This guide shows you how to build a single GoHighLevel workflow that counts down to your AEvent webinar's start time. Instead of creating one AEvent tag and one GoHighLevel workflow for every reminder, you send the event time into one GoHighLevel custom field at registration and let a single workflow schedule every reminder around it. | In this guide: Overview Before you start Step 1: In AEvent, create and map the event-time field Step 2: In GoHighLevel, add the Set Event Start Date action Step 3: In GoHighLevel, build the countdown with Wait steps Things to watch |
Overview
AEvent can send your webinar's start time into a GoHighLevel custom field at the moment someone registers. Once that time lives on the contact, a single GoHighLevel workflow can anchor to it and schedule every reminder relative to it: a day before, an hour before, at start, and after the event.
This is the date-anchored method. It replaces the older approach, where you add a separate AEvent tag for each reminder offset and build a matching GoHighLevel workflow for each one. If you are already using that tag-per-reminder setup, it still works well and is covered in our Go High Level timeline-actions guide. Use the date-anchored method here when you would rather maintain one workflow than many.
Before you start
Make sure you have these ready:
An active AEvent account with a campaign already created.
Your GoHighLevel account connected to AEvent. If you have not connected it yet, follow our Go High Level setup guide first, then come back here.
A GoHighLevel workflow you can add actions to (a new one is fine).
Step 1: In AEvent, create and map the event-time field
In AEvent. You do not need to build a field inside GoHighLevel. AEvent creates and maps it for you. Open your campaign, go to the Integrations tab, find the GoHighLevel row, click its Settings gear, and open the GoHighLevel Settings panel. Open Custom Fields (Personalization).
If you already ran Create System Fields when you first connected GoHighLevel, your event-time field may already be here and mapped. Just confirm its Value is Webinar Start Time (the account and webinar timezone option, not the Registrant Timezone one) and its Format renders like 2026-07-23 9:29:35 PM.
If you have not set this up yet, click Create Single Field to create the date field in GoHighLevel directly from this panel. Then set Value = Webinar Start Time (account and webinar timezone) and Format = the option that renders like 2026-07-23 9:29:35 PM (year-month-day, 12-hour clock with AM/PM).
Either way, AEvent writes that formatted timestamp into your GoHighLevel field for every new registration. GoHighLevel stores it in a single-line text field and builds a field key from the name, for example webinar_start_time, which you will reference in the next step.
Timezone matters: choose the plain Webinar Start Time value (account and webinar timezone), not the Registrant Timezone version. GoHighLevel reads this value in your sub-account timezone for every contact, so the account-zone value keeps one correct anchor for everyone.
The mapping row in AEvent: the GoHighLevel field, Value set to Webinar Start Time, and the date Format.
You should see: the mapping row showing your field, the Webinar Start Time value, and the date format.
Step 2: In GoHighLevel, add the Set Event Start Date action
In GoHighLevel. Open your workflow and add the Set Event Start Date action. Set Type to Custom field, then select your Webinar Start Time field (its key, for example webinar_start_time). GoHighLevel reads the timestamp directly from the field, so you do not need a separate Date/Time Formatter step.
The Set Event Start Date action with Type set to Custom field and the webinar timestamp field selected.
Once a contact registers, you can open their record and confirm the field holds the event time that AEvent sent.
The GoHighLevel field on a contact, holding the Webinar Start Time value that AEvent sent at registration.
You should see: the Set Event Start Date action reading from your Webinar Start Time field, and the field populated on a registered contact.
In your workflow, the Set Event Start Date action sits right after your trigger and before the Wait steps.
Step 3: In GoHighLevel, build the countdown with Wait steps
In GoHighLevel. Now add your reminders. Between each reminder, add a Wait action. For Selected wait type, choose Until a scheduled date/time, then set the type to Appointment / calendar event. Under When should the contact proceed?, choose Before, At the scheduled time, or After, and enter the offset (months / days / hours / minutes).
A common countdown looks like this:
Wait until 1 day before, then Send Email (or SMS).
Wait until 1 hour before, then Send Email.
Wait until at the scheduled time, then Send Email with the join link.
Wait until 1 hour after, then Send Email (replay or follow-up).
The Wait action: wait type Until a scheduled date/time, Appointment / calendar event, set to 1 hour Before the event.
If your workflow shows an option for what to do when the date has already passed, set it on purpose so people who register late are not stuck or sent reminders for a time that already passed.
You should see: a single workflow that sets the event date, then waits and sends each reminder around it.
The full Webinar Countdown workflow: a Wait and Send pair for each reminder.
Things to watch
Timezone (the most important one): GoHighLevel's Set Event Start Date reads the value in your GoHighLevel sub-account timezone for every contact, not in each contact's own timezone. So do two things together: pick the plain Webinar Start Time value (your AEvent account and webinar timezone), not the Registrant Timezone one, and set your GoHighLevel sub-account timezone to match your AEvent account timezone. If these do not match, reminders fire at the wrong hour for registrants in other timezones.
The format has to match: pick the format shown in Step 1 (the "2026-07-23 9:29:35 PM" style). GoHighLevel also lists MM-DD-YYYY HH:MM as a recommended format; the year-month-day 12-hour form is confirmed to work. If the date will not set, it is almost always a format mismatch. Test one registration before you rely on it.
Order matters: the Set Event Start Date action has to come before any Wait step that references it. If a Wait runs first, there is no date for it to anchor to.
Late registrants: if your workflow shows a "if this date has already passed" option on a Wait, set it deliberately, so someone who registers after a reminder's moment is not stuck in the workflow or hit with reminders for a time that already passed.
You do not have to build the field in GoHighLevel: create it from AEvent with Create Single Field (or it already exists if you ran Create System Fields). If a field you just made does not appear, click Refresh in the GoHighLevel Settings panel.