Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
>>Narrator: Conferences Are Coming! How to Create and Share Appointment Slots on Your
Google Calendar
[pause]
>>Narrator: Towards a more user-friendly world: If you consider yourself “tech challenged,”
you might find it useful to ask a friend to walk through these steps with you. This video
has closed captioning, and a transcript is available by emailing skesel, that’s “s”
like “Sam,” “k,” “e,” “s” like “Sam,” “e,” “l” like “Larry”
@pacificasd.org.
[pause]
>>Narrator: What Are Appointment Slots? The “Appointment Slots” feature allows you
to reserve a time block on your Google Calendar, divide it into equal time intervals or appointments,
and then send a link to people so they can sign up. It’s an ideal tool to help you
manage sign-ups for parent conference week! Let’s get started!
[pause]
>>Narrator: First, log into your Gmail account, and click “Calendar” on the menu bar,
near the top of your screen. Second , choose the correct calendar view.
You’ll want your calendar to be in “week” view or “day” view mode, because the appointment
slot feature does not work in “month” view or “agenda” view mode.
To get to “week” or “day” view, click the button that says “week” or “day”
just above your calendar, on the right. Third, go to your conference week. Navigate
to your conference week by clicking the left or right arrows that are also just above your
calendar, just next to the month.
[pause]
>>Narrator: Now you are ready to create your appointment window and invite guests. First,
click on your first starting time. Find the slot where your first appointment will be,
and click it with your mouse.
[pause]
>>Narrator: A pop-up will appear. Second, click on “Appointment Slots” at
the top of the pop-up. You will then have a chance to fill in the following details:
Third, describe the event. Next to “What,” in the pop-up, type up a description of the
event, such as “Click to schedule a conference.”
[pause]
>>Narrator: Fourth, choose the correct calendar. If you have more than one Google calendar,
click on the drop-down next to the word “Calendar,” and choose the one you wish to use. You can
have several calendars, if you want—for example, one for assignments and tests, and
one for administrative items, like conferences. To create a new calendar, just click on the
arrow to the right of the words “My Calendars.”
[pause]
>>Narrator: And select “Create a new calendar…”
[pause]
>>Narrator: But we’re going to go back to the appointment slot we’ve been creating.
Fifth, click the button next to “Offer as slots of: blank minutes,” and change the
number of minutes, if you want to. I will make these conferences 20 minutes long.
Sixth, click “Edit Details,” so that you can give a title to your event, which we’ve
already done… change the ending time of your time block. I’m going to make mine
a two-hour window, instead of a one-hour window. So, my ending time will be 4:00.
[pause]
>>Narrator: …and also, you may click the box to “Repeat” conferences on some other
frequency, until an ending date. I will have my conferences daily. They will end on September,
29th. And I will click “done” when I’m finished my “repeats.”
[pause]
>>Narrator: Also under “Edit Details,” you may add location data next to the work
“Where.” I will put my… a room number… And you may add a description. I’m going
to type, “Please change or cancel appointments at least 24 hours in advance, if possible.”
[pause]
>>Narrator: …And, under “Edit Details,” you may invite guests. Anyone with whom you
share this link can sign up. There are two ways to invite guests. One way to invite guests:
You can type or copy/paste email addresses into the box under “Add Guests.” Make
sure email addresses are separated by a comma.
[pause]
>>Narrator: I don’t think Google lets you invite contacts or groups from your Google
Contacts yet for this feature. So for now, you might want to have email addresses saved
in a Word document for copying and pasting.
[pause]
>>Narrator: Once you have… entered your email addresses, click the “Add” button.
[pause]
>>Narrator: The second way you can share your appointments is to go to the Internet address
next to “This Calendar’s Appointment Page”… hover over that Internet address, and right
click. Select “Copy”… and then you can paste that link into an email or letter that
you send to parents.
>>Narrator: Remember, also, to offer alternate ways for people to sign up for conferences.
If, for example, there is a family that does not have Internet access or if the parent
or guardian has a disability that makes Internet use challenging.
[pause]
>>Narrator: Finally, after you have edited details, click on the “Save” button at
the top of the screen to finish up. If you have provided the emails addresses
of invitees, a pop-up will appear, and you can send them an invitation just by clicking
the “send” button.
[pause]
>>Narrator: Here is a screen capture of what people see, when they to go the link you provided.
There are simply a number of gray boxes on a calendar with the event title you provided.
They can click on any box, enter their name, and the appointment is booked!
[pause]
>>Narrator: It’s Never Too Late to Make Changes!
[pause] >>Narrator: To change an event in Google Calendar,
just click on it…
[pause]
>>Narrator: …and then click on the item you wish to change…
[pause]
>>Narrator: Make sure to press the red “Save” button…
[pause]
>>Narrator: …and it’s done! Thank you for watching! We hope this tool will make
scheduling parent conferences a whole lot easier!