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

@finnmjclancy is already working on this.

Since Jul 10, 2025.

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