diff --git a/metaflow/plugins/events_decorator.py b/metaflow/plugins/events_decorator.py
index 2d13096aa4a..cc29b5c2234 100644
--- a/metaflow/plugins/events_decorator.py
+++ b/metaflow/plugins/events_decorator.py
@@ -422,7 +422,9 @@ def flow_init(
                         )
                 if "project_branch" in self.attributes["flow"]:
                     if is_stringish(self.attributes["flow"]["project_branch"]):
-                        result["branch"] = self.attributes["flow"]["project_branch"]
+                        result["project_branch"] = self.attributes["flow"][
+                            "project_branch"
+                        ]
                     else:
                         raise MetaflowException(
                             "The *project_branch* attribute of the *flow* is not a string"
@@ -467,6 +469,7 @@ def flow_init(
                                 "The *name* attribute '%s' is not a valid string"
                                 % str(flow_name)
                             )
+
                         result = {"fq_name": flow_name}
                         if "project" in flow:
                             if is_stringish(flow["project"]):
@@ -478,7 +481,7 @@ def flow_init(
                                 )
                         if "project_branch" in flow:
                             if is_stringish(flow["project_branch"]):
-                                result["branch"] = flow["project_branch"]
+                                result["project_branch"] = flow["project_branch"]
                             else:
                                 raise MetaflowException(
                                     "The *project_branch* attribute of the *flow* %s "
@@ -597,9 +600,41 @@ def format_deploytime_value(self):
             # Entire trigger is a function (returns either string or dict)
             old_trig = trigger
             if isinstance(trigger, DeployTimeField):
+                # convert the trigger to string or dict
                 trigger = deploy_time_eval(trigger)
+                if is_stringish(trigger):
+                    pass
+                elif isinstance(trigger, dict):
+                    if "name" not in trigger:
+                        raise MetaflowException(
+                            "The *flow* attribute for *@trigger_on_finish* is missing the "
+                            "*name* key."
+                        )
+                    flow_name = trigger["name"]
+
+                    if not is_stringish(flow_name) or "." in flow_name:
+                        raise MetaflowException(
+                            "The *name* attribute of the *flow* is not a valid string"
+                        )
+                    result = {"fq_name": flow_name}
+                    if "project" in trigger:
+                        if is_stringish(trigger["project"]):
+                            result["project"] = trigger["project"]
+                        else:
+                            raise MetaflowException(
+                                "The *project* attribute of the *flow* is not a string"
+                            )
+                    if "project_branch" in trigger:
+                        if is_stringish(trigger["project_branch"]):
+                            result["project_branch"] = trigger["project_branch"]
+                        else:
+                            raise MetaflowException(
+                                "The *project_branch* attribute of the *flow* is not a string"
+                            )
+                    trigger = result
+            # effect is to set all fields to None if they don't exist.
             if isinstance(trigger, dict):
-                trigger["fq_name"] = trigger.get("name")
+                trigger["fq_name"] = trigger.get("fq_name")
                 trigger["project"] = trigger.get("project")
                 trigger["branch"] = trigger.get("project_branch")
             # We also added this bc it won't be formatted yet