Using the Event Calendar

The Event Calendar is a publicly visible, shared, community Google calendar.

• Any community leader is welcome to share their public events on the Event Calendar.
• Anybody with a Google account can subscribe to the Event Calendar and see it in their own Google Calendar.

Request Posting Permissions (Community Leaders)

1. Set up a role-based, not individual-based, Google account that will be used for adding and managing events for your community. For example, programs-[yourcommunity]@gmail.com. This should be an account that is “owned” by the organization rather than a private individual.
2. Send an email to the administrator from that account and request permission to post to the calendar.

Anyone who manages a public-service community project that hosts content-related events can participate in this public service project and request posting access. Commercial entities are not excluded but requests for access will be judged based on the level of community service-oriented programming.

Subscribing to the Event Calendar (Anyone)

Subscribing lets you add the Event Calendar to your list of Google available calendars.

1. Sign into your Google account on your browser.
2. Visit the Events Calendar.
3. Agree to add the calendar to your account.

Alternatively, navigate to the calendar, and click the  icon in the lower right hand corner to subscribe. It will add the calendar to the navigation list on your Google Calendar under “Other Calendars.”

Adding an Event

Add an event, like you add any new event in a Google Calendar. Use the suggested formatting and naming conventions when creating the event.

Creating the Event in the Correct Calendar

If you are creating an event just in the Event Calendar, make sure that you select the Event Calendar calendar from the Calendar field when you create the event.

Alternatively, if you are duplicating an event from your community’s calendar, you can edit that event in the community calendar and choose to “Copy to Event Calendar” from the More Actions button.

Best Practice Suggestions for Constructing an Event

Put your Event title in the Title field.

The title is what will attract people's attention to your event. Do not put your org name in the title. Your org isn't the main attractor: the event topic and title are. When you put the title of the talk in the Event Title, people can see what the event is about as opposed to who's sponsoring it.

Set the Date, Time, and Time Zone

The Event Calendar is set to use “Coordinated Universal Time [0:00]” as its default time zone because many groups in many time zones are contributing to the calendar. You can, however, create your event in your time zone. The Event Calendar will automatically do the time zone conversion for others when displaying the event. If you need help visualizing time zones–so as to pick a time that works for more regions than just yours–try the World Clock Meeting Planner: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html

Put the landing page URL in the “location” field

If you want to take advantage of automatic social media publicity triggers across content communities, be sure to put the URL in the location field.

Put your Social Sharing Message in the Description field

Do not replicate your landing page in the description field. Put the message you want to go out over social media sharing automations. Include any hashtags you feel will help drive attention to your event.

Embed the Event Calendar in Your Community Website

1. View that calendar in your Google account and click the Options for Event Calendar (three dots next to the calendar name).
   
2. Under Settings for other calendars, select Integrate calendar.
3. Copy the Embed code to your website. Be sure to paste the code in the HTML view instead of the WYSIWYG editor.