calendar-prep

name	calendar-prep
description	Prepare for upcoming calendar events - identify prep needs, research attendees, create briefings

Calendar Prep

Run this daily (morning) or when asked to prepare for upcoming meetings. Ensures you're never caught off-guard in meetings.

Prerequisites

This skill requires calendar access. If not available yet, note the limitation and skip calendar-dependent steps.

Workflow

1. Fetch upcoming events

Get calendar events for the next 24-48 hours. Focus on:

• Events where you're specifically invited (not just team-wide)
• Team events you've RSVP'd "yes" to
• Any event with external attendees

Skip:

• Declined events
• All-day events (unless they're deadlines)
• Recurring standups (unless there's a specific agenda)

2. Categorize each event

For each relevant event, determine:

Category	Prep needed
1:1 internal	Check for context in people file, recent interactions
1:1 external	Research attendee, create/update people file, prepare briefing
Team meeting	Review agenda if available, check for action items from last time
External meeting	Research company/attendees, prepare briefing, check for shared context
Interview	Research candidate thoroughly, prepare questions
Presentation	Ensure materials ready, rehearsal notes

3. Research external attendees

For any external person not already in state/people/:

1. Create a people file at state/people/[name-slug].md
2. Research (web search if tools available):
   • Current role and company
   • LinkedIn summary
   • Recent public activity (blog posts, talks, tweets)
   • Shared connections or context
   • Previous interactions (search emails, chat history if available)
3. Note the meeting context: Why are we meeting? What might they want?

4. Identify preparation tasks

For each event, ask:

• Do I need to review any documents beforehand?
• Are there action items I committed to from last meeting?
• Is there context I should refresh (project status, recent decisions)?
• Should I prepare questions or talking points?

Add any prep tasks to state/today.md with the meeting time as deadline.

5. Create meeting folders (when needed)

Only create a meeting folder when the meeting needs artifacts (briefings, prep docs, notes). Don't create folders for routine meetings.

Structure: state/meetings/[date]-[meeting-slug]/

Create a folder when:

• External meeting requiring research
• Interview
• Important presentation
• Complex meeting needing prep docs
• Any meeting where you'll want to capture notes

Don't create a folder for:

• Regular standups
• Quick syncs
• Routine 1:1s (unless there's something specific to prep)

Folder contents (as needed):

state/meetings/2026-01-07-acme-intro/
├── briefing.md      # Pre-meeting research and talking points
├── prep.md          # Specific preparation tasks or documents
└── notes.md         # Meeting notes (created during/after)

Briefing template (briefing.md):

---
date: 2026-01-07T14:00:00
attendees:
  - [e-mail]
  - [e-mail]
type: external
status: upcoming
---

# [Meeting name]

## Context

[Why this meeting is happening, what we hope to achieve]

## About [External person/company]

[Key facts from research]

## Email & Chat Context

[Recent email threads, DMs, decisions, or action items related to this meeting]

## Talking points

- [Point 1]
- [Point 2]

## Questions to ask

- [Question 1]
- [Question 2]

The frontmatter enables queries like "find all upcoming external meetings" or "meetings with Alice in the last month".

6. Check related emails and chat messages

For each meeting, search Gmail and Google Chat for relevant context:

1. Search for email threads related to the meeting:

   • Search by attendee email addresses
   • Search by meeting subject or key topics
   • Search within the last 2-4 weeks leading up to the meeting

2. Search for recent DMs with meeting attendees:

   • Use google-workspace_chat_search_messages to find recent direct messages from each attendee
   • Look for context about why the meeting was scheduled
   • Check for any prep work or topics they mentioned
   • Search within the last 1-2 weeks

3. Surface insights in the prep doc/briefing:

   • Recent discussions or decisions from email/chat
   • Action items or commitments made via email/chat
   • Questions or concerns raised
   • Shared documents or context
   • Previous meeting notes sent via email
   • Topics or agenda items mentioned in DMs

4. Add context to the briefing under "Email & Chat Context" section:

## Email & Chat Context

- [Date] (email): [Brief summary of relevant email thread or decision]
- [Date] (chat): [Recent DM context - why meeting scheduled, topics to cover]
- [Date]: [Action items or commitments]

Focus on communications that provide context the meeting organizer or attendees might reference.

7. Update today.md

Add calendar-related items to today's priorities:

• Prep tasks with deadlines
• Reminder of key meetings
• Any briefings to review

People file template

When creating a new person file at state/people/[name].md:

---
email: [e-mail]
company: Acme Corp
role: Product Manager
relationship: external
last_contact: 2026-01-07
---

# Alice Smith

## Context

[How we know them, relationship context]

## Notes

[Key things to remember - communication style, interests, previous discussions]

## Interactions

- 2026-01-07: [Brief note on interaction]

The frontmatter makes the file queryable (find external contacts, people not contacted recently), while the body stays human-readable.

Output

After completing the workflow, summarize:

• Events requiring attention in the next 24-48 hours
• Prep tasks added to today.md
• New people files created
• Meeting folders created (with paths)
• Email and chat insights surfaced (key threads, DMs, or context found)
• Gaps (events you couldn't fully prep for and why)