Our calendars can manage more than just our time. They can help us manage stress, decrease unnecessary frustration, and save us a few emails too! Use your calendar to help manage work and life, view multiple calendars, integrate with apps such as Zoom and Slack to save time, and more!
Let Others and Apps Do the Work for You
You don’t have to do all of the work to make your calendar great! Let other tools and people take some of the work off of your shoulders.
Slack and Google Calendar
Go to the Slack App Directory for Google Calendar and select Add to Slack, connect to your Slack account, then select Allow to allow Slack to access your Google Calendar. Tada! Your calendar will then be connected to Slack!
Benefits of connecting your Google Calendar to Slack:
- Your Slack status will automatically update to “In a Meeting” during times your calendar indicates that you are busy
- This sets expectations for people who try to message you during the times where your calendar is blocked. With your automatically updated status, others will know not to expect a response from you until your calendar opens up again- without any additional work on your end to constantly change the status!
- Receive Slack notifications of upcoming meetings as soon as one minute before your meeting starts. You can adjust the timing of the notification if one minute is too close to the start time for you
- See a rundown of your daily schedule. You can receive a notification at the beginning of the day in Slack of your full schedule from Google Calendar for the day
- Keep your calendar at the top of mind without leaving Slack
Zoom and Google Calendar
When creating a new meeting, under Add Video Conferencing you can select the Zoom Meeting option. You can then authorize Google Calendar to access your Zoom account, log in using your Zoom credentials, and then you can create Zoom links directly from your calendar at any time.
Benefits of connecting your Google Calendar to Zoom:
- Seamlessly add Zoom links to your calendar invitations without leaving your calendar
- No more copying and pasting of Zoom links into your meeting description, it’s all right there for you and your guests!
Appointment Schedules
Go to the calendar settings and scroll down to Appointment Schedules. Select the check box that says, “Turn on appointment schedules instead of appointment slots.” Appointment schedules are a new feature from Google Calendar that allows you to set up times for others to book you when it is convenient for them based on your set availability.
How to Set Up an Appointment Schedule
- Create a new meeting within your calendar and select Appointment Schedule, choose to add this slot of time to an existing schedule you’ve previously created or to create a new schedule, then select the “Continue” button
- Set the desired duration for how long someone can book you during this time, choose any recurring availability, set parameters on how far in advance someone can book time with you or the minimum amount of time before an appointment someone can book
- Choose to add buffer time to prevent back-to-back appointments and/or add a maximum number of bookings per day
- Choose to have the appointment schedule check only your calendar for availability or add multiple calendars to be checked and select “Next”
- Choose to add an event description, set a meeting location (note: Zoom meetings are not able to be set automatically in the location feature at this time, you will need to copy and paste a Zoom link in the event description if you wish to meet by Zoom), add any desired questions for a person to answer before meeting with you, and set any reminder notifications for the appointments
- Select “Save” - in the newly created appointment schedule, you can then see the booking page link and send that to anyone who might need to book time with you through this feature
Benefits of Appointment Schedules:
- You will not show as “Busy” on your calendar until someone actually books an appointment
- Your appointment schedule will automatically adjust availability if you are scheduled to be in another meeting at any point during the designated time slots
- People can book appointments with you based on theirs AND your availability without having to go back and forth via email to decide on a time
- There is no limit to the booking pages you can create. You can have multiple booking pages for every different type of appointment someone may need to schedule with you
Build Culture with Hassle-Free Communication and Expectation Setting
By engaging in these easy practices, you can shine as an example for how others can do this too!
Find Time to Meet
For people within the Emerson community, instead of emailing back and forth for possible mutually available meeting times, utilize the “Find a Time” feature.
- From the creation of a calendar event, after you add guests, select “Find a Time” and see when your attendees’ calendar and your calendar line up!
RSVP to Invitations
From a calendar invitation, you can communicate easily with the press of a button:
- Let the meeting organizer if they should expect you by RSVP-ing to the invite
- No additional communication needed!
- Propose a new time if the original time doesn’t work for you
- On the invite, you can select “Propose new time” which will automatically bring you to a page to see when you and the other attendees would be available
- No additional communication needed!
- Delete the email once you’ve RSVP’d
- Now your inbox isn’t as clogged!
- All invitations and events will appear on your calendar should you need to refer to any information or Zoom link at any time
Appropriately Label Meetings
- Always include the topic or purpose of the meeting in the title
- While labeling the event, “Meet with [Name]” may make sense on your calendar, it won’t make sense to the person whose name you put there. Put the topic of the meeting instead!
- Provide context or links to relevant information in the description of the event (articles, documents, background information, etc.)
- Always include a location or a Zoom link
- Attendees need to know if it’s in-person or virtual and they need the Zoom link in order to actually attend. Make it easy on yourself and your attendees by having that ready right when you send the calendar invitation
Reduce Stress, Increase Wellbeing
Plan for Planning
Pick a time that works for you (first or last 30 minutes of the work day, the last hour on a Friday, the last Wednesday of the month, etc.) and block off that time with a recurring calendar event for yourself. Eliminate distractions during this time, people won’t be able to schedule you, and use this time to organize yourself!
- Draft your to-do list
- Look ahead at what’s coming up on your calendar, what do you need to do to prepare for upcoming events?
Use the Calendar to Promote Wellbeing
We often hear about how too much screen time can cause eye strain or how sitting for too long at a desk can cause bad posture or tight hips, utilize your calendar to add wellbeing reminders throughout your day!
- Schedule 5 minute events on your calendar and set the event to still show you as “free” to others, but you’ll receive small reminders throughout the day to get up from your desk or roll your shoulders back. Whatever might ail you, utilize your calendar to remind you to do something about it!
Encourage Boundaries by Setting Work Hours
Your calendar can communicate for you when you are or are not available. Set working hours in your calendar to let others know when your work day begins and ends, and when to expect that they could reach you during the day.
- Go to Settings > General > Working Hours & Location
- You can even indicate if you will be remote or in the office each day
Life Outside of Work
Work-life balance is important! You can create or connect existing calendars to your Google Calendar in addition to your work calendar. Seeing all of your events, including events outside of work, helps you decrease the odds of overbooking, but also reminds you that your life outside of work is just as important as your work life.
Resources
- One on One HR Support: Book a 30-minute one-on-one session to get individualized support for Google Calendar. Come with any questions you may have and be ready to learn something new!
- Google Support: Google’s support page can provide additional tips and user support.