Yes—set the agent’s “First message” to any string, including a question.
Ways to do it:
In the Dashboard: Agent tab → First message → enter your question (e.g., “How can I help you today?”). (elevenlabs.io)
Programmatically (recommended for per-session control): enable First message overrides in the agent’s Security tab, then pass conversation_config_override.agent.first_message when starting the conversation. (elevenlabs.io)
With Dynamic Variables: personalize the First message using {{variable}} placeholders (e.g., “Hi {{user_name}}, what can I help you with?”) and supply dynamic_variables at start. (elevenlabs.io)
Telephony examples:
Outbound via Twilio: include first_message in your POST that initiates the call. (elevenlabs.io)
Inbound via Twilio: return conversation_config_override.agent.first_message from your webhook. (elevenlabs.io)
These methods all support a question as the very first agent utterance. (elevenlabs.io)
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