How to Schedule Recurring Meetings in Google Calendar
For companies of all sizes, finding the right tool for scheduling meetings is important for office efficiency. Things like booking recurring meetings in the same room, scheduling capabilities, calendar views and notifications help employees focus on the work that matters most.
In this post, we’ll show you how to schedule recurring meetings in Google Calendar and explore three different tools you can use.
The thing about recurring meetings
At any company, fostering solid communication between employees, team leads, managers and stakeholders is key.
Recurring meetings are useful if you're looking to build momentum, especially for project-based teams. Weekly recurring meetings create opportunities for team members to ask questions, maintain alignment and make timely decisions.
Here are some of the most common types of recurring meetings:
1. Daily meetings: Generally fast-paced (think 5 to 15 minutes) held at the start of every day where team members answer (1) what they did yesterday, (2) what they will do today, and (3) if they have any problems or questions.
2. Weekly meetings: Check-ins usually take the form of weekly or bi-weekly meetings where team members review goals, status updates and progress.
3. Monthly meetings: Monthly meetings typically span a few hours used to discuss and resolve issues relating to the company.
4. Quarterly meetings: Scheduled to define goals for the next quarter, these sorts of meetings can take at least half a day.
Recurring meetings create accountability, transparency and engagement while moving projects forward.
Looking for a tool to make scheduling recurring meetings seamless and conflict-free? Start a free trial today to see how Robin powers scheduling as part of a better workplace experience.
Different tools for scheduling recurring meetings in Google Calendar
There are three main ways to schedule recurring meetings in Google Calendar:
1. Using the Google desktop calendar
2. Using the Google Calendar app
3. Using a conference room scheduling software tool
Google desktop calendar
Creating recurring meetings in Google Calendar is simple and straightforward. Once you’ve logged into your account, you can add an Event to it and make it recurring either by selecting an option from the drop-down menu where it says Does not repeat or by manually configuring the settings.
Default options typically include daily, weekly, monthly, annually and custom.
While scheduling a recurring meeting is a simple process in Google Calendar, there's some information left out. For instance, you can schedule events even if there’s a conflict with another one.
For example, if you scheduled a meeting in Room A from 9 am to 10 am and your colleague scheduled a different meeting in the same room at the same time, both meetings would be scheduled without any notification of a conflict.
Google Calendar app
Scheduling recurring meetings in the Google Calendar app is similar to scheduling in the Google desktop calendar in terms of process and user experience. It’s easy to use on both iOS and Android devices.
With the app, you can set up notifications so that you’re notified about upcoming recurring meetings. However, similar to Google desktop calendar, the app doesn’t notify you in case of conflicting meetings.
Scheduling recurring meetings using conference room scheduling software
Scheduling tools make it incredibly easy for users to:
1. Schedule recurring meetings
2. Check space availability
3. Automatically detect available rooms based on the duration of the meeting
Here, we’ll show you how to create and make changes to recurring meetings in Google Calendar using a tool like Robin.
One of the key benefits of using a scheduling tool is that it doesn’t let you accidentally schedule multiple meetings in the same room at the same time. This is sustainable in very small companies where there's often only one person scheduling meetings. But as an organization grows, that number increases making room scheduling more of a challenge.
Create a new recurring meeting
From the Robin dashboard, click the Create event button in the top-right corner.
This will launch a pop-up where you can enter meeting details.
Start by entering:
- Meeting name: This is the name that will show up in your calendar.
- Start: Set the date and time for the meeting.
- End: Set the end date and time for the meeting.
- Space: Select the space (or room) the meeting will take place.
- Description: Add a meeting description to let attendees know what sort of meeting it is and what you’ll cover.
- Guests: Use this field to invite team members to meetings by entering their email address.
- In this event: This lists everyone who’s been invited to the meeting. Tick the Include me checkbox to send yourself a meeting invite.
Once that’s done, all you have to do to make it a recurring meeting is click the Repeat checkbox under the start and end date section.
Once you tick the checkbox, you’ll see settings for the recurring meeting. From here, you can set how often the meeting recurs and when the recurring meetings end. Once that’s done, hit the back button and click the Book Now button to continue.
Make an existing meeting recurring
If you’ve scheduled a regular meeting and would like to make it recurring, head over to your Google Calendar and select the Edit event option.
Use the recurring meeting setting under start and end date to set how often you want the meeting to recur. For example, if you have a monthly meeting that you’d like to repeat every month on the last Thursday, click where it says Does not repeat to open the dropdown menu and select the Monthly on the last Thursday option.
The meeting (and all recurring instances of it) will automatically appear in Robin’s dashboard.
View conflicts with other meetings
One of the key benefits of using scheduling software to create recurring events is that you can easily check to see if there are any conflicts with spaces.
For example, if you make a meeting recurring once every month, you might be all set for the first meeting but in the fourth month, there might already be a client meeting pre-scheduled in the same room. As a result, you’ll be room-less when that time comes.
With Robin, you’re able to detect conflicts and see whether or not the room you’ve selected is available for all instances of your recurring meeting with a Conflict notice.
As a Robin user, you can click the Find a space button at the bottom of the screen to automatically find available spaces for the date and time you’ve scheduled your recurring meetings. If you select a space that doesn’t have any conflicts, you can add it to your meeting to automatically update.
Make changes to recurring meetings
From the Robin dashboard, navigate to the Schedule tab.
Next, find your recurring meeting using the calendar. Following our example, we’d go to 10 a.m. on May 15, 2019.
You should see your recurring meeting scheduled in the calendar. Next, click on the meeting to view meeting details and make changes to it.
Click the ellipses (...) and select Edit.
You’ll see the meeting editor in the pop-up. From here, you can make changes to either:
- Edit this event. The instance of the recurring meeting you selected from the calendar.
- Edit following events. The instance of the recurring meeting you selected from the calendar AND all following instances.
Simply make the changes you’d like (for example, changing the meeting name, space, start and end times, description, or guests) and click the Save Changes button to proceed.
So, for instance, if we wanted to add an employee to attend all of the Project A | Weekly Progress Meetings, we’d simply send them an invite and select the Edit following events button in the pop-up.
Scheduling recurring meetings without the right tools or knowledge is a headache waiting to happen. Minutes before the meeting, you might find that your booking overlaps with another team’s in the same conference room or struggle to find a space at all. With a reliable conference room scheduling tool, you can rest assured that your recurring meeting will be conflict-free.
