Microsoft Outlook 2003

Using the Meeting Planner

When scheduling a meeting with Outlook's Meeting Planner, the person that sends out the meeting invitations is the organizer. The organizer completes a new meeting request which Outlook emails to the invited attendees in the form of an invitation. When the invitation is mailed, a tentative appointment will appear on the invitees' calendars. Potential attendees can then accept or reject the invitation. If an individual accepts, Outlook will automatically mark the time as busy on his or her Calendar. This document covers the process involved in using Outlook's Meeting Planner:

Meeting Planner Considerations
Checking Availability
Using New Meeting Request
Responding to a Meeting Request

Meeting Planner Considerations

The Meeting Planner is a powerful tool, but like many other tools, the value is determined by how people use it. If individuals actively maintain their Outlook Calendar, the Meeting Planner can be very useful. However, not all participants for a meeting will have access to Outlook and some will choose not to use the Calendar feature. If one or more of your participants does not maintain their Outlook Calendar, the value of the Meeting Planner decreases. How this is addressed is a departmental issue (or other appropriate group).

NOTE: The schedule that is displayed in the Meeting Planner is updated every 15 minutes.

Checking Availability

Before sending out requests, you need to pick a meeting time that all or most attendees are free. To find out who is available, you can pick the best meeting time (i.e., the time when the greatest number of people or those whose attendance is most critical can attend).

Open your Calendar
From the Actions menu, select New Meeting Request
The Meeting dialog box appears.
In the To... text box, type the username(s) of the individuals you want to invite
NOTE: Separate each username with a semicolon (;).
Select the Scheduling tab
NOTE: For more information, refer to Understanding Scheduling.
Locate a time that works for everyone (or when those critical to the meeting are available)

Understanding Scheduling

The following will help you in determining attendee availability:

The top line (dark gray) is the summary of everyone's schedule.
Adjust the Meeting start time and Meeting end time text boxes to indicate the length of meeting you want. Green (start) and red (end) bars appear within the day, marking off the meeting start and end time for your reference, respectively.
Meeting time color indicators are as follows:

Blue	busy
Blue and White Striped	tentative appointments
Purple	out of office
Black and White Striped	no information available (user is not an Outlook/Exchange user or is not a UWEC user)

To use AutoPick:

To quickly locate common times, use the AutoPick feature.

Click AUTOPICK NEXT>>
AutoPick adjusts the Meeting start time and Meeting end time to the time it finds most available.

Using New Meeting Request

Once you have established availability, you can proceed with sending out requests. To do this, you will use the New Meeting Request feature which Outlook's Meeting Planner will then send out in the form of an email invitation.

Open your Calendar
From the Actions menu, select New Meeting Request
The Meeting dialog box appears.
In the To... text box, type the username(s) of the individuals you want to invite
NOTE: Separate each username with a semicolon (;).
Select the Scheduling tab
Locate a time that all attendees have in common
The Meeting start time and Meeting end time are adjusted as you determine the most common time.
NOTE: For more information, refer to Checking Availability.
Select the Appointment tab
Complete the email message with the appropriate meeting details
EXAMPLE: Subject, Location
Click SEND

Responding to a Meeting Request

When you have been invited to attend a meeting, a tentative meeting will appear on your calendar and the request will appear in your Inbox. Your reply to the meeting request will be sent only to the person who originated the request.

Read the invitation message
Click the appropriate button (ACCEPT, TENTATIVE, or DECLINE)
A dialog box appears asking if you want to edit the response, send the response, or not send a response.
Select the desired option
If you elect to edit a response, complete the resulting dialog box

Proposing a New Time

As the recipient of a new meeting request, you have an additional option: you can propose a new time to the meeting organizer. When doing this, you can see the free and busy times of all those invited.

Proposing a New Time: as Recipient of a Meeting Request

As the recipient of a meeting request, one of your options is to propose a new time. When doing so, you are able to view the busy and free times of all attendees, making your selection of a new time more informed.

Read the invitation message
Click PROPOSE NEW TIME
The schedule of attendees showing busy and free times appears.
Select a new time
Click PROPOSE TIME
You are returned to the original meeting request.
OPTIONAL: In the message text box, add a message
Click SEND
The original meeting is currently shown on your calendar as tentative.

Accepting the New Time: as Organizer of the Meeting

As organizer of a meeting, you may receive proposals for a new meeting time. If you do not accept them, the original meeting time stands. If you accept a new meeting time, you can have Outlook notify the attendees and update their calendars.

Open the new meeting time proposal
If it is acceptable, click ACCEPT PROPOSAL
Click SAVE AND CLOSE
A dialog box appears asking whether you would like to notify all attendees of the change.
Click YES
Attendees receive a new meeting request with the same options as the first. If they accept, their calendar is updated.