Elite Voice Agents

Tag: Google Calendar

  • Step by Step Guide – How to Create a Voice Booking Assistant – Cal.com & Google Cal in Retell AI

    Step by Step Guide – How to Create a Voice Booking Assistant – Cal.com & Google Cal in Retell AI

    In “Step by Step Guide – How to Create a Voice Booking Assistant – Cal.com & Google Cal in Retell AI,” Henryk Brzozowski walks you through building a voice AI assistant for appointment booking in just a few clicks, showing how to set up Retell AI and Cal.com, customize voices and prompts, and automate scheduling so customers can book without manual effort. The friendly walkthrough makes it easy to follow even if you’re new to voice automation.

    The video is organized with clear steps and timestamps—copying the assistant, configuring prompts and voice, Cal.com setup, copying keys into Retell, and testing via typing—plus tips for advanced setups and a preview of an upcoming bootcamp. This guide is perfect if you’re a beginner or a business owner wanting to streamline customer interactions and learn practical automation techniques.

    Project Overview and Goals

    You are building a voice booking assistant that accepts spoken requests, checks real-time availability, and schedules appointments with minimal human handoff. The assistant is designed to reduce friction for people booking services by letting them speak naturally, while ensuring bookings are accurate, conflict-free, and confirmed through the channel you choose. Your goal is to automate routine scheduling so your team spends less time on phone-tag and manual calendar coordination.

    Define the voice booking assistant’s purpose and target users

    Your assistant’s purpose is to capture appointment intents, verify availability, create calendar events, and confirm details to the caller. Target users include small business owners, service providers, clinic or salon managers, and developers experimenting with voice automation. You should also design the assistant to serve end customers who prefer voice interactions — callers who want a quick, conversational way to book a service without navigating a web form.

    Outline core capabilities: booking, rescheduling, cancellations, confirmations

    Core capabilities you will implement include booking new appointments, rescheduling existing bookings, cancelling appointments, and sending confirmations (voice during the call plus optionally SMS/email). The assistant should perform availability checks, present available times, capture required customer details, create or update events in the calendar, and read a concise confirmation back to the user. Each capability should include clear user-facing language and backend safeguards to avoid double bookings.

    Set success metrics: booking completion rate, call duration, accuracy

    You will measure success by booking completion rate (percentage of calls that result in a confirmed appointment), average call duration (time to successful booking), and booking accuracy (correct capture of date/time, service, and contact details). Track secondary metrics like abandonment rate, number of clarification turns, and error rate for API failures. These metrics will guide iterations to prompts, flow design, and integration robustness.

    Clarify scope for this guide: Cal.com for scheduling, Google Calendar for availability, Retell AI for voice automation

    This guide focuses on using Cal.com as the scheduling layer, Google Calendar as the authoritative availability and event store, and Retell AI as the voice automation and orchestration engine. You will learn how to wire these three systems together, handle webhooks and API calls, and design voice prompts to capture and confirm booking details. Telephony options and advanced production concerns are mentioned, but the core walkthrough centers on Cal.com + Google Calendar + Retell AI.

    Prerequisites and Accounts Needed

    You’ll need a few accounts and basic tooling before you begin so integrations and testing go smoothly.

    List required accounts: Cal.com account, Google account with Google Calendar API enabled, Retell AI account

    Create or have access to a Cal.com account to host booking pages and event types, a Google account for Google Calendar with API access enabled, and a Retell AI account to build and run the voice assistant. These accounts are central: Cal.com for scheduling rules, Google Calendar for free/busy and event storage, and Retell AI for prompt-driven voice interactions.

    Software and tools: code editor, ngrok (for local webhook testing), optional Twilio account for telephony

    You should have a code editor for any development or script work, and ngrok or another tunneling tool to test webhooks locally. If you plan to put the assistant on the public phone network, get an optional Twilio account (or other SIP/PSTN provider) for inbound/outbound voice. Postman or an HTTP client is useful for testing APIs manually.

    Permissions and roles: admin access to Cal.com and Google Cloud project, API key permissions

    Ensure you have admin-level access to the Cal.com organization and the Google Cloud project (or the ability to create OAuth credentials/service accounts). The Retell AI account should allow secure storage of API keys. You will need permissions to create API keys, webhooks, OAuth clients, and to manage calendar access.

    Basic technical knowledge assumed: APIs, webhooks, OAuth, environment variables

    This guide assumes you understand REST APIs and JSON, webhooks and how they’re delivered, OAuth 2.0 basics for delegated access, and how to store or reference environment variables securely. Familiarity with debugging network requests and reading server logs will speed up setup and troubleshooting.

    Tools and Technologies Used

    Each component has a role in the end-to-end flow; understanding them helps you design predictable behavior.

    Retell AI: voice assistant creation, prompt engine, voice customization

    Retell AI is the orchestrator for voice interactions. You will author intent prompts, control conversation flow, configure callback actions for API calls, and choose or customize the assistant voice. Retell provides testing modes (text and voice) and secure storage for API keys, making it ideal for rapid iteration on dialog and behavior.

    Cal.com: open scheduling platform for booking pages and availability management

    Cal.com is your scheduling engine where you define event types, durations, buffer times, and team availability. It provides booking pages and APIs/webhooks to create or update bookings. Cal.com is flexible and integrates well with external calendar systems like Google Calendar through sync or webhooks.

    Google Calendar API: storing and retrieving events, free/busy queries

    Google Calendar acts as the source of truth for availability and event data. The API enables you to read free/busy windows, create events, update or delete events, and manage reminders. You will use free/busy queries to avoid conflicts and create events when bookings are confirmed.

    Telephony options: Twilio or SIP provider for PSTN calls, or WebRTC for browser voice

    For phone calls, you can connect to the PSTN using Twilio or another SIP provider; Twilio is common because it offers programmable voice, recording, and DTMF features. If you want browser-based voice, use WebRTC so clients can interact directly in the browser. Choose the telephony layer that matches your deployment needs and compliance requirements.

    Utilities: ngrok for local webhook tunnels, Postman for API testing

    ngrok is invaluable for exposing local development servers to the internet so Cal.com or Google can post webhooks to your local machine. Postman or similar API tools help you test endpoints and simulate webhook payloads. Keep logs and sample payloads handy to debug during integration.

    Planning the Voice Booking Flow

    Before coding, map out the conversation and all possible paths so your assistant handles real-world variability.

    Map the conversation: greeting, intent detection, slot collection, confirmation, follow-ups

    Start with a friendly greeting and immediate intent detection (booking, rescheduling, cancelling, or asking about availability). Then move to slot collection: gather service type, date/time, timezone and user contact details. After slots are filled, run availability checks, propose options if needed, and then confirm the booking. Finally provide next steps such as sending a confirmation message and closing the call politely.

    Identify required slots: name, email or phone, service type, date and time, timezone

    Decide which information is mandatory versus optional. At minimum, capture the user’s name and a contact method (phone or email), the service or event type, the requested date and preferred time window, and their timezone if it can differ from your organization. Knowing these slots up front helps you design concise prompts and validation checks.

    Handle edge cases: double bookings, unavailable times, ambiguous dates, cancellations

    Plan behavior for double bookings (reject or propose alternatives), unavailable times (offer next available slots), ambiguous dates (ask clarifying questions), and cancellations or reschedules (verify identity and look up the existing booking). Build clear fallback paths so the assistant can gracefully recover rather than getting stuck.

    Decide on UX: voice-only, voice + SMS/email confirmations, DTMF support for phone menus

    Choose whether the assistant will operate voice-only or use hybrid confirmations via SMS/email. If callers are on the phone network, decide if you’ll use DTMF for quick menu choices (press 1 to confirm) or fully voice-driven confirmations. Hybrid approaches (voice during call, SMS confirmation) generally improve reliability and user satisfaction.

    Setting Up Cal.com

    Cal.com will be your event configuration and booking surface; set it up carefully.

    Create an account and set up your organization and team if needed

    Sign up for Cal.com and create your organization. If you have multiple service providers or team members, configure the team and assign availability or booking permissions to individuals. This organization structure maps to how events and calendars are managed.

    Create booking event types with durations, buffer times and availability rules

    Define event types in Cal.com for each service you offer. Configure duration, padding/buffer before and after appointments, booking windows (how far in advance people can book), and cancellation rules. These settings ensure the assistant proposes valid times that match your operational constraints.

    Configure availability windows and time zone settings for services

    Set availability per team member or service, including recurring availability windows and specific days off. Configure time zone defaults and allow bookings across time zones if you serve remote customers. Correct timezone handling prevents confusion and double-booking across regions.

    Enable webhooks or API access to allow external scheduling actions

    Turn on Cal.com webhooks or API access so external systems can be notified when bookings are created, updated, or canceled. Webhooks let Retell receive booking notifications, and APIs let Retell or your backend create bookings programmatically if you prefer control outside the public booking page.

    Test booking page manually to confirm event creation and notifications work

    Before automating, test the booking page manually: create bookings, reschedule, and cancel to confirm events appear in Cal.com and propagate to Google Calendar. Verify that notifications and reminders work as you expect so you can reproduce the same behavior from the voice assistant.

    Integrating Google Calendar

    Google Calendar is where you check availability and store events, so integration must be robust.

    Create a Google Cloud project and enable Google Calendar API

    Create a Google Cloud project and enable the Google Calendar API within that project. This gives you the ability to create OAuth credentials or service account keys and to monitor API usage and quotas. Properly provisioning the project prevents authorization surprises later.

    Set up OAuth 2.0 credentials or service account depending on app architecture

    Choose OAuth 2.0 if you need user-level access (each team member connects their calendar). Choose a service account if you manage calendars centrally or use a shared calendar for bookings. Configure credentials accordingly and securely store client IDs, secrets, or service account JSON.

    Define scopes required (calendar.events, calendar.freebusy) and consent screen

    Request minimal scopes required for operation: calendar.events for creating and modifying events and calendar.freebusy for availability checks. Configure a consent screen that accurately describes why you need calendar access; this is important if you use OAuth for multi-user access.

    Implement calendar free/busy checks to prevent conflicts when booking

    Before finalizing a booking, call the calendar.freebusy endpoint to check for conflicts across relevant calendars. Use the returned busy windows to propose available slots or to reject a user’s requested time. Free/busy checks are your primary defense against double bookings.

    Sync Cal.com events with Google Calendar and verify event details and reminders

    Ensure Cal.com is configured to create events in Google Calendar or that your backend syncs Cal.com events into Google Calendar. Verify that event details such as title, attendees, location, and reminders are set correctly and that timezones are preserved. Test edge cases like daylight savings transitions and multi-day events.

    Setting Up Retell AI

    Retell AI is where you design the conversational brain and connect to your APIs.

    Create or sign into your Retell AI account and explore assistant templates

    Sign in to Retell AI and explore available assistant templates to find a booking assistant starter. Templates accelerate development because they include basic intents and prompts you can customize. Create a new assistant based on a template for this project.

    Copy the assistant template used in the video to create a starting assistant

    If the video demonstrates a specific assistant template, copy or replicate it in your Retell account as a starting point. Using a known template reduces friction and ensures you have baseline intents and callbacks set up to adapt for Cal.com and Google Calendar.

    Understand Retell’s structure: prompts, intents, callbacks, voice settings

    Familiarize yourself with Retell’s components: prompts (what the assistant says), intents (how you classify user goals), callbacks or actions (server/API calls to create or modify bookings), and voice settings (tone, speed, and voice selection). Knowing how these parts interact enables you to design smooth flows and reliable API interactions.

    Configure environment variables and API keys storage inside Retell

    Store API keys and credentials securely in Retell’s environment/settings area rather than hard-coding them into prompts. Add Cal.com API keys, Google service account JSON or OAuth tokens, and any telephony credentials as environment variables so callbacks can use them securely.

    Familiarize with Retell testing tools (typing mode and voice mode)

    Use Retell’s testing tools to iterate quickly: typing mode lets you step through dialogs without audio, and voice mode lets you test the actual speech synthesis and recognition. Test both happy paths and error scenarios so prompts handle real conversational nuances.

    Connecting Cal.com and Retell AI (API Keys)

    Once accounts are configured, wire them together with API keys and webhooks.

    Generate API key from Cal.com or create an integration with OAuth if required

    In Cal.com, generate an API key or set up an OAuth integration depending on your security model. An API key is often sufficient for server-to-server calls, while OAuth is preferable when multiple user calendars are involved.

    Copy Cal.com API key into Retell AI secure settings as described in the video

    Add the Cal.com API key into Retell’s secure environment settings so your assistant can authenticate API requests to create or modify bookings. Confirm the key is scoped appropriately and doesn’t expose more privileges than necessary.

    Add Google Calendar credentials to Retell: service account JSON or OAuth tokens

    Upload service account JSON or store OAuth tokens in Retell so your callbacks can call Google Calendar APIs. If you use OAuth, implement token refresh logic or use Retell’s built-in mechanisms for secure token handling.

    Set up and verify webhooks: configure Cal.com to notify Retell or vice versa

    Decide which system will notify the other via webhooks. Typically, Cal.com will post webhook events to your backend or to Retell when bookings change. Configure webhook endpoints and verify them with test events, and use ngrok to receive webhooks locally during development.

    Test API connectivity and validate responses for booking creation endpoints

    Manually test the API flow: have Retell call Cal.com or your backend to create a booking, then check Google Calendar for the created event. Validate response payloads, check for error codes, and ensure retry logic or error handling is in place for transient failures.

    Designing Prompts and Conversation Scripts

    Prompt design determines user experience; craft them to be clear, concise and forgiving.

    Write clear intent prompts for booking, rescheduling, cancelling and confirming

    Create distinct intent prompts that cover phrasing variations users might say (e.g., “I want to book”, “Change my appointment”, “Cancel my session”). Use sample utterances to train intent detection and make prompts explicit so the assistant reliably recognizes user goals.

    Create slot prompts to capture date, time, service, name, and contact info

    Design slot prompts that guide users to provide necessary details: ask for the date first or accept natural language (e.g., “next Tuesday morning”). Validate each slot as it’s captured and echo back what the assistant heard to confirm correctness before moving on.

    Implement fallback and clarification prompts for ambiguous or missing info

    Include fallback prompts that ask clarifying questions when slots are ambiguous: for example, if a user says “afternoon,” ask for a preferred time range. Keep clarifications short and give examples to reduce back-and-forth. Limit retries before handing off to a human or offering alternative channels.

    Include confirmation and summary prompts to validate captured details

    Before creating the booking, summarize the appointment details and ask for explicit confirmation: “I have you for a 45-minute haircut on Tuesday, May 12 at 2:00 PM in the Pacific timezone. Should I book that?” Use a final confirmation step to reduce mistakes.

    Design polite closures and next steps (email/SMS confirmation, calendar invite)

    End the conversation with a polite closure and tell the user what to expect next, such as “You’ll receive an email confirmation and a calendar invite shortly.” If you send SMS or email, include details and cancellation/reschedule instructions. Offer to send the appointment details to an alternate contact method if needed.

    Conclusion

    You’ve planned, configured, and connected the pieces needed to run a voice booking assistant; now finalize and iterate.

    Recap the step-by-step path from planning to deploying a voice booking assistant

    You began by defining goals and metrics, prepared accounts and tools, planned the conversational flow, set up Cal.com and Google Calendar, built the agent in Retell AI, connected APIs and webhooks, and designed robust prompts. Each step reduces risk and helps you deliver a reliable booking experience.

    Highlight next steps: implement a minimal viable assistant, test, then iterate

    Start with a minimal viable assistant that handles basic bookings and confirmations. Test extensively with real users and synthetic edge cases, measure your success metrics, and iterate on prompts, error handling, and integration robustness. Add rescheduling and cancellation flows after the booking flow is stable.

    Encourage joining the bootcamp or community for deeper help and collaboration

    If you want more guided instruction or community feedback, seek out workshops, bootcamps, or active developer communities focused on voice AI and calendar integrations. Collaboration accelerates learning and helps you discover best practices for scaling a production assistant.

    Provide checklist for launch readiness: testing, security, monitoring and user feedback collection

    Before launch, verify the following checklist: automated and manual testing passed for happy and edge flows, secure storage of API keys and credentials, webhook retry and error handling in place, monitoring/logging for call success and failures, privacy and data retention policies defined, and a plan to collect user feedback for improvements. With that in place, you’re ready to deploy a helpful and reliable voice booking assistant.

    If you want to implement Chat and Voice Agents into your business to reduce missed calls, book more appointments, save time, and make more revenue, book a discovery call here: https://brand.eliteaienterprises.com/widget/bookings/elite-ai-30-min-demo-call

  • Google Calendar Voice Receptionist for Business Owners – Tutorial and Showcase – Vapi

    Google Calendar Voice Receptionist for Business Owners – Tutorial and Showcase – Vapi

    In “Google Calendar Voice Receptionist for Business Owners – Tutorial and Showcase – Vapi,” Henryk Brzozowski shows you how to set up AI automations for booking systems using Vapi, Google Calendar, and Make.com. This beginner-friendly guide is ideal if you’re running an AI Automation Agency or want to streamline your booking process with voice agents and real-time calendar availability.

    You’ll find a clear step-by-step tutorial and live demo, plus a transcript, overview, and timestamps so you can follow along at your own pace. Personal tips from Henryk make it easy for you to implement these automations even if you’re new to AI.

    Video Overview and Key Moments

    Summary of Henryk Brzozowski’s video and target audience

    You’ll find Henryk Brzozowski’s video to be a practical, beginner-friendly walkthrough showing how to set up an AI-powered voice receptionist that talks to Google Calendar, built with Vapi and orchestrated by Make.com. The tutorial targets business owners and AI Automation Agency (AAA) owners who want to automate booking workflows without deep engineering knowledge. If you’re responsible for streamlining appointments, reducing manual bookings, or offering white-labeled voice agents to clients, this video speaks directly to your needs.

    Timestamps and what each segment covers (Intro, Demo, Transcript & Overview, Tutorial, Summary)

    You can expect a clear, timestamped structure in the video: the Intro (~0:00) sets the goals and audience expectations; the Demo (~1:14) shows the voice receptionist in action so you see the user experience; the Transcript & Overview (~4:15) breaks down the conversational flow and design choices; the Tutorial (~6:40 to ~19:15) is the hands-on, step-by-step build using Vapi and Make.com; and the Summary (~19:15 onward) recaps learnings and next steps. Each segment helps you move from concept to implementation at your own pace.

    Why business owners and AI Automation Agency (AAA) owners should watch

    You should watch because the video demonstrates a real-world automation you can replicate or adapt for clients. It cuts through theory and shows practical integrations, decision logic, and deployment tips. For AAA owners, the tutorial offers a repeatable pattern—voice agent + orchestration + calendar—that you can package, white-label, and scale across clients. For business owners, it shows how to reduce no-shows, increase booking rates, and free up staff time.

    What to expect from the tutorial and showcase

    Expect a hands-on walkthrough: setting up a Vapi voice agent, configuring intents and slots, wiring webhooks to Make.com, checking Google Calendar availability, and creating events. Henryk shares troubleshooting tips and design choices that help you avoid common pitfalls. You’ll also see demo calls and examples of conversational prompts so you can copy and adapt phrasing for your own brand voice.

    Links and social handles mentioned (LinkedIn /henryk-lunaris)

    Henryk’s social handle mentioned in the video is LinkedIn: /henryk-lunaris. Use that to find his profile and any supplementary notes or community posts he may have shared about the project. Search for the video title on major video platforms if you want to watch along.

    Objectives and Use Cases

    Primary goals for a Google Calendar voice receptionist (reduce manual booking, improve response times)

    Your primary goals with a Google Calendar voice receptionist are to reduce manual booking effort, accelerate response times for callers trying to schedule, and capture bookings outside business hours. You want fewer missed opportunities, lower front-desk workload, and a consistent booking experience that reduces human error and scheduling conflicts.

    Common business scenarios (appointments, consultations, bookings, support callbacks)

    Typical scenarios include appointment scheduling for clinics and salons, consultation bookings for consultants and agencies, reservations for services, and arranging support callbacks. You can also handle cancellations, reschedules, and basic pre-call qualification (e.g., service type, expected duration, and client contact details).

    Target users and industries (small businesses, clinics, consultants, agencies)

    This solution is ideal for small businesses with limited staff, medical or therapy clinics, independent consultants, marketing and creative agencies, coaching services, salons, and any service-based business that relies on scheduled bookings. AI Automation Agencies will find it valuable as a repeatable product offering.

    Expected benefits and KPIs (booking rate, missed appointments, response speed)

    You should measure improvements via KPIs such as booking rate (percentage of inbound inquiries converted to booked events), missed appointment rate or no-shows, average time-to-book from first contact, and first-response time. Other useful metrics include agent uptime, successful booking transactions per day, and customer satisfaction scores from post-call surveys or follow-up messages.

    Limitations and what this system cannot replace

    Keep in mind this system is not a full replacement for human judgment or complex, empathy-driven interactions. It may struggle with nuanced negotiations, complex multi-party scheduling, payment handling, or high-stakes medical triage without additional safeguards. You’ll still need human oversight for escalations, compliance-sensitive interactions, and final confirmations for complicated workflows.

    Required Tools and Accounts

    Google account with Google Calendar access and necessary calendar permissions

    You’ll need a Google account with Calendar access for the calendars you intend to use for booking. Ensure you have necessary permissions (owner/editor/service account access) to read free/busy data and create events via API for the target calendars.

    Vapi account and appropriate plan for voice agents

    You’ll need a Vapi account and a plan that supports voice agents, telephony connectors, and webhooks. Choose a plan that fits your expected concurrent calls and audio/processing usage so you’re not throttled during peak hours.

    Make.com (formerly Integromat) account and connectors

    Make.com will orchestrate webhooks, API calls, and business logic. Create an account and ensure you can use HTTP modules, JSON parsing, and the Google Calendar connector. Depending on volume, you might need a paid Make plan for adequate operation frequency and scenario runs.

    Optional tools: telephony/SIP provider, Twilio or other SMS/voice providers

    To connect callers from the public PSTN to Vapi, you’ll likely need a telephony provider, SIP trunk, or a service like Twilio to route incoming calls. If you want SMS notifications or voice call outs for confirmations, Twilio or similar providers are helpful.

    Developer tools, API keys, OAuth credentials, and testing phone numbers

    You’ll need developer credentials: Google Cloud project credentials or OAuth client IDs to authorize Calendar access, Vapi API keys or account credentials, Make API tokens, and testing phone numbers for end-to-end validation. Keep credentials secure and use sandbox/test accounts where possible.

    System Architecture and Data Flow

    High-level architecture diagram description (voice agent -> Vapi -> Make -> Google Calendar -> user)

    At a high level, the flow is: Caller dials a phone number -> telephony provider routes the call to Vapi -> Vapi runs the voice agent, gathers slots (date/time/name) and sends a webhook to Make -> Make receives the payload, checks Google Calendar availability, applies booking logic, creates or reserves an event, then sends a response back to Vapi -> Vapi confirms the booking to the caller and optionally triggers SMS/email notifications to the user and client.

    Event flow for an incoming call or voice request

    When a call arrives, the voice agent handles greeting and intent recognition. Once the user expresses a desire to book, the agent collects required slots and emits a webhook with the captured data. The orchestration engine takes that payload, queries free/busy information, decides on availability, and responds whether the slot is confirmed, tentative, or rejected. The voice agent then completes the conversation accordingly.

    How real-time availability checks are performed

    Real-time checks rely on Google Calendar’s freebusy or events.list API. Make sends a freebusy query for the requested time range and relevant calendars to determine if any conflicting events exist. If clear, the orchestrator creates the event; if conflicted, it finds alternate slots and prompts the user.

    Where data is stored temporarily and what data persists

    Transient booking data lives in Vapi conversation state and in Make scenario variables during processing. Persisted data includes the created Google Calendar event and any CRM/Google Sheets logs you configure. Avoid storing personal data unnecessarily; if you do persist client info, ensure it’s secure and compliant with privacy policies.

    How asynchronous tasks and callbacks are handled

    Asynchronous flows use webhooks and callbacks. If an action requires external confirmation (e.g., payment or human approval), Make can create a provisional event (tentative) and schedule follow-ups or callbacks. Vapi can play hold music or provide a callback promise while the backend completes asynchronous tasks and notifies the caller via SMS or an automated outbound call when the booking is finalized.

    Preparing Google Calendar for Automation

    Organizing calendars and creating dedicated booking calendars

    Create dedicated booking calendars per staff member, service type, or location to keep events organized. This separation simplifies availability checks and reduces the complexity of querying multiple calendars for the right resource.

    Setting permissions and sharing settings for API access

    Grant API access via a Google Service Account or OAuth client with appropriate scopes (calendar.events, calendar.readonly, calendar.freeBusy). Make sure the account used by your orchestration layer has edit permissions for the target calendars, and avoid using personal accounts for production-level automations.

    Best practices for event titles, descriptions, and metadata

    Use consistent, structured event titles (e.g., “Booking — [Service] — [Client Name]”) and put client contact details and metadata in the description or extended properties. This makes it easier to parse events later for reporting and minimizes confusion when multiple calendars are shown.

    Working hours, buffer times, and recurring availability rules

    Model working hours through base calendars or availability rules. Implement buffer times either by creating short “blocked” events around appointments or by applying buffer logic in Make before creating events. For recurring availability, maintain a separate calendar or configuration that represents available slots for algorithmic checks.

    Creating test events and sandbox calendars

    Before going live, create sandbox calendars and test events to simulate conflicts and edge cases. Use test phone numbers and sandboxed telephony where possible so your production calendar doesn’t get cluttered with experimental data.

    Building the Voice Agent in Vapi

    Creating a new voice agent project and choosing voice settings

    Start a new project in Vapi and select voice settings suited to your audience (language, gender, voice timbre, and speed). Test different voices to find the one that sounds natural and aligns with your brand.

    Designing the main call flow and intent recognition

    Design a clear call flow with intents for booking, rescheduling, cancelling, and inquiries. Map out dialog trees for common branches and keep fallback states to handle unexpected input gracefully.

    Configuring slots and entities for date, time, duration, and client info

    Define slots for date, time, duration, client name, phone number, email, and service type. Use built-in temporal entities when available to capture a wide range of user utterances like “next Tuesday afternoon” or “in two weeks.”

    Advanced features: speech-to-text tuning and language settings

    Tune speech-to-text parameters for recognition accuracy, configure language and dialect settings, and apply noise profiles if calls come from noisy environments. Use custom vocabulary or phrase hints for service names and proper nouns.

    Saving, versioning, and deploying the agent for testing

    Save and version your agent so you can roll back if a change introduces issues. Deploy to a testing environment first, run through scenarios, and iterate on conversational flows before deploying to production.

    Designing Conversations and Voice Prompts

    Crafting natural-sounding greetings and prompts

    Keep greetings friendly and concise: introduce the assistant, state purpose, and offer options. For example, “Hi, this is the booking assistant for [Your Business]. Are you calling to book, reschedule, or cancel an appointment?” Natural cadence and simple language reduce friction.

    Prompt strategies for asking dates, times, and confirmation

    Ask one question at a time and confirm crucial inputs succinctly: gather date first, then time, then duration, then contact info. Use confirmation prompts like “Just to confirm, you want a 45-minute consultation on Tuesday at 3 PM. Is that correct?”

    Error handling phrases and polite fallbacks

    Use polite fallbacks when the agent doesn’t understand: “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that—can you please repeat the date you’d like?” Keep error recovery short, offer alternatives, and escalate to human handoff if repeated failures occur.

    Using short confirmations versus verbose summaries

    Balance brevity and clarity. Use short confirmations for routine bookings and offer a more verbose summary when complex details are involved or when the client requests an email confirmation. Short confirmations improve UX speed; summaries reduce errors.

    Personalization techniques (name, context-aware prompts)

    Personalize the conversation by using the client’s name and referencing context when available, such as “I see you previously booked a 30-minute consultation; would you like the same length this time?” Context-aware prompts make interactions feel more human and reduce re-entry of known details.

    Integrating with Make.com for Orchestration

    Creating a scenario to receive Vapi webhooks and parse payloads

    In Make, create a scenario triggered by an HTTP webhook to receive the Vapi payload. Parse the JSON to extract slots like date, time, duration, and client contact details, and map them to variables used in the orchestration flow.

    Using Google Calendar modules to check availability and create events

    Use Make’s Google Calendar modules to run free/busy queries and list events in the requested time windows. If free, create an event using structured titles and descriptions populated with client metadata.

    Branching logic for conflicts, reschedules, and cancellations

    Build branching logic in Make to handle conflicts (find next available slots), reschedules (cancel the old event and create a new one), and cancellations (change event status or delete). Return structured responses to Vapi so the agent can communicate the outcome.

    Connecting additional modules: SMS, email, CRM, spreadsheet logging

    Add modules for SMS (Twilio), email (SMTP or SendGrid), CRM updates, and Google Sheets logging to complete the workflow. Send confirmations and reminders, log bookings for analytics, and sync client records to your CRM.

    Scheduling retries and handling transient API errors

    Implement retry logic and error handling to manage transient API failures. Use exponential backoff and notify admins for persistent failures. Log failed attempts and requeue them if necessary to avoid lost bookings.

    Booking Logic and Real-Time Availability

    Checking calendar free/busy and avoiding double-booking

    Always run a freebusy check across relevant calendars immediately before creating an event to avoid double-booking. If you support multiple parallel bookings, ensure your logic accounts for concurrent writes and potential race conditions by making availability checks as close as possible to event creation.

    Implementing buffer times, lead time, and maximum advance booking

    Apply buffer logic by blocking time before and after appointments or by preventing bookings within a short lead time (e.g., no same-day bookings less than one hour before). Enforce maximum advance booking windows so schedules remain manageable.

    Handling multi-calendar and multi-staff availability

    Query multiple calendars in a single freebusy request to determine which staff member or resource is available. Implement an allocation strategy—first available, round-robin, or skill-based matching—to choose the right calendar for booking.

    Confirmations and provisional holds versus instant booking

    Decide whether to use provisional holds (tentative events) or instant confirmed bookings. Provisional holds are safer for workflows requiring manual verification or payment; instant bookings improve user experience when you can guarantee availability.

    Dealing with overlapping timezones and DST

    When callers and calendars span timezones, normalize all times to UTC during processing and present localized times back to callers. Explicitly handle DST transitions by relying on calendar APIs that respect timezone-aware event creation.

    Conclusion

    Recap of key steps to build a Google Calendar voice receptionist with Vapi and Make.com

    You’ve learned the key steps: prepare Google Calendars and permissions, design and build a voice agent in Vapi with clear intents and slots, orchestrate logic in Make to check availability and create events, and add notifications and logging. Test thoroughly with sandbox calendars and iterate on prompts based on user feedback.

    Final tips for smooth implementation and adoption

    Start small with a single calendar and service type, then expand. Use clear event naming conventions, handle edge cases with polite fallbacks, and monitor logs and KPIs closely after launch. Train staff on how the system works so they can confidently handle escalations.

    Encouragement to iterate and monitor results

    Automation is iterative—expect to tune prompts, adjust buffer times, and refine branching logic based on real user behavior. Monitor booking rates and customer feedback and make data-driven improvements.

    Next steps and recommended resources to continue learning

    Keep experimenting with Vapi’s dialog tuning, explore advanced Make scenarios for complex orchestration, and learn more about Google Calendar API best practices. Build a small pilot, measure results, and then scale to additional services or clients.

    Contact pointers and where to find Henryk Brzozowski’s original video for reference

    To find Henryk Brzozowski’s original video, search the video title on popular video platforms or look for his LinkedIn handle /henryk-lunaris to see related posts. If you want to reach out, use his LinkedIn handle to connect or ask questions about implementation details he covered in the walkthrough.

    If you want to implement Chat and Voice Agents into your business to reduce missed calls, book more appointments, save time, and make more revenue, book a discovery call here: https://brand.eliteaienterprises.com/widget/bookings/elite-ai-30-min-demo-call

  • The Vapi Squad! || A Full In-Depth Guide || Transcripts + Google Calendar (Inbound)

    This guide walks you through The Vapi Squad! setup by Henryk Brzozowski, showing how Make.com and Vapi create a multilingual AI voice receptionist for English, Spanish, and Polish. You’ll follow step‑by‑step demos of booking appointments, see live attempts in different languages, and find a transcript and Google Calendar inbound setup explained clearly.

    The article outlines timestamps for the 3‑language demo, English and Polish booking attempts, the whole Make.com setup, squad configuration, and final notes and tips. Use these sections to reproduce the workflow, customize prompts, and streamline your inbound appointment automation.

    Vapi Squad Concept and Purpose

    What the Vapi Squad is and the problems it solves

    The Vapi Squad is a modular, multilingual AI voice receptionist system you can deploy to handle inbound calls, book appointments, and capture transcripts without adding headcount. You use it to solve common problems like missed calls, inconsistent booking processes, and scaling support across languages. By automating routine conversational tasks you free your team to focus on higher-value work and reduce human error in scheduling and data capture.

    Overview of multilingual AI voice receptionist use cases

    You can apply the Vapi Squad across many scenarios: medical or wellness appointment booking, salon scheduling, small business reception, reservation systems, and lead qualification for sales. Because it supports multiple languages, you can serve customers in their native tongue, handle high call volumes after hours, and provide consistent availability for bookings and basic support. You also gain searchable transcripts for compliance, training, and analytics.

    Inbound call handling versus outbound automation

    Inbound call handling focuses on receiving customer-initiated calls — greeting the caller, identifying intent, capturing booking details, and confirming appointments. Outbound automation is proactive: reminders, follow-ups, or outreach to rebook. The Vapi Squad concentrates on inbound flows (the video demo shows multilingual inbound booking), but the same architecture can extend to outbound actions like automated reminders or re-engagement campaigns triggered from your calendar or CRM.

    How Make.com and Vapi work together in this project

    You connect Vapi as the conversational, real-time voice layer and Make.com as the orchestration and integration platform. Vapi handles ASR/TTS, dialog state, and assistant logic; Make.com receives webhooks from Vapi, executes business logic, queries availability, writes events to Google Calendar, stores transcripts, and handles retries and alerts. Together they form a robust pipeline where conversational intelligence and backend automation collaborate.

    Business benefits: conversion, availability, and cost savings

    With the Vapi Squad you increase conversion by reducing missed bookings and guiding callers confidently through service selection. You improve availability by staffing a 24/7 receptionist without hiring more people. Cost savings come from lower staffing needs, fewer no-shows through confirmations and reminders, and less time spent manually logging interactions. You also gain analytics that help optimize offerings and staffing over time.

    Project Scope and Goals

    Primary objective: reliable multilingual appointment booking

    Your primary objective is to offer a reliable, consistent appointment booking experience in multiple languages. That means handling the full booking lifecycle — create, confirm, reschedule, and cancel — while ensuring data integrity and a natural conversational experience that reduces friction for callers.

    Supported languages and reasoning for English, Spanish, Polish

    You support English, Spanish, and Polish to cover broad business needs: English for global reach, Spanish for large regional populations and underserved markets, and Polish based on specific audience demand shown in the demo. These choices let you validate multilingual handling and showcase how language-specific tuning improves accuracy and customer satisfaction.

    Functional goals: booking, rescheduling, confirming, capturing transcripts

    Functionally, you want the assistant to collect appointment details (service, date/time, client name, contact), create calendar events, handle reschedules and cancellations, confirm details vocally, and capture clean transcripts. Each transaction should result in a calendar entry and a stored transcript for audit and follow-up.

    Nonfunctional goals: latency, accuracy, privacy, and scalability

    Nonfunctional goals include low latency responses (conversational pacing), high speech-recognition and intent accuracy, robust privacy controls (data minimization, encryption, retention policies), and the ability to scale to many concurrent calls and calendar writes. You aim for a balance between speed and comprehension.

    Success metrics and KPIs to track

    Track KPIs like bookings completed per hour, completion rate (calls that result in booked/rescheduled/cancelled events), average call duration, ASR confidence and intent accuracy, time-to-confirmation, error/fallback rate, transcript availability, and cost per booking. Monitor calendar conflicts and human escalation rates to detect breakdowns.

    High-Level Architecture

    Core components: Vapi voice layer, Make.com automation, Google Calendar

    The architecture centers on three components: Vapi provides ASR/TTS and assistant orchestration, Make.com handles scenario automation and integrates services, and Google Calendar stores appointments. Supplementary components include storage for transcripts and logging, alerting, and optionally a CRM for client data.

    Data flow from inbound call to calendar event and transcript storage

    When a call arrives, Vapi routes it to the appropriate language assistant. Vapi collects slots and emits webhook events to Make.com at key points: slot-complete, booking-request, and call-end with final transcript. Make.com validates availability, performs freebusy queries, creates calendar events, stores transcripts in secure storage, and returns confirmation (and any messages) back to Vapi for voicing.

    Third-party services and integrations required

    You typically integrate with Google Calendar, cloud storage for transcripts, email/SMS providers for confirmations, and monitoring/alerting tools. Optionally integrate a CRM, payment gateway, or SMS reminders. Make.com modules cover HTTP calls, Google Calendar, storage, and notification services.

    Where prompts, models, and URLs live in the architecture

    Store prompts and assistant configuration inside Vapi assistants or a managed prompt repository referenced by Vapi. ASR/TTS model choices are configured per assistant. URLs for webhooks point to Make.com scenario endpoints. Keep a versioned prompt library in a central place (Make.com, Git, or a CMS) so both Vapi and your engineering team reference the same templates.

    Failure domains and fallback design

    Failure domains include ASR errors, webhook delivery failures, calendar write conflicts, and third-party outages. Design fallbacks: repeat or rephrase prompts for low confidence, offer to send a link or SMS for manual booking, queue a voicemail or human callback request if critical slots fail, and implement retry/exponential backoff for webhook processing. Ensure transparent escalation paths so callers aren’t left stranded.

    Vapi Voice Assistant Setup

    Creating and configuring Vapi assistants for each language

    Create separate Vapi assistants per language to keep prompts, TTS, and ASR tuned. Configure each assistant’s greeting, slot definitions, error handling, and webhook endpoints. Map phone number routing so callers enter the right assistant, either by phone number, IVR selection, or language detection.

    Selecting TTS and ASR models appropriate per language

    Choose ASR models optimized for the target language and dialect to improve recognition. Select TTS voices with natural prosody and the right gender/tone for your persona. For Spanish and Polish you’ll want models that handle regional accents; for English, choose a model tuned to your primary caller population.

    Setting voice personas and localized phrasing for natural interaction

    Define a voice persona per language: friendly, professional, concise. Tailor phrasing and idioms to local conventions — how you ask for dates, how you confirm times, culturally appropriate greetings. Persona consistency reduces friction and increases trust.

    Handling accents, phrases, and language-specific edge cases

    Anticipate accents, code-switching, and slang. Add alternative phrasings for slots and synonyms for services. Build pronunciation guides and sample utterances into ASR models or prompts, and include fuzzy matching for names and places. Offer confirmation and spell-back for tricky inputs like names or email addresses.

    Managing assistant variants and versioning

    Version each assistant and keep a changelog of prompt and model updates. Use variants for experimental prompts or new features (A/B testing). Ensure you can rollback to a stable assistant version if a change increases errors.

    Make.com Integration and Scenario Design

    Designing scenarios to receive inbound events from Vapi

    Design a modular Make.com scenario that begins with an HTTP webhook triggered by Vapi. Parse the payload, route based on event type (slot filled, booking request, call end), and branch into calendar checks, transcript storage, and notifications. Keep scenarios small and focused to aid debugging.

    Key Make modules used and their roles (HTTP, Router, Filters, Google Calendar, Storage)

    Use HTTP to accept Vapi webhooks and send responses. Use Router and Filters to branch flows by language, event type, and confidence. Employ Google Calendar modules for freebusy and event creation. Use storage modules to write transcripts and logs. Add notification modules for Slack/email for error alerts.

    Mapping Vapi webhook payloads to Make.com flows

    Map fields like call_id, assistant_id, language, slots, ASR interim/final text, and confidence to Make variables. Use slot names (name, date, time, service, phone) to drive calendar logic. Preserve timestamps and metadata for auditing and alignment with transcripts.

    Retry logic, error branch flows, and alerting for failed scenarios

    Implement retries for transient failures (HTTP timeouts, calendar API quotas) with incremental backoff. On permanent failures, route to an error branch that logs the event and triggers alerts to your ops channel. Capture failure context (payload, response codes) to speed troubleshooting.

    Best practices for modular scenario organization and naming

    Name modules and scenarios clearly by purpose and language (e.g., “Vapi_Webhook_EN”, “Vapi_Calendar_Create_ES”). Keep reusable sub-scenarios for calendar operations, transcript storage, and notifications. Document each scenario and version in your automation repository.

    Google Calendar Sync and Appointment Logic

    Authenticating and authorizing Google Calendar from Make.com

    Authenticate with OAuth 2.0 and grant the scopes needed (read/freebusy, write events). Keep credentials secure and use a service account or a delegated account depending on your setup. Periodically refresh tokens and monitor for authorization errors.

    Calendar selection, calendar colors, and calendar rules

    Select the appropriate calendar for bookings (shared business calendar vs. individual staff calendars). Use colors or labels to indicate booking source or service type for easy human triage. Apply calendar rules such as working hours and blackout dates to avoid undesirable slots.

    Finding available slots: freebusy queries and timezone handling

    Use freebusy queries to fetch availability across relevant calendars and enforce service durations and buffers. Normalize caller timezones: detect from phone number or ask the caller, then convert to the calendar timezone. Confirm timezone explicitly during booking to prevent mistakes.

    Creating events: required fields, descriptions, guests, reminders

    Create events with clear titles, descriptions that include service details and contact info, and add guests if needed. Set reminders via calendar settings or additional notification services. Include metadata like source=Vapi and call_id to link events to transcripts and logs.

    Handling conflicts, reschedules, cancellations, and double-booking prevention

    When conflicts arise, present alternative slots in the dialog or auto-suggest next available times. For reschedules, remove or update the original event and notify guests. Use transactional checks (re-query freebusy immediately before write) to minimize double-booking. If write fails due to a race, surface human escalation or offer callback.

    Multilingual Conversation Flows

    Designing language-specific dialogues for booking, rescheduling, and canceling

    Design natural flows that map user intents to slot collection steps. For booking: greet, confirm language, collect service and preferred times, confirm details, create event, and close. For rescheduling/canceling: verify identity, find the existing event, propose options, confirm changes. Tailor dialogs to the rhythm and politeness norms of each language.

    Slot-filling strategy: name, date, time, service type, contact details

    Use a guided slot-filling approach: ask one question at a time, validate input, and re-prompt when confidence is low. Prioritize critical slots (date/time, service) first, then collect optional details (email, notes). Offer choices for ambiguous inputs to accelerate completion.

    Confirmation and repeat-back patterns to reduce errors

    Always repeat back the core details: “You: June 12 at 3 PM for a haircut — is that correct?” Use short confirmations and allow quick correction paths. For low-confidence items, ask the caller to spell or confirm to reduce mistakes in calendar entries.

    Fallbacks and escalation to human agent when intent confidence is low

    If ASR or intent confidence remains low after retries, offer escalation: “I’m having trouble understanding — would you like me to connect you to a human?” Provide options for callback, voicemail, or scheduling via SMS link. Log escalation reasons for later improvement.

    Example utterances and suggested localized prompts

    Provide concise localized prompts:

    • English booking greeting: “Hi, this is the booking line. What service would you like to schedule today?”
    • Spanish booking greeting: “Hola, estás en la línea de reservas. ¿Qué servicio deseas agendar hoy?”
    • Polish booking greeting: “Cześć, to linia rezerwacji. Jaką usługę chcesz umówić?” Use alternatives for confirmations, clarifications, and polite closings tuned to each language.

    Transcripts: Capture, Format, and Storage

    Capturing real-time ASR output and final transcripts from Vapi

    Capture interim ASR for live interactions and final ASR for persistent transcripts. Have Vapi emit events containing timestamps, speaker labels, and confidence scores so you can reconstruct the conversation and correlate it with calendar events.

    Formatting transcripts: plain text, JSON, SRT/VTT for timestamps

    Store transcripts in multiple formats: plain text for quick search, structured JSON with metadata and confidence for analysis, and SRT/VTT if you need timestamped captions for recordings. Include utterance-level timestamps to enable precise QA and clipping.

    Language tagging and translation of transcripts to English

    Tag each transcript with the detected language and store the original. Optionally translate transcripts to English for centralized review and analytics. Keep both original and translated text to preserve accuracy and legal compliance.

    Storing transcripts securely: cloud storage options and retention policies

    Store transcripts in encrypted cloud storage with access controls. Implement retention policies aligned with privacy and regulatory requirements (e.g., delete after X months unless flagged). Log access for auditing and ensure backups are encrypted.

    Using transcripts for QA, training, and analytics

    Use transcripts to measure intent accuracy, identify common failure points, refine prompts, and retrain models. Aggregate patterns around misunderstood phrases, frequent reschedules, or service demand. Transcripts are invaluable for continuous improvement and compliance.

    Prompt Engineering and Prompt Library

    Core prompt patterns for greeting, slot collection, confirmation, and error handling

    Build a prompt library with core patterns: greeting, slot prompts, clarifiers, confirmations, low-confidence re-prompts, and fallbacks. Keep prompts concise, polite, and directive when needed. Include variations to avoid robotic repetition.

    Language-specific prompt templates for English, Spanish, and Polish

    Create localized templates reflecting natural phrasing and etiquette. For example, Spanish may use more formal phrasing with usted depending on your audience; Polish might prefer concise phrasing. Keep translations reviewed by native speakers to avoid awkwardness.

    How to include context: calendar availability, previous interactions, service list

    Inject context into prompts when relevant: “I see you previously booked a service with us last month; would you like the same service?” or “We have openings on Tuesday and Thursday morning.” Supply availability and service lists dynamically so the assistant can offer real-time options.

    Versioning prompts and experimenting with variations

    Version your prompt library and run experiments to test different phrasings and confirmations. Track impact on KPIs like completion rate and average call duration. Roll back if an experiment degrades performance.

    Examples of prompts used in the demo and when to tweak them

    Use the demo prompts as starting points: friendly greetings, succinct slot questions, and explicit confirmations. Tweak prompts when you see repeated misunderstandings, cultural mismatches, or when caller behavior changes (e.g., shorter attention spans demand even briefer prompts).

    Conclusion

    Summary of the Vapi Squad approach and its business value

    The Vapi Squad offers a practical blueprint to automate multilingual inbound call handling, combining Vapi’s conversational voice capabilities with Make.com’s orchestration and Google Calendar persistence. You gain higher conversion, 24/7 availability, and operational savings while capturing rich transcripts for optimization.

    Key next steps to replicate and customize the setup

    Start by creating language-specific assistants in Vapi, build a modular Make.com scenario for webhook handling and calendar integration, and configure Google Calendar with correct scopes. Pilot with a small volume of callers, measure KPIs, and iterate on prompts and flows.

    How to use transcripts and Google Calendar integration effectively

    Link transcripts to calendar events via call_id metadata, use transcripts for QA to improve prompts, and leverage calendar data to inform dynamic prompts (available slots, working hours). Automate reminders and confirmations to reduce no-shows.

    Encouragement to iterate: measure, learn, and improve

    Treat your Vapi Squad as an experimental system: measure real usage, learn from failures, and iteratively improve prompts, ASR/TTS selection, and automation logic. Small, frequent improvements yield large gains in user experience and reliability.

    Pointers to the transcript, prompt library, and demo timestamps for hands-on follow-up

    Keep an indexed repository of transcripts, a versioned prompt library, and timestamped demo notes so you can reproduce demo behaviors and test changes. Use the demo timestamps and recorded sessions as reference points to validate flows and train staff who will monitor or escalate calls.

    Enjoy building your Vapi Squad — iterate boldly, keep the experience human-friendly, and use transcripts and calendar integrations to continuously refine the receptionist that never sleeps.

    If you want to implement Chat and Voice Agents into your business to reduce missed calls, book more appointments, save time, and make more revenue, book a discovery call here: https://brand.eliteaienterprises.com/widget/bookings/elite-ai-30-min-demo-call

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