By Sheila Burkett

October 28, 2008

 

I love Google Calendar (GC) and can’t imagine how I lived without it. Prior to GC, I used Yahoo Calendar and clearly prefer the free, web calendars over all others. During my corporate days, I used Microsoft Outlook and someday will discuss the merits of using Outlook to run your business. In this article, I am going to share how I use Google Calendar (GC), discuss some of the many features and offer suggestions on how you might benefit from using GC. 

 

Google Calendar is a web-based contact and time management system that was made available in April, 2006.  Although it has been available in the spring of 2006, it is still in “beta”. What does that mean to you? There are still some “bugs” and new features coming. That being said, I really tend to forget that it is in “beta” and rarely have any problems with the calendar. 

 

In order to use GC, you must create a Google Account. No, you don’t have to have a Google Email Account. These can be one in the same or you can create a Google Account with a different email account. For example, my Google Account originally was my personal email account (saburkett@yahoo.com) and I used the same password (so I wouldn’t forget it). Since then I created a Gmail account and was able to merge my original Google Account with my Gmail Account. To access GC go to calendar.google.com. 

 

Now for some of the great features that make be love this tool.

Each member of my household has their own calendar that is color coded. The family member’s calendars are private, but we can share our calendars with each other. This feature reminds me of the large family calendars that have a slot for each family member so that you know everyone’s schedule. The beauty of GC is that the calendar is always with me and not hanging on the refrigerator. 

 

This allowed me to give my husband control of the calendar and visibility into what is occurring with the entire family. Does he use it? No, not all of the times, but when he does, it is extremely handy for him to see the conflicts and know when to schedule a meeting. It also gave me a teaching tool for my older children. As their social life began taking hold, they had the ability to communicate their schedule and I could communicate mine. I also email them an “event” when I schedule them for an appointment or there is something I expect them be available and attend. 

 

Are you wondering how this would work in an organization? There are two ways to approach it. Each person can create their own GC and share with others in the organization, or you can look into using Google’s Business Tools which offers shared calendaring space for business.

Don’t you find it frustrating when a group changes their schedule and forgets to send out an email about the change? This no longer has to happen with Google Calendars. Three groups that I belong to now have their event and meeting calendars on Google. They are public calendars so that all members can view the events and the events can be searched on Google.  The other great aspect of group calendars is you can change who “owns” and “manages” the calendar. You can also add multiple managers of a calendar.

 

Some of the other “public” calendars you can add as a view to yours are Holidays, Weather, Major League Baseball schedules, Ticketmaster Schedule, TV channel schedules and movie releases.

 

Like many people, I am constantly on the move. Being able to access my calendar anywhere at anytime is a huge factor for me. Why not sync my phone with my outlook calendar you ask? Basically, I forget to sync and to backup my data. (Hmm, as I am writing this I see an opportunity to put reminders in my calendar to sync and do backups.) 

 

As with many calendaring systems today, they will send you reminders of upcoming appointments. GC is no different. For people on the go, this is a nice feature. You can then link from the text to the details on the web via your phone. I also have the ability to add new events but sending a text. It will do a quick add and I am on my way. This allows me to add reminders for things to do on specific days also.

 

One of my favorite features is the website integration offered by GC. Why is this important and how would you use it? We have a business where we host events at our location and also raced in the area. Many of our customers always wanted to be updated on our events and where we were racing. By using GC, I was able to maintain one calendar and know that the website was update immediately. To achieve this integration, Google provides you the HTML code to imbed into your website. Eliminates website maintenance issues, ensures consistent communication and provides extra search visibility to your events!

Another feature that I have started using regularly is the Invitation feature of GC.  Basically you complete an event on the calendar and invite guests to join you. An email is sent to the guest. If they have a GC, they can add the event to their calendar. There is an RSVP feature so that you can keep track of who is attending the event. Although the invitation isn’t as fancy as one from evite.com, it is great to let others know of an event.

 

 

If you have a group, business or personally want to learn how to use Google Calendar, send me an email to schedule an appointment.   Consider subscribing to “Your Personal CIO” online service for further discussions on contact and time management tools.