2021 – Day 3 of Google – Calendar

On Day 3 of Google, we will take a look at Google Calendar. Perhaps some of these features can help streamline your workflow.

MEETING NOTES

When organizing a meeting, you now have the ability as the owner to initiate meeting notes. What I like about this, is that the file is named the name of the calendar invite. It also automatically creates a space for attendees to add notes as well as action items (that can then be crossed off once completed).

If you forget to add meeting notes, you have the ability to edit your calendar event and add it after the fact. All attendees to the calendar invite have access to the file as well as editing access.

To add meeting notes, select the ‘create meeting notes’ button in the meeting description section.

ACCEPTING CALENDAR INVITE

You now have the ability to determine how you will attend a google meeting,

Yes
Yes, in a meeting room
Yes, joining virtually

While this is a simple enhancement, can prove helpful for the organizer to plan appropriately.

TIME INSIGHTS

This feature may be more helpful for those staff who are not teachers due to the nature of working through calendars. When interested, Google will give you insights on how your weeks are structured. It will give you information on:

Time Breakdown
Suggested Focus times to get your own tasks done
Times you are in meetings and a list of people who you met with (when you hover over a person, it will highlight on the week when you meet with that person)

To activate, click on the ‘ more insights’ icon on the left column in Google Calendar. This isn’t something that I see myself using all the time, but I do think it is interesting to see where I have spent my time from week to week. Again, this feature would make more sense if you use your calendar to organize your work.

FOCUS TIME

Find you are unable to devote time to completing your own tasks? Google has created focus times to help with just that. When you create a focus time slot, it will automatically decline any invites that you receive during the time you have given yourself to completing your own tasks.

You will notice that in time insights, it will let you know which days of the week you tend to have some available times to focus on your work.

To create a focus event, create a calendar invite like normal. However, instead creating an event, you will select the ‘Focus time’ menu. You will notice that different options show up from a typical calendar event. Another small difference between a focus time and a regular event? You will find a small headphone icon next to the calendar event name.