Basics of Calendar Etiquette

Inviting someone to spend time with you in a work meeting is one of the weightiest things you can ask. Time is the only resource that absolutely cannot be recovered once it is spent. So how do we make sure we ask people to share pieces of their lives with us as respectfully as possible?

Here are some tips for using work calendar invites properly:

Share the Agenda

Creating a meeting agenda is the ultimate sign of respect. It puts all parties on an even playing field and it makes sure everyone has the opportunity to prepare for a productive meeting. Not putting an agenda together leaves people wondering. That might be fun on a mystery date, but it’s not so good in a business meeting.

While you’re inserting the agenda, be sure everything needed to join the meeting (like Zoom details and links) is in the body of the invitation. This might happen automatically, depending on how you set up the meeting. Sometimes it doesn’t. Check.

Invitations Should Work for Everyone

A calendar invitation should be descriptive and useful for all parties, not just the person who sent it. For example, if you are Bob, and you send Mary an invitation to your calendar entry that says, “Check in with Mary,” it’s informative to you, but not to Mary. A better meeting title would be something like: “Check-in: Mary and Bob.”

Accept or Reject — Quickly

Calendar invitations should be accepted or rejected as quickly as possible. Don’t leave the person who invited you to a meeting wondering if you’re going to show up. Even a “Tentative” acceptance is better than no reply.

Bump Not, Lest Ye Be Bumped.

It doesn’t matter who invited whom, or who works for whom. Avoid rescheduling booked meetings.

Especially avoid rescheduling a meeting twice, absent an actual life-or-death emergency. When you push off a meeting more than once, you’re sending a message to the person getting bumped. You’re saying that they are less important to you than other people. It’s rude, it’s demoralizing, and it’s a toxic habit that tends to spread throughout an organization.

Video is Over-rated

For team meetings, video calls can be more productive than audio calls, due to the visual cues that help us communicate in group settings. However, Zoom fatigue is a real thing, so consider making one-on-one meetings with people you know into audio-only phone calls instead.

Bonus: It’s easier to get up and walk around on a phone call. And we need breaks from sitting in front of our screens.

Start on Time

It is just as bad to be late to an online meeting as an in-person one. And waiting online is usually horribly awkward, to boot. If you must start or join an online meeting late, alert (via text or chat) the other people before they notice you’re not there.

If you’re the one waiting for someone to show up, feel free to ping them shortly after the start time — like two minutes after. They may be having tech issues.

End on Time, Too

End on time. Better yet, end early, or as early as practical given the agenda.

Once the meeting is done, don’t forget to thank the attendees for their time. Try not to play the silly power game of saying something like, “I’m giving you back 10 minutes,” as if you own their time (and thus, their lives) just because they accepted a meeting invitation with you. Just thank them, smile, and sign off.