Auto-generate podcast guest prep briefs from Cal.com bookings

Build me an agent workflow that turns every new podcast guest booking into a one-page prep brief delivered the day before we record.

Trigger: Cal.com poll trigger on the new_booking event, scoped to my podcast guest interview event type. From the booking, pull the guest's full name, email, the booking's scheduled start time, and any notes the guest entered when booking.

Step 1 — Find the guest's podcast footprint. Call Podchaser Search Credits using the guest's name (and email when useful for disambiguation) to find every credit they have as a host, guest, or producer. Collect the unique podcasts they have appeared on along with episode titles, air dates, and ratings.

Guardrail: if Podchaser returns fewer than three credits for this guest, stop the run and post a short Slack note to the prep channel that says we did not find enough public history to build a useful brief. Do not create a Notion page in this case.

Step 2 — Pick the most useful appearances. From the credits, choose up to five episodes that are either recent (within roughly the last 12 months) or highly rated on Podchaser. Prefer a mix so the brief reflects what they are talking about now, not just their greatest hits.

Step 3 — Read what they actually said. For each chosen podcast, call Podchaser Search Podcasts to resolve the show, then call Podchaser Get Episode Transcripts to fetch transcripts for the relevant episodes. Skim the transcripts for the topics they spent real time on, recurring talking points across appearances, and any quotes that sound distinctive in their voice.

Step 4 — Synthesize the brief. Write a one-page prep doc with these sections:

Guest snapshot (name, current role, where they live online, total appearances found).
Expertise areas, ranked by how often they come up across appearances.
Recurring talking points the guest tends to repeat, so the host knows what to dig past.
Three suggested fresh angles the guest has not covered in the appearances we read.
Five icebreaker questions, each one referencing a specific past episode by show name and topic so the host can name-drop naturally.
A short list of source episodes with show name, episode title, and air date.

Step 5 — Save the brief. Use Notion Create a Page to add a new page to my Guest Prep database. Set the page title to the guest's name, set a Recording Date property to the Cal.com booking start time, and put the full brief in the page body using clean headings and bullet lists.

Step 6 — Notify the host. Use Slack Send a Message to post a short note in our show's prep channel: the guest's name, the recording date, a one-sentence summary of who they are, and a link to the new Notion page. Send this on the day before the recording so it lands in time but does not get buried by an early ping.

Tone for the brief itself: tight and useful, written for a host who has 10 minutes to skim before tape. No fluff, no marketing copy, no recap of the guest's bio that anyone could Google.

Additional information

What does this prompt do?

Watches your Cal.com guest interview calendar and kicks off the moment a new booking is confirmed.
Pulls the guest's name and email, then researches every podcast they have hosted, guested on, or produced using Podchaser.
Reads transcripts from their most recent and highest-rated appearances to find recurring topics, standout quotes, and angles they have already covered.
Writes a one-page prep brief to your Guest Prep database in Notion with expertise areas, fresh angles to explore, and tailored icebreakers.
Posts a link to the brief in your show's Slack prep channel so the host gets a heads up the day before recording.

What do I need to use this?

A Cal.com account with the booking calendar you use for podcast guests
A Podchaser account with API access enabled
A Notion workspace with a Guest Prep database where new pages can be added
A Slack workspace and the channel you want prep links posted to

How can I customize it?

Change which Cal.com event type or calendar the agent watches, so it only fires for guest interviews and not other meetings.
Adjust the minimum number of past appearances required before the agent bothers writing a brief.
Tweak what goes in the brief itself, such as adding a quotes section, a list of co-hosts to mention, or links to the guest's social profiles.
Pick a different Slack channel or send the link as a DM to the host instead of posting publicly.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if the guest has barely any podcast history?

The agent skips the brief if it cannot find at least three past appearances on Podchaser. There usually is not enough material to write something useful, and you do not want a noisy Slack ping for every booking.

How current is the research?

Podchaser indexes new episodes continuously, so the agent will see appearances from the past few weeks. Transcripts are pulled from the guest's most recent and highest-rated shows so the brief reflects what they are actually talking about right now.

Can I keep the brief private to just me?

Yes. Point the Slack step at a DM instead of a channel, or remove the Slack step entirely. The Notion page will still be created in your Guest Prep database either way.

Will this fire on rescheduled or cancelled bookings?

It only fires on new bookings. Reschedules that keep the same guest will not generate a duplicate brief, and cancellations are ignored.

What if my Notion database has custom properties?

You can map any property in your Guest Prep database, like Episode Date, Status, or Topic Tags, and the agent will fill them in from the booking and the research.