Organising a Meeting in Outlook 2007
Organising a Meeting
The first thing is to decide how long we want for a meeting, and highlight a period in the calendar, let's say we want an hour. Right-click and select New Meeting Request.
We can say who we wish to invite. Fill in the To option as if it were an e-mail. For Subject enter the purpose of the meeting. Complete the usual things.
Click on the Scheduling Assistant button in the Message tab.
It shows our availabilities in the middle of the window. At the bottom of the page we have an indication, by default:
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Blue means Busy;
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Blue stripes means Tentative;
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Purple means Out of Office;
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Black stripes means No Information;
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Grey means Outside of working hours.
We can see that the attendee is away - in fact he's away all this week.
Over on the right-hand side we have a calendar giving an indication of what's going on. As it says under Suggested Times:
Suggestions are not provided because most attendees are not available during your working hours.
This is because the attendee is away for a week.
If we use the calendar we can highlight a day and below we have a list of Suggested Times. We have an indication of how many people are free. For the calendar as a whole we can see an indication at the foot of the window:
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White is a good day;
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Pale Blue is a fair day;
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Blue is a poor day.
We can click when we want the meeting.
If we go back to the Appointment by clicking the Appointment button in the Meeting tab, we see that it has filled in the time I've found when the attendees (and myself) are free. This is far more valuable, of course, when there are many people attending.
I can click on Send and the attendees will receive a meeting invitation which they can Accept or Decline.
Rooms
Also notice that there is a button (to the right of Location) called Rooms. If I click on that I get a list of rooms.
Select one, click OK.
Note that this only allows you to book those rooms and resources you have access to. This may be very useful if you can book the Council Chamber and you know that the meeting must be in that room. Otherwise your best bet is to organise the people for the meeting and then use the University room bookings system to book a suitable room.
Go back to the Scheduling Assistant (click that button in the tab). Now our Suggested Times also include whether the room is free.
Add Rooms is also available in the Scheduling Assistant (bottom left of window).
Resources
There are also other resources such as projectors and vehicles. If you want to add these you must use the To: button and not the Rooms button. In the Search box enter Resource to see all resources. If you type, for example, Resource.V you will see all Vehicles. Select the required resource and click the Resources -> button. Click OK when finished.
So if you want to book a van you may create a meeting with just you and the van as a resource and no other people.
See the links below to see information on setting up rooms and resources. What each department will need is an administrator to maintain the resources, for example to cancel a meeting should the head of department need to "usurp" occupancy of the room.
Once I click on Send (or back on the Appointment and click on Send), the attendees will get that meeting request.
Later on, if I open up the Appointment and click on Tracking (in the Meeting tab), I can see whether or not the attendee has responded.
Meeting Requests
When you get a meeting request, when you open it, you are given the options:
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Accept the meeting,
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Tentative acceptance of the meeting,
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Decline the meeting.
There is an option Propose New Time. We don't recommend using this - only the meeting organiser can decide whether or not to accept a proposed new time - a phone call may be the best way forward.
The Meeting Organiser can reschedule or cancel
Reschedule
If later on I wish to amend the appointment, double-click to open it. If I want to do it at a different time I can even use the Scheduling Assistant by clicking the button in the Meeting tab. Find a different time by clicking a different date then a time slot under Suggested Times, and when I go back to the Appointment by clicking that button in Message tab, it's now set the new date / time.
What I need to do is click Send Update so that the attendees have the meeting cancelled and a new meeting request, and the same applies to the room or resources.
If I start deleting or moving things without sending updates, then the old information will remain in other peoples' calendars and in the room's calendar, and the room will end up with meaningless appointments hanging around in it.
Cancel
If I simply want to cancel a meeting, right-click and select Delete.
Remember I need to send a cancellation by clicking the Send Cancellation button so that everything is freed up.
If you try and close the meeting window by clicking the x cross at the top right, the following dialogue will be displayed.
Remember again to choose Send cancellation.
Resorce / Room Accepted
Resource / Room Declined
