The Guest Booking Experience

Knowing exactly what your guests see makes it easier to write good descriptions and questions, and to answer their queries. This page walks the whole journey from your guest's side.

Review the terms and privacy information

At the end of the booking form, use the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy links to review the policies, then tick I agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge the Privacy Policy. We store the policy versions and when your acknowledgement was recorded.

Your details are used to arrange the session and shared with the organiser, authorised participants and connected calendar or meeting providers as needed. This acknowledgement does not sign you up for marketing or give an unrestricted recording release. Ask your organiser about how they intend to record or publish your contribution.

Each additional guest accepts their own invitation and acknowledgement. You cannot accept on their behalf. Recipients can decline or block an invitation without agreeing to the terms.

The booking page

Your booking link opens a clean public page carrying your podcast's cover art and name, the booking link's name and description, the session length, and the chosen platform, such as Zoom or In person. Links with a custom platform or no platform configured show Video Call. Private joining links are shared after confirmation. There's no sign-up and no account needed.

Times are shown in the guest's own time zone, detected automatically. A time zone control on the page lets them switch it.

Choose an appearance

1. Select Light, Dark, or System at the top of the booking page.
2. Choose System to follow your device's appearance setting. Your choice is remembered in this browser when browser storage is available.

Picking a time

1. Under Select a date & time, a calendar highlights only the dates with open slots. Everything else, including your busy calendar times, dates outside your booking window, and fully booked months, simply isn't offered
2. Selecting a date lists the available start times (on a phone this is its own Select a time step)
3. Selecting a time enables a Confirm button showing the chosen time, which leads to the form

The Previous and Next calendar buttons continue to work after choosing a date. Changing months clears the date and time selection. Keyboard users can tab to the calendar controls, move between available dates with the arrow keys, and select a date with Enter or Space. On a phone, Back returns from the times to the calendar.

If availability cannot load, the page explains the problem and offers Retry availability or Retry times. Changing time zone clears the chosen time and loads times in the new zone.

Open slots are checked again when the form is submitted, because two people can be looking at the same last seat. If someone else takes it first, your guest is told the time has just been taken and asked to choose another slot, and nothing is booked.

Entering details

The form is titled Enter your details. Your guest fills in:

• Name and Email, always required
• Phone, if you enabled Collect Phone Number
• Your custom questions, grouped under "Additional questions"
• The AI research questions under "Help your host prepare" ("Help your organiser prepare" for a general meeting), if the link collects them
• Extra attendees under "Additional guests", if the link allows them
• A free-text note for anything else that helps you prepare

They submit with a button that reads Schedule Interview, or Book Meeting on a general booking link, unless you customized the Submit Button Text.

The success screen

Submitting shows Booking Request Sent! with the line "Your booking request has been submitted. The host will review and confirm shortly."

A "What happens next?" panel sets expectations:

• "You'll receive a confirmation email once the host accepts your booking."
• "A calendar invite will be sent with meeting details.", shown only when your podcast has a connected calendar that can host the event, so the guest is never promised an invite that cannot be sent
• "The host will review your request and respond shortly."

If you wrote a Confirmation Message for the link, it appears here as "Message from the host". A Book Another Time button returns to the calendar.

The guest is told it's a request

Both the success screen and the receipt email make clear the booking awaits your confirmation, so guests aren't left believing the time is locked in before you've said yes.

The request receipt email

Straight after booking, the primary attendee receives a receipt email headed "Booking Request Received!". It repeats the requested date, time, and duration, includes your confirmation message if you set one, and states that the request is awaiting confirmation from the host with another email to follow.

After you confirm

When you confirm the booking from your Bookings board, the primary attendee and additional guests who have accepted receive:

• A confirmation email headed "Booking Confirmed!", with the session details, a join button labelled for your recording platform (Join on Riverside, Join Zoom Meeting, Join Google Meet) when a link is set, and an Open guest portal button. An in-person session gets a short note instead of a button, and a session with no link yet is told the host will follow up
• A Google Calendar invitation email for the session, when your calendar is connected. This is a separate email from Google, and it is what puts the session in the guest's own calendar whether they use Google Calendar, Outlook, or Apple Calendar. Accepting or declining it tells you where they stand right on the event

The portal link takes the guest through a quick email verification, then into their guest portal where they can prepare show notes with you, message you, and see the recording details. Your guests can read about their side in the guides for guests.

General booking links

On a General booking link guests book a slot, get a receipt, and get a confirmation email with the available joining details once you confirm. A calendar invite is separate and depends on a connected calendar successfully creating the event.

The form, success screen and emails refer to your meeting and its organiser. Email details use Organised by for the show name, and additional-guest help describes joining a meeting without promising a guest portal. Emails say "meeting" rather than "recording", the reschedule and cancel notices are headed Booking Rescheduled and Booking Canceled rather than Recording ..., and the calendar invite is titled with your booking link's name instead of "Recording". The form's own prompt asks what will help prepare for your meeting.

What they do not get is the guest portal, because there is no episode to prepare. The confirmation email simply omits the Open guest portal button, and no verification email is ever sent. Request, confirmation, decline, cancellation, rescheduling and joining-detail emails all use meeting wording. In-person meetings say where-to-meet details will follow, without suggesting a recording or an online call.

Additional-guest invitations

A person adding guests must confirm they have told those people about the invitation and have permission to share their email addresses. Each additional guest receives their own invitation naming the person who added them, the organiser, the booking and the time. It links to more information about the show and booking.

Opening the invitation does not accept it. The recipient chooses Accept invitation, Decline invitation, or Decline and block future additional-guest invitations. Blocking applies to that email address across show.fm booking links. Invitations expire after seven days or when the booking starts, whichever comes first.

Recipient acceptance and organiser confirmation are separate. Until both happen, an additional guest receives no joining details, calendar invitation, guest portal access or booking automation emails. Acceptance can happen before or after you confirm. Once both have happened, the guest gets their own private section in the episode's show notes, and it appears in your notes straight away. General meetings never create a guest portal or show notes. The booking list and episode guest list show whether someone is awaiting a response, has accepted, declined or has an expired invitation.

If email or calendar delivery, or setting up the guest's private notes, fails after acceptance, the invitation page says so and offers Try again without changing the saved response. If an initial invitation cannot be sent, the booker sees a warning alongside their saved booking request and should tell the organiser which guests still need an invitation. Organisers can open the booking details and choose Resend invitation beside an unanswered or expired guest invitation. Only the newest email link will work. Allow at least one hour between sends; daily limits and recipient blocks still apply. If delivery fails again, the organiser can retry later without recreating the booking. Guests already on older bookings keep their existing participation.

If you decline or cancel

Declining a request or canceling a confirmed booking notifies the guest by email. If you added a reason in the dialog, it's shared with them; for canceled bookings the calendar invite is withdrawn too, so the session disappears from their calendar rather than sitting there as a meeting that is not happening.

What you control

Tune the experience per booking link:

• Description: the pitch on the booking page. See Create a Booking Link
• Collect Phone Number: whether the form asks for a phone number
• Submit Button Text and Confirmation Message: the button label and the post-booking message. See Booking Forms
• Questions, AI research fields, and multiple-guest options: see Booking Forms

What's Next?

• Manage Bookings: confirm, decline, and reschedule requests
• Booking Forms: shape the form your guests fill in
• The Guest Portal: where guests land after you confirm