How to draft vendor emails by voice for event planners in 2026

Draft vendor emails by voice for event planning, with the steps, the tools to try and the mistakes to avoid.

By XP Daily · 2026-10-28

XP Daily is published by the makers of DaysAid, QuickDictate and YTSort, which are compared here alongside other tools.

Speak each vendor email into the window you use for email, then read the draft before you send it. QuickDictate is one option, and it is a Windows program that types what you say into whichever window you are using. ^[1]

Option	What it does	Price
Typing your own draft	You write each email by hand with your keyboard.	not published
Dictation already on your device	Uses the voice typing your computer or phone may already include. Check its own page for what it does.	not published
QuickDictate	Types what you say into the window you are using, such as an editor or web form. ^[1]	Free for personal and other noncommercial use. ^[1] Commercial use needs a separate licence. ^[1]

What you need before you start

Before you draft anything, gather the details each vendor needs. For each one, have the event date, the guest count, the venue, the service you want and the date you need an answer by.

Keep a short note of what you asked each vendor last time, so a follow-up does not contradict an earlier email. Have your usual wording for a request or a confirmation ready to adapt, so you speak changes rather than composing from nothing.

Pick a quiet place where your voice carries clearly, and have the email window open with the right recipient already chosen. If you plan to use a dictation tool, try it once on a test sentence before a deadline.

Decide which vendor details are private, such as prices or contract terms, because that affects which tool you choose. Keep your vendor contact list where you can see it while you speak.

Step by step

These steps work with any tool, including typing by hand.

Pick one vendor and one purpose. Draft one email at a time. Mixing a caterer and a florist in one go makes the result hard to read back.

Name the event first. Say the event, date and venue at the start so the vendor knows which booking you mean.

Speak the request in plain sentences. Say what you need, how many, and by when. Short sentences are easier to check later.

Say the numbers slowly. Dates, guest counts and amounts are the easiest things to mishear, so repeat each one once.

Spell out names and unusual words. Spell any name a tool might mishear, or check it carefully afterward.

Finish with the deadline and the next step. Say the date you need an answer by and what you expect the vendor to do next.

Read the draft on screen. Check every number, name and date against your notes.

Fix small errors by hand. Typing a correction is often faster than dictating it again.

Save the draft before you send it. Keep a copy in your sent folder or a notes file.

Log the date you sent it. Note when you expect a reply so you know when to follow up.

Tools that can do it

You do not need special software for this. Three options fit the job: typing the draft yourself, using dictation that may already be on your device, or a dedicated tool such as QuickDictate.

QuickDictate. QuickDictate is a Windows program that types what you say into whichever window you are using. ^[1] You can start and stop dictation with a key press. ^[1] The tool can change its behaviour, such as the language it listens for, depending on which app you are typing into. ^[1] Saying 'scratch that' throws away the text you just dictated, so it is not typed into the window. ^[1] You can list words and phrases that are sent to the provider to help it recognise them, and you can set corrections so that 'Chat GPT' comes out as 'ChatGPT'. ^[1] You can look back through your last 50 dictations to find a draft you lost. ^[1]

QuickDictate is free for personal and other noncommercial use, with no subscription or account, and cloud providers bill you separately for their service. ^[1] From v0.9.0 on, QuickDictate is source-available under PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0, so client work needs a separate licence, and releases up to v0.8.0 were MIT. ^[1] You can choose online speech-to-text services from ElevenLabs, Deepgram, OpenAI, AssemblyAI, DashScope or Google, and you pay that provider directly for its service. ^[1] Dictation can also run with no internet connection and no API key, using a speech model installed on the computer. ^[1]

Common mistakes to avoid

Sending before reading. Dictation can mishear names and numbers, so check every figure before the email leaves your outbox.

Dictating several vendors in one go. Keep one email per dictation so each vendor's details stay separate.

Speaking private terms into a tool you have not checked. Before you dictate prices or contract terms, check which cloud provider handles the audio, since that provider receives what you say, and read that provider's own terms.

Forgetting the deadline. Say the date you need an answer by, so the request is clear to the vendor.

Skipping the first test. Try your tool on a sample sentence before a live deadline, so you know how it handles names you use often.

Losing a draft. Save each draft before you move on to the next vendor.

Frequently asked questions

How can QuickDictate type a vendor email into an email program?

QuickDictate types what you say into whichever window has focus, so the message box of an email program receives your words. ^[1] You speak, and the words appear in the open email once you start dictation with a key press. ^[1] Read the draft before you send it, because any dictation tool can mishear a name or a number, and a correction is often quicker to type.

Can QuickDictate get vendor names right when it dictates?

You can list words and phrases that are sent to the provider to help it recognise them. ^[1] You can also set corrections so that a spelling such as 'Chat GPT' comes out as 'ChatGPT', which works the same way for a vendor's brand name. ^[1] Check each name in the finished email, since a correction only applies to the spellings you have set. ^[1]

Is QuickDictate free for event planning work?

QuickDictate is free for personal and other noncommercial use, with no subscription or account, and cloud providers bill you separately for their service. ^[1] Using it for client work counts as commercial use, and from v0.9.0 on that needs a separate licence. ^[1] Releases up to v0.8.0 were MIT, so check which version you install before you decide. ^[1]

Can QuickDictate dictate without an internet connection?

Dictation can run with no internet connection and no API key, using a speech model installed on the computer, such as Whisper Large v3 Turbo. ^[1] If you choose a cloud provider instead, that provider bills you directly. ^[1] If you choose a cloud provider, that provider is the one that handles the audio, so check its own terms before you dictate private client details.

Can QuickDictate run on a Mac?

QuickDictate runs only on a Windows computer, and a Mac version is not available. ^[1] You get the program from GitHub, and it updates itself. ^[1] If your work runs on another system, check the other options in the table for how they handle dictation.

QuickDictate is free for personal and other noncommercial use, with no subscription or account. Cloud providers bill you separately for their service. ^[1]

Try QuickDictate

Sources

QuickDictate's own description of itself (the product of this site's publisher)