Field Event Ops

This drill manages the full operational lifecycle of a single in-person field event: a dinner, happy hour, or lunch in a target market. It handles everything except content delivery (which is human-led) and post-event nurture (handled by field-event-attendee-nurture).

Field events differ from webinars or virtual roundtables because they have physical constraints: venue capacity, food/drink minimums, travel logistics, and day-of coordination. This drill accounts for all of them.

Input

• Target market: city and metro area
• Event format: dinner (8-15 people, seated), happy hour (15-40 people, casual), or lunch (8-20 people, seated)
• Target date range: window of 2-3 weeks to schedule within
• ICP definition (from icp-definition drill)
• Budget ceiling for venue and F&B

Steps

1. Source and evaluate venues

Use google-maps-place-search to find candidate venues in the target city. Search parameters:

• Dinner: Private dining rooms or semi-private spaces at restaurants. Search queries: "private dining room [city]", "restaurant private event space [city]". Filter by capacity (8-15), cuisine type appropriate for business dining, and price range ($60-150/person).
• Happy hour: Bars or restaurants with reservable semi-private areas. Search queries: "bar private event [city]", "happy hour venue [city]". Filter by capacity (15-40), accessibility, and bar service availability.
• Lunch: Restaurants with group seating or private rooms. Search queries: "lunch private dining [city]", "business lunch venue [city]". Filter by capacity (8-20) and proximity to the local business district.

For each candidate venue, capture:

• Name, address, phone, website
• Private/semi-private space availability
• Capacity range
• F&B minimum spend (most private dining rooms require one)
• Cancellation policy
• AV capabilities (for any brief presentations)

Score venues on: location accessibility (transit/parking), capacity fit, ambiance for business networking, and cost. Rank top 3.

2. Book the venue

Human action required: Call or email the top-ranked venue to book. Confirm: date, time, room, headcount range, F&B package or minimum, deposit if required, and cancellation window.

Log the confirmed booking in Attio as a custom object or note on the event record. Include: venue name, address, confirmed date/time, capacity, cost commitment, and cancellation deadline.

3. Build the invitee list

Use clay-people-search to find prospects in the target metro matching the ICP. Filter by:

• Title/seniority matching your buyer persona
• Company size and industry matching ICP
• Location: within the metro area of the event city

Run clay-enrichment-waterfall to get verified emails and LinkedIn URLs.

Push enriched contacts to Attio using attio-contacts. Create an Attio list for this event using attio-lists with fields:

• Name, email, company, title
• Invited (boolean), RSVP status (invited/confirmed/declined/no-response), attended (boolean)
• Source (Clay, existing pipeline, referral, personal network)

Target invitee list size: 3-5x your venue capacity. For a 15-person dinner, invite 45-75 people. Field event show rates for confirmed RSVPs typically run 70-85%.

4. Send invitations

Using loops-sequences, build a 3-touch invitation sequence:

Touch 1 (T-21 days): Personal invitation. Subject line references the city and a peer-relevant topic ("Dinner conversation: [topic] in [city]"). Body: 4-5 sentences. Frame it as an exclusive gathering of [N] [role] leaders in [city] to discuss [topic] over [dinner/drinks/lunch]. Include date, time, general location (neighborhood, not exact address), and RSVP link.

Touch 2 (T-14 days): Social proof follow-up to non-responders. Mention confirmed attendees by title/company (not name, unless they consented). "We have [N] [title]s from companies like [X] confirmed so far." Include the RSVP link again.

Touch 3 (T-7 days): Final seat availability. "A few spots remain for [date]. Confirming the final headcount with the venue this week." Create urgency without pressure.

Create the RSVP page using calcom-event-types. Configure it as a group booking with a max capacity matching the venue. Use calcom-booking-links to generate the shareable link.

Track all invitation events with posthog-custom-events:

• field_event_invite_sent (properties: event_slug, city, touch_number, channel)
• field_event_rsvp_page_viewed (properties: event_slug, city, source)
• field_event_rsvp_confirmed (properties: event_slug, city, company, title)
• field_event_rsvp_declined (properties: event_slug, city, reason)

5. Manage RSVPs and headcount

Monitor RSVP confirmations daily starting at T-14. Update the Attio event list as RSVPs come in.

Headcount triggers:

• If confirmations reach venue capacity at any point: close the RSVP page, move remaining invitees to a waitlist
• If confirmations are below 50% of capacity at T-7: activate backup outreach — send personal LinkedIn messages to high-value non-responders, ask existing confirmed attendees to refer a peer
• If confirmations are below 50% of capacity at T-3: Human action required — decide whether to proceed, downsize, or postpone. Alert via Slack.

Send a confirmation email to all confirmed attendees at T-3 using loops-broadcasts:

• Exact venue address and directions
• Parking/transit recommendations (use google-maps-place-search to find nearby parking)
• Dress code if relevant
• Arrival time
• Your phone number for day-of coordination

6. Coordinate day-of logistics

Human action required: The host manages the event in person. Agent supports with:

• T-2 hours: Send a "Looking forward to tonight" text/email to all confirmed attendees with a reminder of the address
• Prepare name badges or a seating chart if dinner format (agent generates from the Attio list)
• Prepare a brief topic guide or conversation starters for the host (3-5 discussion questions related to the event topic)
• Log any last-minute cancellations or walk-ins in Attio

7. Capture attendance

During or immediately after the event, mark attendance in Attio:

• Set attended: true for each person who showed up
• Add notes on any notable conversations or expressed needs
• Log any new contacts met at the event (walk-ins, plus-ones) as new Attio contacts with source: field-event-walkin

Fire field_event_attended PostHog event for each attendee (properties: event_slug, city, company, title).

Output

• Booked venue with confirmed logistics
• Enriched invitee list in Attio with RSVP tracking
• 3-touch invitation sequence running in Loops
• RSVP page live on Cal.com
• Full attendance logged in Attio and PostHog
• Ready for field-event-attendee-nurture drill to handle follow-up

Triggers

• Start T-28 days before the target event date (venue sourcing)
• Invitations begin at T-21
• Confirmation email at T-3
• Day-of coordination on event day
• Run once per event