[epic] Autumn Residency inquiry and registration process handover and improvements

[rufuspollock]

Current booking tracker https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GD3Qbaeov5ES-i3PSozk08eyCqVLQRu0lN9eXVBxfHk/edit?resourcekey=&gid=1115254047#gid=1115254047

Situation

• Current Booking Flow
  • Bookings for residencies like the Autumn Residency rely on a form accessed via a landing page, social media posts, and other promotional channels.
  • Applicants complete the form, are then contacted to schedule an interview, and eventually receive confirmation and payment details.
• Interview and Scheduling
  • Interviews are arranged manually via email.
  • Valerie does not use a calendar booking system for calls, increasing back-and-forth communication.
• Payment and Room Allocation
  • Final confirmation and payment handling process is unclear.
  • Room bookings may be tracked in spreadsheets, but exact mechanisms are not well known.
• Responsibility Transfer: Valerie is transitioning out; responsibility for bookings, marketing, and registration is being handed over to Finn

Complication

• Process Ambiguity
  • Booking and registration steps are not formally documented.
  • Unclear workflows for confirmation, room allocation, and payment.
• Lack of System Integration
  • No CRM in place for tracking leads, applicants, or email outreach.
  • Difficulty identifying where individuals are in the pipeline.
• Operational Inefficiency
  • Scheduling interviews involves avoidable email ping-pong.
  • Hard to coordinate or personalize outreach without segmenting contact history.
• Inflexibility in Promotion
  • No infrastructure for targeted communications (e.g. one-off promos to past participants).
  • Limited capacity to offer extensions, e.g. friend referrals or follow-up emails, in a scalable way.

Question

How can we streamline and clarify the residency registration process to reduce overhead, enable smooth handover, and minimize risk of errors?

• What are the exact steps in the current registration pipeline, from initial interest to final confirmation?
• What tools are currently used for scheduling, payments, and room tracking?
• What communication templates (if any) are used in applicant outreach?
• What data do we currently collect, and where is it stored?
• How do we track applicant status (e.g., applied, interviewed, confirmed, paid)?
• Can a CRM or simple tool help manage both marketing and pipeline?
• What are the pain points in the current process from Valerie's perspective?
• How do we document and train new users on the system?
• What’s the minimum level of automation needed to reduce time spent?
• How might we manage room availability dynamically and transparently?

Hypothesis

Step-by-Step Proposal

• Document the existing end-to-end process as accurately as possible.
• Map current tools (e.g. forms, spreadsheets, emails) and how they interact.
• Identify the most error-prone or effortful steps in the current flow.
• Evaluate simple CRMs or form-to-pipeline tools (e.g. Airtable, Notion, Tally + Make).
• Introduce a scheduling tool (e.g. cal.com) to cut down on email exchange.
• Centralize applicant data and room booking status in a shared source of truth.
• Design email templates and sequences for outreach, interview setup, confirmation, and follow-ups.
• Pilot the system with a small cohort to stress test before full rollout.

Underlying Assumption: Documenting and modestly systematizing the registration process will reduce time, friction, and risk, and enable easier handover and scaling.

MVP

• Respond to people to schedule a meeting
• 15m meeting with Finn
  • Optional follow up with Valerie if “iffy”
  • Briefing videos about e.g. hub itself, praxis ecology
    • Bonus: info on each room e.g. photos, videos
• Spreadsheet clear status of where they are at …
• Clear on where things like booking link etc