As I’ve said before – we love Google calendars!  For a free online calendar it really takes some beating.  Here are five great things you can do with it:

1. Invite attendees and let Google keep track of responses.  When you create an event in Google calendar on the right hand side of the screen you’ll see the option ‘Add Guests’, click on this and it’ll take you to a box where  you can type in the email addresses of those you wish to invite to your event.  This can be anyone you have an email address for, it doesn’t have to be just other Google account users.  Click ’save’ and Google will prompt you to send out the invitations. It’s as simple as that.  Invitees then receive a neat looking invitation with the option to decline or accept.  They can also submit an accompanying message if they wish and there’s a specific option to add any companions.  So if they are coming +1, they can let you know this.  Google will then add the +1 into your total event numbers.  To check on your running total of attendees just click on the event description in your Google calendar and all the details will come up.  Who has responded, who is still outstanding, who is coming with a companion, who has declined, your total number of confirmed guests, etc.  It takes a lot of the headache out of organising events and large meetings.

2. Set up reminders.  If you’re the forgetful type you can automatically set up Google calendar to send you reminders before upcoming appointments.  To set this up click on the ‘Settings’ tab when you’re in your Google calendar account.  From here click on the ‘Calendars’ tab and you will see the notifications section.  Just follow the steps on screen and Google will then send you reminders of your upcoming events to your mobile.  You can choose to receive 10 hours or 10 minutes before the event, it’s up to you.

3. Create a task list.  You can now create different tasks and list in Google calendar.  Just click on ‘Tasks’ on the left hand side of your calendar and it’ll expand the task list window on the right hand side.  You can create different lists of tasks, e.g. personal and business.  If you choose a due date for your task it will also show up in the calendar header on the correct day.  It’s simple, as a good task list should be.  You don’t want to spend so much time categorising your task lists that you don’t have time to do any tasks.

4. View different time zones.   If you do a lot of business overseas then a really handy way to keep the time difference visible in your calendar is to go into ‘Settings’ and simply add your additional time zone.  These will then display side by side on the left hand side of your calendar.

5. Share your calendar. This is really easy to do and very handy for teams.  Just click on the ’settings’ tab on your calendar homepage.  This will give you the option to ‘Share this calendar’ click on here and you will need to enter the email address of those people you wish to share your calendar with.  You can also choose whether you give them full access and the ability to edit your calendar, or whether you want them simply to be able to view.  You can even just let them see when you are busy but  hide the details of the exact event.  So you can choose different, appropriate levels of access for those you want to share with.

Of course if this all sounds very good but you just don’t have the time to get your Google calendar set up.  Well, One Hour PA can probably help you with that!