Improve conference importer and series attendance

tests/test_add_new_conference.py

@@ -145,6 +145,35 @@ def test_normalize_dates_field_moves_legacy_dates() -> None:
     }
 
 
+def test_normalize_dates_field_parses_quoted_dates() -> None:
+    """Quoted ISO dates from generated YAML should become date objects."""
+    conf: dict[str, typing.Any] = {
+        "name": "Git Merge",
+        "dates": {
+            "status": "exact",
+            "start": "2026-09-16",
+            "end": "2026-09-17",
+        },
+    }
+
+    add_new_conference.normalize_dates_field(conf)
+
+    assert conf["dates"]["start"] == date(2026, 9, 16)
+    assert conf["dates"]["end"] == date(2026, 9, 17)
+
+
+def test_validate_generated_conference_reports_missing_dates() -> None:
+    """Missing generated dates should raise a clear importer error."""
+    conf: dict[str, typing.Any] = {
+        "name": "Git Merge",
+        "topic": "Git",
+        "location": "TBC",
+    }
+
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="missing valid date information"):
+        add_new_conference.validate_generated_conference(conf)
+
+
 def test_build_prompt_includes_nested_dates_and_series() -> None:
     """The prompt should describe nested dates and known series IDs."""
     prompt = add_new_conference.build_prompt(