When setting up a meeting with others at your company, you can check first to see when people are free and choose a meeting time with the least number of schedule conflicts. Go to the Participants tab to choose the people you would like to attend and to see their availability.
You can choose individual members to attend your meeting or entire groups, like the Human Resources department. When you click the Check availability checkbox you see when these participants are free.
You can also check to see if the meeting room you plan to use is free. Choose the location from the drop-down list and its schedule is displayed next to the location name.
If there are attendees you would like to add who are not members of your site, you can enter their email addresses in the box provided for participants outside your site. You can also choose a contact from your contact list.
Clicking the Add button adds
these participants to the attendee list, where they appear with a non-member
icon.
When you save the event, you are prompted to send out notifications or invitations about the event. These are sent to each person listed as a participant. If a group is listed, the invitation goes to each person in the group. When you send a meeting invitation, each person is asked to respond and say whether they will attend or not. They can click a link in the email to accept, reject, or tentatively accept the invitation. As the meeting Organizer, you receive email notifications each time a participant responds. The Calendar also tracks who is planning to attend.
The participants you list here also receive any meeting reminders you set. The reminder arrives in the form of an email message or, if they have the Desktop Assistant installed, as a popup alarm on their computer.
Choose the individual members and/or groups that you want to participate in the event from the drop-down list.
To add members, groups and locations to the event's participant list, you use the participant picker. The picker is the drop-down list located at the bottom of the list of participants. You can use the picker in many ways; just use the ones you are comfortable with:
You can use the picker as a simple list. Click on the arrow to see the list, then scroll to find the name you want. To add the name, just double-click on the name, or click on the name and then either click on Add or hit the Enter key.
You can also pick multiple entries at the same time. As you select each name, hold down the Ctrl key. This allows you to select multiple names. After you have selected the names you want, either click on Add or hit the Enter key.
You can even type into the picker. As you type, the picker will select the first name that matches what you have typed. Type in 'e' and you will see the names that begin with 'e'. You can keep typing until you match the name you want ("eric"), or you can use the UP and DOWN arrows on the keyboard to select the correct name. With the name selected, hit the Enter key, click the Add button or even double-click on the name.
You can add groups as well as individual participants. Groups appear at the top of the list and are set off in square brackets, such as [Sales]. You pick groups exactly the same way as you pick individual members. When selecting by typing, you need to type the '[' first.
The participant picker also allows you to pick one or more locations. While locations do not really participate in the meeting, the picker can be thought of as a meeting resource picker as well. Locations appear at the bottom of the list and are set off in braces, such as {2nd Floor Conference Room}. You pick locations exactly the same way as you pick individual members. When selecting by typing, you need to type the '{' first.
Notes:
As the event creator, your name is automatically
included in the Participant list. If you do not wish to be listed as a
participant, click the delete icon 
beside your name.
If you are inviting a group, click the expand
icon to see a list of all the individuals in the group.
If a participant has granted you access to their Calendar, their name appears as a link. Click the name if you'd like to go to their Calendar.
To remove a member, group or location from the
Participant list, click the delete icon beside their
name.
To see when members and groups are free, click the Check availability checkbox on the Participants tab.
When you add someone to the Participant list, the site checks their Calendar to see if they are available at the time you're planning the have the meeting. In the grid at the right of the Participant list, you can tell when people are Busy, Out of the Office, or Tentatively available.
If you've scheduled a group click the expand icon beside
the group name to see all the members in the group and when they are available.
|
Key to Availability Status |
|
|
Out of Office |
Indicates the member has set their availability status to Out of Office. |
|
Busy |
Indicates the member has something else scheduled on their Calendar at that time. |
|
Tentative |
Indicates the member has been invited to another event at that time and has tentatively accepted. |
|
No information |
Most often appears when scheduling a group. Indicates there is no information
about the collective availability for the group. Click the expand icon
|
|
These settings are determined by how the event creator set the Show time as indicator when scheduling the meeting or event, and how each person responds to meeting invitations (when applicable). |
|
The time slot for the event is highlighted in the grid that shows Participant availability.
If there are too many scheduling conflicts for the meeting time you've chosen, pick a new time by doing one of the following:
Click into another time slot to pick a new time. The new time you select is highlighted accordingly
Choose a new date and time from the drop-down lists above the Participants list.
For each Participant, you can indicate whether their attendance at the event is Required or Optional. The setting you choose appears in the email invitation they receive for the event.
When you add a participant, their Attendance is set as Required by default. To change this setting, click the Required or Optional link to toggle between the two options.
As the creator of the event, you are listed as the Organizer and do not have a Required/Optional designation.
The Participants section shows whether participants have replied to the meeting invitations.
When you first create the meeting, each participant's Status says: No Reply. Once a person replies, their Status is updated to say: Accepted, Declined, or Tentative. The Calendar logs the responses to invitations as they come in.
To check to see who's coming to a meeting, click the event title in the Calendar to see its details. When you click the Participant Status tab, you see who has confirmed and who has not yet replied.
To follow up with members who have not replied yet, click the Send Link button at the top of the page and send members an email asking them to reply to the meeting invitation.
You may find that you use the Calendar to schedule meetings with people who are in different time zones than you. This can be confusing. If you are working in Boston in the US, and schedule a meeting at 2:00 pm, you need to know if someone in San Francisco is available at 11:00 am.
Happily, the Calendar takes care of these time zone translations for you. When you look at the availability information for each member, their information is automatically translated into your time zone. In the example above, 11:00 am San Francisco availability information is displayed in the 2:00 pm Boston time slot. All you have to do is look to see who is busy in the time slot you are trying to schedule.
Tip: Calendar time zone translations will only work properly if each member has set up their time zone correctly. Learn how to set your time zone.
When people invite you to meetings, they choose times based on when the Calendar says you're available. Where does this information come from? It has to do with the way you have responded to invitations. It also has to do with the way you have set the "Show time as" indicator on personal events you have created.
Be sure to keep your availability up to date. When you're planning to be out of the office for any reason, make sure this is reflected in your Calendar.
When you have a vacation planned, for example, create an event for your vacation and change the Show time as indicator for this event to Out of Office.
Or when you are penciling in an appointment, mark this on your Calendar even if it is not yet final, and change the Show time as indicator for the event to Tentative.
