you want to see sign-ups arrive during the talk.

On stage

Tell the room early that the slides are coming, so they stop taking photos and listen. Before Q&A, put the slide up, say the keyword and the number twice, and walk them through it: open a new text, type 55444 as the number, type DEMO as the message, send. Leave the slide up while people type. The stage ask has the full script.

Why it can be this fast

Most texting tools give you your own phone number, and US carriers now require that number to be registered and approved before it can send, which takes one to two weeks. Textiful's keywords run on shared short codes that are already approved, and new accounts only capture: people text in, answer a question or two, and land in your list. There's nothing to send from your own number, so there's nothing to register.

The trade-off is that a keyword is first come, first served on each code, like a domain name, and the short codes work in the US only.

Set it up today and use it at tomorrow's talk → Start a free trial