Getting Started: Zero to Booked
Welcome to Gig Central! This guide will walk you through the core workflow of the platform—from setting up your professional presence to booking your first paid speaking gig.
Gig Central is designed to automate the heavy lifting of prospecting, outreach, and logistics so you can focus on what you do best: speaking.
1. Claim Your Space (Platform Setup)
Before you start reaching out to event planners, you need to ensure your branding is set up. This guarantees that every proposal, invoice, and bio you send looks professional and cohesive.
- Profile & Branding: Navigate to Settings > Profile to upload your primary headshot, logo, and brand colors.
- Global Documents Library: Go to the Documents tab. Here you will find your Master Templates (Performance Agreement, Invoice, Speaker Bio, One Sheet). The system will automatically inject your branding into these templates. Any edits made here become the default for all future gigs.
2. Connect Your Engine (Integrations)
Gig Central’s most powerful features require a connection to your existing communication tools.
- The Magic Inbox: Go to Settings > Integrations and connect your primary email account via IMAP/SMTP. This is required for Gig Central to automatically pull inbound speaking inquiries directly into your pipeline and track replies to your outreach campaigns.
Pro Tip: Any time an event planner emails you an inquiry, forward that email to your unique
inbox@gigcentral.aiaddress. Our Google Gemini integration will read the email, extract the date, location, fee, and planner's contact info, and automatically create a new Opportunity card in your Pipeline!
- Calendar Sync: Connect your calendar so the platform can detect scheduling conflicts and power your public booking forms without double-booking you.
3. Feed the Pipeline (Prospecting)
You don't need to manually hunt for leads. Gig Central has an autonomous agent built to do it for you.
- The Autonomous Agent: Turn on your AI Prospecting Agent from the Network tab. Set your target industries and locations, and the agent will begin finding relevant contacts in the background.
- Approving Leads: Review your pending leads in the Leads Approval hub. Approved leads are automatically added to your CRM and can be seamlessly enrolled in cold outreach sequences.
4. Run the Board (Kanban & Logistics)
When an inquiry comes in (either manually added, sourced via AI, or caught by the Magic Inbox), it lands on your Kanban board.
- The Operations Hub: Click any gig card on your board to open the Operations Hub. This is your control center for that specific gig, containing all files, contacts, and email threads.
- Automated Drafting: As you drag the gig across stages (like Discovery to Proposal), Gig Central's AI CoPilot can automatically draft contextual follow-up emails, saving you hours of writing.
- Sending Proposals: From the Operations Hub, you can generate a beautiful, branded proposal straight from your Global Documents, attach your fee breakdown, and send it directly to the client.
5. Getting Paid (The Client Portal)
Gig Central removes the friction of endless back-and-forth emails when finalizing a gig.
- The Client Portal: Once the client is ready to move forward, share their unique Client Portal link (found in the Operations Hub).
- Seamless Onboarding: From the secure portal, the event planner can review the itinerary, download your Speaker Bio and headshots, sign the Performance Agreement, and view the final Invoice—all in one place.
Need more detailed help? Check out our deep-dive articles on The Magic Inbox, AI Prospecting, and Customizing Your Client Portal.