Setup Guide: Google Calendar

We use Google Calendar as our organisational calendar. Different Circles and groups of individuals may also use separate Google Calendars to coordinate. To access the ATT calendar (or any other Google Calendar), follow the steps below.

Step 1: Get a Google Calendar account

If you’re already using a Gmail address for your ATT work, it automatically serves as a Google Calendar account. You can log in to Google Calendar via calendar.google.com and go to step 2.

If your email address is not with Gmail, you can still use Google Calendar with that same email. You’ll need to set up a Google Calendar account - just follow the instructions below:

• Go to calendar.google.com. On the ‘Sign in’ page, click Create account and For myself. On the ‘Create your Google Account’ page, click Use my current email address instead.

• Fill in your details, including your non-Gmail email address and a new password. Note, what you’re essentially doing here is creating a Google Account with a non-Gmail address. Click Next.

• On the next page, you’ll be asked for a verification code. You should receive an email with the code. Enter it and click Verify.

On the following pages, enter your personal details, browse the Privacy & Terms, and continue. Log into Google Calendar via calendar.google.com, and go to step 2.

Step 2: Accept the invite to join the the ATT & other relevant calendars

Full List of Calendars (subject to change over time): ATT Calendar; Zoom Calendar, Meetings Rooms 1, 2, 3 & 4 and calendar of your circle if you have one.

Eg. ATT Calendar: You should receive an email inviting you to join the ATT Calendar. When you receive the email, click the link that reads Add this calendar.

Log back into Google Calendar, and you’ll receive a pop-up inviting you to add the ATT Calendar. Click Add.

Congratulations, the ATT Calendar and all its entries should now appear in your Google Calendar account. It should appear under the ‘Other calendars’ list. You’ll need to make sure it’s ticked if you want it to appear.

If you’d like to change the default colour for ATT Calendar entries, you can do so by clicking the Options dropdown button (the three dots which appear when you hover over the ATT Calendar button), then picking the colour that suits you. This setting only applies to you, not the whole group, so feel free to change it as you please!

You can also click into Settings in the same dropdown menu to adjust your notification settings for the ATT Calendar.

Step 3: Start using the ATT Calendar

Creating standard calendar entries

You can use the ATT Calendar to record any events relevant to Animal Think Tank, such as:

• Meetings

• Conferences, networking events and relevant community events

• Time away (e.g. you could set up a 5 day event to remind everyone that you’re on holiday or attending a course)

Set up events either by using the Create button or by clicking or dragging across a time period on the calendar. You can set a start and end date, invite specific people (so that they can get reminders for, say, a particular meeting), add a location, etc.

You can also click More options to do things like create recurring events, and change the colour of specific events.

REMINDER!!! Whenever you create an event, make sure it’s assigned to the ATT Calendar, not your personal calendar! Otherwise it won’t appear to everyone else.

Creating all-day calendar entries

All day calendar entries are useful, because they can be used, for example, to remind the team of a particularly important day, or that someone is on leave, without clogging up the whole day’s calendar. There are a couple of options for creating all-day entries.

Option 1: Create the event with the Create button, click More options, and tick the All day checkbox.

Option 2: Click and drag across the top of the calendar to create an event.

Our Calendar Norms & Best Practice

• Changing meeting dates and times: When we update a meeting's date or time, calendar will ask whether you want to update the meeting's guests. This happens at a very high frequency, so to avoid spamming people's emails with notifications click 'NO'. Our norm is to check our Calendar for dates and times > Using notification updates.

• Check People's Calendars to book in a meeting. When adding a guest to a meeting, add their Google Calendar Email (not their ATT one - although some people have merged theirs). Once added, click 'Find Time' and you'll be able to cross reference people calendars.

  • If people don't have free space in a specific period of time you need a meeting to take place, approach them directly.

• Ensure that both your personal calendar & a meeting room has been invited to any meeting you create. Failure to do this has led to double bookings of people & meeting rooms. Easiest way to ensure this is to: Book the meeting with your own calendar & invite the appropriate meeting room > Book via the meeting room calendar.

• If you are away from office, delete the meetings & meeting room bookings that you'll be in to avoid empty rooms being booked up.

• Meetings can be useful & a waste of time. If 3 people attend an hours meeting, that's 3 hours of work. Sometime the full hour is needed, but consider whether the meeting can be done in less time. Especially if it involves several people.

Google Calendar Tips and Tricks

Follow this link to watch a video

The Video Covers:

• Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Create Event -> C

  • Next Page -> N; Previous Page -> P

  • Day View -> 1; Week View -> 2; Month View -> 3

• Create an Event from Gmail

• Add additional time zones

• Event Notifications

• Pin Calendar to Toolbar (at bottom of your screen)

• Sharing & Requesting Calendars

• Change Owner of Event