Backstage: a venue-scouting agent that knows “350 seats” isn’t a yes

Backstage is an innovative tool designed to simplify venue scouting for community organizers in Delhi NCR and Bengaluru. With just a few details about the event, such as audience size, headcount, date, and required equipment, Backstage uses a Knowledge Base to generate source-backed venue leads. These leads provide information on whether the venue meets the event's requirements and the appropriate contact method for further inquiry.

The platform is particularly useful in a domain where inaccurate information can lead to substantial financial and trust-related issues. One of the challenges faced in venue research is the presence of traps in public text, such as negation and misleading numbers without a clear layout. For instance, a venue might mention having "approximately 350 seats" for an auditorium, but without specifying the seating arrangement, it could accommodate varying numbers of attendees depending on the setup.

Backstage addresses these issues by only counting capacity when a source explicitly links a named room with a suitable seating layout for the event. When faced with conflicting information from different sources, Backstage presents all the figures and does not favor one over the other. It also highlights audience conditions, past event availability, and shared page descriptions, ensuring that the venue information is accurate and up-to-date.

Each claim in Backstage is associated with a subject, an evidence type, a qualification, its source, and a check date, providing a comprehensive overview of the information presented. The model does not make decisions about whether a requirement is met; instead, it selects the relevant Knowledge Base entries for review. The server then classifies each requirement based on the structured claims found in the entries, with specific caveats attached to each clause.

Backstage's verification process ensures that only venues with correctly cited sections for the event are presented to the organizer. It checks that published venues in Sanity are included in the read entries and rejects any invented venues. If an entry cites the wrong venue's source, the model returns no information, preventing any potential misinformation from being shared. Extensive testing has been conducted to ensure the accuracy and reliability of Backstage's findings.

Organizers benefit from Backstage by receiving a guided brief that separates event essentials from optional extras, suggests a suitable event setup based on the activities, and provides direct links to the sources cited for each venue. The platform also offers evidence-first leads, verified sources, actionable unknowns, and editable inquiries that can be saved for future reference.

Real venues are presented as research leads, not bookable through Backstage, ensuring that organizers have a clear understanding of each venue's capabilities and limitations.

The platform is designed to be transparent and actionable, providing organizers with the information they need to make informed decisions about venue selection. By using a structured approach that relies on verified sources and avoids reliance on ambiguous or uncertain information, Backstage helps organizers find suitable venues with confidence.