plan-an-event

name	plan-an-event
description	Plan and coordinate a professional event across the goal, guests, dates, venue, vendors, budget, invitations, agenda, logistics, and run-of-show. Use for offsites, workshops, dinners, conferences, customer or partner sessions, and similar internal or external events.

Plan an Event

Help the user go from “we should organize something” to an event that is ready to run. Use Strawberry's browser as a shared working surface: bring together the team's real context, search and open live venue and vendor sites, and carry approved choices into outreach and coordination. Keep the work visible so the user can inspect an option, correct course, or take over in the same browser instead of receiving a list produced in a separate headless browsing session.

1. Decide what a great event looks like

Infer what is already clear from the conversation, calendar, open tabs, files, and saved context. Ask only about gaps that would change the plan, such as:

• what the event should achieve and who it is for;
• likely size, format, dates, location, and budget;
• what is fixed, preferred, or still open;
• who owns the decision and how far the user wants help; and
• accessibility, dietary, privacy, technology, or brand needs that affect the experience.

Start with the useful planning work. Pause before commitments or invitations if the date, guest scope, budget authority, or another essential choice is genuinely unresolved.

2. Use the team's context, then search the real web

Pull in the context that matters from calendars, event briefs, Slack or email, budgets, previous events, project tools, files, and connected apps. Suggest a connection only when it would materially improve the result; open tabs, uploaded material, and details from the user are valid ways to begin.

Then work in the browser. Search across venue, catering, activity, production, equipment, transport, and other relevant sites. Follow promising links to the provider's own pages, compare what is actually offered, and use logged-in services when the user has made them available. Keep useful tabs and source links easy for the user to inspect.

A listing or starting price is not confirmed availability. Record when an option was checked, what the site actually says, and what still needs a quote or direct answer. Keep private calendar, employee, customer, accessibility, and guest information out of searches and vendor messages unless it is needed and appropriate for the approved task.

3. Bring back a short list the user can choose from

Recommend a small number of event concepts or provider combinations that could genuinely work. Explain the meaningful tradeoffs—experience, location, capacity, accessibility, availability, flexibility, effort, and full expected cost—without burying the recommendation in a giant report.

Include enough to make the next decision:

• the recommended direction and why it fits;
• the best venue and vendor options with links;
• a working budget, including important fees, deposits, and unknowns;
• the decisions and deadlines that could hold up the event; and
• a draft agenda or experience arc when it affects the choice.

Keep advertised prices, estimates, requested quotes, received quotes, tentative holds, and confirmed bookings distinct. Show conflicts or missing information instead of quietly filling the gaps.

4. Reach out and book what the user chooses

Once the user chooses a direction, use the same browser workspace to open inquiry forms, prepare vendor emails, and work through the relevant booking or purchasing flow. Show the user the message, recipient, requested dates and services, and any information being shared before contacting anyone.

As replies and quotes arrive, compare them with the current plan and budget rather than leaving the user to reconcile separate inbox threads. Update the recommendation when availability, cost, or terms change.

Keep vendor contact, holds, contracts, deposits, purchases, invitations, and publishing as separate steps. Approval of the idea or budget does not approve every action. Before committing money or accepting terms, show the selected provider, scope, dates, total cost, and important cancellation or payment terms. Use the appropriate Legal workflow when contract judgment is needed.

5. Keep one plan and run the event well

Once the main choices are made, maintain one current view of the budget, bookings, guests, deadlines, risks, and owners. Prepare the invitations, attendee tracking, agenda, briefing material, vendor instructions, and follow-up the event actually needs. Make approved calendar, project-tool, document, or messaging changes in the right place and verify important updates afterward.

Build a practical run-of-show with timings, locations, owners, handoffs, setup, accessibility needs, contact paths, and proportionate backup plans. Keep the visible plan useful for the people running the event, not just complete on paper.

Use strawberry/operations/plan-a-business-trip when individual travelers need options, bookings, or itinerary changes. Keep the shared arrival window, group transport, and event travel budget here.

6. Make the next event easier

Use feedback and the final outcome to remember useful venue criteria, vendor experience, budget rules, accessibility practices, timelines, and run-of-show patterns. When the organization should repeat the method, offer to save the accepted approach as a custom or team skill.

For a longer event project, a Routine can be useful at real milestones. It might check the agreed calendar, guest list, tasks, budget, and vendor threads, then prepare a short update covering new decisions, deadlines, RSVP changes, and risks. Keep it draft-first unless the user explicitly approves broader actions. Stop when the date, budget authority, guest scope, or a material vendor term is unresolved, and skip the Routine when ordinary on-request coordination is enough.