Did you Know, Microsoft Outlook Calendar Allows Business to Business Calendaring?

In a continuing effort to share tips and tricks in virtual meetings I wanted to be certain that you are aware of a really cool feature in the Microsoft Outlook Calendar Tool. I guess I took it for granted that most people were aware of the ability to send meeting calendar requests across different companies, providing each company is using Outlook as their email and calendar tool. Most companies I work with do use Outlook.

My wife and I both work for high-tech companies and we share our honey-do lists by adding appointment notifications such as medical appointments, travel dates, baseball games, gymnastics, dinner engagements, who has to pick up the kids due to meeting conflicts and so on. I am sharing this so that you have an opportunity to benefit from the use of this cool feature.

As I pondered the question of others using this neat feature, I began asking my friends, if they were aware of this feature. The answer I received is an overwhelming no. Sometimes, the most simple tasks, we perform are overlooked as we assume everyone knows, but in actuality, they may not.

Here is how you invite an individual to a calendar request. Insert the individuals email address into the Calendar tools TO: field, set-up the calendar event and click send. An email calendar request will be sent to the individual and they can accept it or decline it. The only negative to this is the accept invitation and/or decline does not show-up under the tracking feature. However, I use it to schedule meetings with suppliers and customers all the time and I have never had an external company not show.

Examination of cool tips and tricks, help us to organize busy business schedules. This examination is essential to helping us meet our high demand on our time. If we manage our lives better, we are less stressed and able to perform at a much higher rate of deliverables. Technology is supposed to make our lives less stressful, not more. Use technology to enhance your life, reduce your workload and be more productive.

If you have other cool tips, please comment and post them for others to benefit from. Open communication changes the world.