This past Sunday, I went to my niece’s birthday. Her brother stole a toy that she was playing with at one point. I spontaneously said vaguely, “Sharing is caring.” Since he’s a little boy, he confuses me before answering, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Calendar – Calendar
Apparently, that phrase was trademarked by Salvation in 1950. And, for good reason. Above all, sharing builds confidence, arouses gratitude and enhances feelings of well-being due to the release of oxycontin.
But, when you think of sharing, what comes to mind? Does it allow anyone to try the food you ordered? Donate your favorite cause? Or your Disney Plus password with friends and family?
Although the experience of sharing every day we probably feel every day, have you ever shared your calendar?
The convenience of sharing your availability on the calendar
Stop if you’ve been here.
You open your inbox, and there’s a message from the person you’re requesting. Whether it’s a colleague, client or college friend, their famous last words in the message are, “Let me know your availability.”
What happens next is a series of unfortunate events.
You answer, “Hey, Wednesday works for me at 2pm!” Unfortunately, they responded with, “Sorry. I’m not free then. What will happen next Monday at 10am?”
The next thing you know, you obviously have long email threads because you keep going. But, in the end, you spend days trying to figure out a day and time for a short 15-minute video call. Heck, 40% of workers spend up to 30 minutes just looking for collaborative space.
Or, worse? You book an appointment only for fear that you will actually be unavailable. Asking someone to reschedule a meeting after you’ve already agreed is one of the more embarrassing moments.
You guessed it, there’s a simple solution here. And that shares your calendar.
In addition to checking your inbox, Calendar will share your availability;
- Improve communication and skills by planning a snap.
- Eliminating front and back saves everyone’s precious time. And it allows everyone to focus on their priorities instead of planning.
- If you have a team calendar, you can check everyone’s availability to balance assignments.
- A shared calendar can keep your personal and professional life organized and conflict-free.
How do you share your availability on the calendar?
With most digital calendars or apps, sharing your availability is as painless as sharing.
Calendar searches your connected calendars to find all available time to schedule a meeting. You can customize options by removing or adding meeting times and choosing the length of the meeting. Additionally, you can enter an actual address, a phone number, or a zoom link to indicate a meeting location.
Once you set your preferences your availability can be emailed to the meeting participants. Calendar notifies meeting participants and puts the meeting on your calendar as they click at a time.
With these smart, customizable schedule links, people can schedule a meeting with you in seconds and avoid double bookings.
No. Dr. Strange is not using his magical powers like MCU here. Rather, the calendar uses machine learning instead of human judgment to suggest how your next meeting will be scheduled.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Calendar also utilizes machine learning to make it easier to add new events. How? By giving smart advice on when and where meetings should be held and who should be invited. It also adjusts time zones for you, which means it manages your availability rather than letting you out when it comes to traveling or meeting schedules.
Finally, Calendar can be integrated with your Apple, Google, and Office 365 calendars so you can see your life in real-time.
When do you use calendar links?
The question should be when should you not use calendar links? After all, sharing your availability can be helpful in the following situations;
- Team schedule
- Sales meeting
- Networking opportunities
- Follow-up meeting
- Brainstorming session
- Sprint Review
- Introductory call
- Check-in
- Adjust your family schedule
What’s more, you may want to drop your calendar link on your website. Because? Visitors can see your availability without asking for it.
Of course, this is not an option for everyone. However, it can be beneficial for industries where appointments like doctor or hair stylist are required.
Do’s and Don’ts of Sharing Your Availability on Calendar
Ready to share your availability on the calendar? Here are some pointers to keep in mind before you start sharing your calendar willy-nilly.
Choose a calendar compatible with multiple platforms
Sometimes, technology doesn’t like to play nice with each other. Yes. Toggle between Apple, Google or Microsoft; That can get messy. You want to make sure that the calendar can be accessed across multiple platforms. Now, you don’t have to worry about syncing and sharing problems.
Don’t share too much information.
“Of course, privacy can be a problem for successful calendar sharing,” Kyla Sloan wrote in an article for Calendar. “But many people combine work and personal calendars without problems.”
Most online calendars have “settings that let you personalize some entries and share others.” Unfortunately, doing so prevents others from viewing sensitive data that they are not supposed to.
“However, not all calendars have the same capabilities,” Sloan added. “Therefore, you can allow everyone to view personal appointments, obscure entries, or not put them on the work calendar.”
Use customization to your advantage.
No matter which calendar tool you use, you can customize it to a certain extent. Therefore, you can customize it for your specific needs. For example, a Google Calendar view can be changed between weeks, months, and agendas. In addition to changing colors and titles, you can choose which items will appear on the screen.
One of the most problematic aspects of calendar invitations is the subject line. So. Make sure there is a clear subject line for each invitation.
Be careful who you share your calendar with
Everyone has no reason to access your calendar unless you want to Here’s how you can share your calendar if you choose. You usually want to share your calendar with certain people, such as your spouse or someone you are meeting.
In addition, only certain people should have access to the calendar. There is nothing worse than an overflowing kitchen. If possible, it would be best to keep only one person in charge of the calendar.
Add email time.
Regardless of which email client you use, allow your invitees to choose a meeting time directly from an email. As a preview, your invitees will see the first three bar slots available for each day selected as a button. Of course, if those times aren’t convenient, they can always find another time using the included calendar link.
Keep your calendar updated regularly.
There will come a time when your schedule will definitely change, no matter how organized or prepared you are. For example, in some cases you may have to reschedule a meeting due to an emergency dentist visit. However, if you do not update your calendar, other participants will still arrive at the main meeting time.
You can avoid potential conflicts with Calendar, for example, which automatically reschedules canceled meetings.
Avoid making last minute changes.
What would you think if your day went as planned and then you were informed that a meeting had been extended by one hour or canceled? After all, the Hulk-like anger you feel in your tightly fitting life is completely understandable.
You need to be respectful of others and avoid making last minute changes. Ideally, this should be done as soon as possible.
Activate timezone.
As we work with people around the world, it makes sense to enable time zones Also, because of the ability to detect differences in calendar time zones, you no longer have to worry about scheduling events at the wrong time.
Do not over-or-under-detail events.
You need to find the right balance for how many details you provide in a shared calendar for an upcoming event. However, it is usually sufficient to indicate their date, time, location and who is attending the meeting in a very short time.
An easy way to avoid too many details is to send attachments like meeting agenda and location so they can get directions to their phone.
Similarly, you don’t want to be too vague. Don’t block the afternoon just for the “meeting”. More information is needed so that everyone is ready.
Set your availability and your unavailability.
Calendars are set to display throughout the day by default. However, you are not available 24 hours a day, especially in the morning and evening. It is possible to hide the time blocks in the online calendar, thus avoiding clutter – and no one will try to book an event during these blocks. Also, it saves your time and prevents conflict.
Do not add invitations automatically.
In the past, spam has attacked Google Calendar. To prevent this, you can prevent Google Calendar from automatically adding invitations you receive. To learn how to do this, you can watch The Verge tutorial.
In addition to avoiding spam, it also avoids confusion and confusion. For example, adding items to your calendar without your knowledge or permission is almost impossible to keep organized.
Install the buffer.
A buffer is a gap between two events. Say, for example, a meeting ends at 3:00, then the next meeting will not be scheduled at the same time. As an alternative, you can take a break of about 30 minutes between each event so that everyone can grab a snack, use the lounge, and recharge before the next event.
More importantly, it prevents the possibility of being late to the event.
Combine events from other apps.
Additionally, synchronize your shared calendar with Facebook, Eventbrite, Evernote, Slack, or even your project management software if an event is scheduled there. These tools are usually integrated with the top online calendar services By doing this, you can access all relevant dates in one place, not on different platforms.
Image Credit: Mart Productions; Pixels; Thanks!
Share your availability in the calendar for all events the post appeared on the first calendar.
