Are you ready to level up your appointment scheduling in Google Calendar? In this video, I'm going to show you seven powerful tips so you can manage your meetings easily and get more out of your booked appointments.
Hello everyone. Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.
Custom Weekly Schedule
And here within Google Calendar, if we come up to the create button, we have the opportunity to create our own appointment schedules. The very first tip that I want to share with you is something that we couldn't do when this feature was first released, and it has to do with our availability.
For example, maybe this is going to be a coaching call. This is going to be coaching with Scott, and yes, I'm going to give them an hour of my time, but I don't want to be available all days of the week. Maybe I only want to be available on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'm going to eliminate those other options.
When this feature was first released, we only had two options: we could say to repeat this schedule weekly, or do not repeat and just select certain dates. But now we have a third option—the ability to customize our schedule. This can be really helpful.
So for example, in my case, I don't want to be available every single week. I'm going to come up here to this repeat weekly dropdown and select custom. Here we can choose to repeat anything from one to—I'm not even sure what the maximum is—but there's a good chance that you're probably going to be somewhere in the one to four range. I'm going to select two in my example.
Then down below, I can customize it that much further. Maybe I don't want it to start this week; that's too soon. I want it to start next week, and I don't want this to go on indefinitely. No, I only want to make these coaching services available until the end of the year. So I'm going to select December 31st and then select done.
Now you'll see the dropdown has changed, but remember you can preview this on your own calendar. If I go to today, you can see that nothing is made available. It's going to start next week, and if I go out in advance, I'm going to have a week off, then a week on, then a week off. You get the idea.
So now you can customize the intervals for your weekly schedule.
Advance Booking Time
Now for tip number two, we want to come down below our weekly schedule and select the scheduling window. There are two things here that you don't want to miss before you create your appointment schedule: the maximum time in which someone can book you and the minimum time in which someone can book you in advance.
Starting with the maximum time, the default is 60 days, which will be checked. This means that someone today, on October 16th, could book me for December 16th if I'm available on that day. In my case, I think that's a little too far out. Maybe I only want to give people a 30-day window, meaning they can only look 30 days in advance to book me.
Also, keep in mind that you don't even have to set a maximum time. Remember, this particular appointment schedule is only going from now until the end of this year. It really comes down to what this appointment schedule represents. I'm going to go ahead and select this and then come down to the minimum, which may be even more important.
Just as a review, a minimum means the minimum amount of time that someone can book you in advance. If we look at our example here of next Tuesday, you can see that I have an appointment slot available at 9:00 AM with my current selection of four hours. That means that someone could theoretically book me as late as 5:00 AM that day—5:00 AM my local time. Maybe it's different for them.
Well, I'm still sleeping at 5:00 AM, and even once I've gotten up a little after six, I may not check my email until 7:30 or 8:00. Do I want to be surprised this close to that appointment time by having someone that I'm meeting with at 9:00 AM? Maybe I need to prepare or do some research on this individual or this company in advance.
In my case, I find that four hours is far too close. I usually stretch this out to at least 16 hours, if not a full 24 hours. But again, you can change this based on your needs. I would highly recommend that you never uncheck this box. Why? Because that means that someone could book you just a minute before your availability, really catching you off guard or surprising you, or maybe making you show up for that appointment.
So, make sure that you have the minimum selected and the number of hours appropriate to your needs.
Buffer Time
Now for tip number three, we're going to come down to the booked appointment settings. We'll expand this option to look at our buffer time. By default, this is going to be unchecked, but I want to ask you a question: How often do you finish your appointments exactly at the top of the hour or just a few minutes before? If that's the case, maybe you're okay with leaving this unchecked.
However, if you're in the habit of going over time or want to give yourself at least a short bio break before your next appointment, you may want to add buffer time. By selecting this option, we can adjust either the number of minutes or the number of hours. The default is 30 minutes.
So, immediately, you can see what this has done to my schedule. It has spaced out and reduced the total number of appointments available on those days. Keep in mind that Google's appointment scheduling feature will never double-book you. Since I already have some meetings on my schedule, it will never book me during those times.
You can adjust the number of minutes as well. For example, if I just want to give myself a 10-minute buffer, you can see what that looks like. This way, you can partially space out your appointments to give yourself a little break and enough time to get to the next meeting.
Lastly, if you're looking for ways to simplify your day and get organized with Google, why not subscribe to the SimpliVity channel? Each week, I bring you new tips for people who use Google apps and Google-friendly products. Click subscribe below to take advantage of a more simplified day.
Maximum Bookings Per Day
Now, the option below can also be helpful in managing your days. This can be a great way to ensure that you don't overbook yourself or overwork yourself, depending on what this appointment scheduling represents. For example, with my coaching calls, I usually go very in-depth with my clients and invest a lot of energy. The last thing I want is to have seven or eight coaching calls in a single day.
If I want to limit the number of bookings, I can select the checkbox for maximum bookings per day and then choose the appropriate number. For instance, I might set this to two. This means that the moment a second appointment is confirmed on any one of my available dates, none of the other slots will be publicly available.
For example, if someone books me at 9:00 AM on a Thursday and another person books me at 1:00 PM, as soon as this second booking is made—regardless of the order in which those bookings occur—none of the other available slots will be shown or made available.
This feature can be really helpful, especially depending on the types of appointments you’re booking, ensuring that you have a bit of variety in your schedule based on how many different appointment slots you have created.
Guests Can Invite Others
Now, the next tip on our list is about a new feature that was not available just a few months ago, found within the booked appointment settings. Under Guest Permissions, we now have a checkbox that we can toggle on or off, allowing guests to invite others.
By default, this option is selected (checked), meaning that anyone who books this particular appointment can invite or add other email addresses. However, if you intend for this to be a one-on-one call and want to keep it that way, you can simply uncheck this box.
Make sure to review the guest permissions according to your needs. In my example appointment schedule, I’ll go ahead and click the Next button to share a tip on the following screen, just before we save and actually create this appointment schedule.
Add Video Call Details
Next, let's discuss how to add a video conferencing link. If you're a Google Meet user, appointment scheduling makes this very easy. Under Location and Conferencing, you can select how and where to meet. By choosing this dropdown, you can select Google Meet video conferencing, which will automatically generate a link once the booking is completed.
But what if you're not a Google Meet user and prefer another service like Zoom? I’ll show you how to make it easy for both yourself and your guests. Instead of selecting an in-person meeting (which would require a physical location) or a phone call (which would need a phone number), choose None/To Be Specified Later.
This approach allows you to provide video call details in the description, which many of us are accustomed to finding. In the description, you might say something like, "Click here to join the Zoom meeting."
Now, while that’s just a piece of text, we can turn it into a clickable link for your Zoom account. First, switch tabs to access your Zoom account and find your Personal Meeting Room. This gives you a Zoom link and meeting space that you can use repeatedly without generating a new one each time.
On the left side, click on Meetings, then select the Personal Room tab. Here, you can find your personal meeting link. You could select Copy Invitation at the bottom, but that typically includes too much information. Instead, click Copy Link to get just the link, excluding any messy details like password information or the meeting ID.
Now, return to your Google Calendar appointment scheduling, select the text ("Click here to join the Zoom meeting"), and choose Insert Link. Paste the Zoom link into the dialog box and click OK.
Now, you have a clickable link that will directly launch their Zoom meeting!
Add Custom Fields
Lastly, my final tip is something that many users overlook when using appointment scheduling: the booking form. By expanding this section, you'll see that, by default, it asks everyone for their first and last name along with their email address. This is important to know who you're meeting with and where to send the invitation.
However, you also have the option to add additional fields. By selecting the button, you can request a phone number or choose to add a custom item. For instance, since this is a coaching call, you might want to ask, "What do you want to talk about?" This allows you to gather more information about their business or the topics they wish to discuss.
You can also decide whether to make this question required. If you want to ensure the user answers, select Required and then click Add Item. Now, when they go to book the appointment, they must fill in that question before completing their booking.
Don’t forget, you’re not limited to just one custom field. You can add additional questions as needed. Take advantage of the booking form to learn more about the people you’re meeting with, ensuring a more impactful and helpful meeting for both parties.
Do you have further questions or perhaps your own tips for maximizing appointment scheduling in Google Calendar? Feel free to share them by leaving a comment below.
Thank you for watching, and remember: being productive doesn’t need to be difficult; in fact, it’s very simple!
