Gather offers calendar integration so that you can share and view events for all participants in the Space. This article will cover how to add a public calendar, how to add a new event to a public calendar—including how to create a custom location link for the event, and how to view existing events.
Warning: Only Admins and Mods can add a Space-wide calendar to the Space. Events Spaces may have a session schedule instead of a calendar. To return to a calendar and to create custom spawn links in Spaces with a schedule, you need to add a Space-wide calendar.
Add Space-Wide Calendar
Open Settings in the main menu (Ctrl/⌘+P). From Settings, select the Space tab and select Space Preferences. The first feature is Space-wide Calendar. Paste your public iCalendar (iCal) link in the field and select Save.
From the Space tab in Settings, under Space Preferences, enter your public iCal link under Space-wide Calendar.
Refresh your Gather Space and select Calendar in the toolbar to view the public calendar.
Note: In remote work Spaces, you have the option to sign into Google and add your personal calendar. Read more on personal v. Space calendars.
Select Calendar in the toolbar to view the Space-wide calendar.
Finding Your iCal Link
If you're not sure how to find your iCal link, here are a few external resources. Basically, any calendar that can generate a public iCal link can be used.
Note: Make sure you generate a link to your public calendar so that Gather can display it. If integrating with Outlook or Apple, you will only be able to view events from the external calendar; you will not be able to create events within your Gather Space that display on the external calendar.
Manage Calendar
When a public calendar is added to a Space, it is visible to all people in the Space. People in your Space have the ability to create new events when they meet two criteria: (a) they have the Admin, Mod, or Builder user role, which gives access to event creation in Gather, and (b) they have edit access in the calendar's native application (e.g., in Google Calendar or Outlook). Otherwise, guests can only view events in the Space, but keep in mind they can view all events, not just the ones to which they are invited.
Add New Event
In the toolbar, select Calendar. The Events pane displays. Select Create new event. The Create new calendar event window opens. Click the Select location drop-down. Any previously created custom Spawn locations and Private Meeting Areas will display in the list.
Select the location of the event and click Create in Google Calendar. Google Calendar will open, and you will be able to add event details like date and time. The Location field for the event is populated in Google with the link for your custom Spawn location.
Note: If you just want to grab the link for the custom area location, click Copy location link. You can then share the link however you wish. You can also copy the link from your Google Calendar event.
Create Custom Spawn Location
To create a new location specific to your meeting, open the Calendar. Click Create new event. The Create new calendar event window opens. Click the Select location drop-down. Click Create a new location. The Create a location pop-up displays, where you can click Open Mapmaker.
To add a custom location for an event, select Create a location, then select Open in Mapmaker.
Using the Mapmaker, add Private tiles with a name to create custom meeting locations. Once you're done adding your custom Private tiles, return to your Space. Click Back in the Create a location pop-up. The new custom location displays in the drop-down list.
Note: Need a brush-up on Spawn tiles? Read our Private tiles article.
When the scheduled event takes place, participants in your Space can open the calendar to see the event and easily navigate to the meeting location. They will see a button called "Take me there" which takes them directly to the custom Spawn location.
View & Attend Events
To view the day's events, select Calendar in the toolbar. The Events panel expands, with a list of events for the current day. The event list shows the event name, the time, and the location. Events in the past are semi-transparent.
Note: Only publicly listed events from the current day on a public calendar will be displayed.
When you click on an event, a pop-up displays with event info. (The amount of info that displays depends on the amount of info entered during event creation.) You may see the full event title; the day, date, and time; the custom Private Area location name, with the room name in parentheses; a list of attendees who have said Yes to the event; and the Take me there button.
You can view the day's Events and click Take me there to go directly to the meeting location if one has been set for the event.
Meeting Notifications are given 5 minutes before a scheduled event starts. You'll receive a pop-up in the bottom right corner with the option to click "Take me there" so easily guide your avatar to the meeting area.
Meeting notifications will pop up five minutes before the event starts
Clicking Take me there will automatically walk your avatar to an available meeting room in your Space.
If a meeting area has not been set the calendar event will show a button that says Meet in Gather instead of Take me there. When you click "Meet in Gather" a meeting area will be assigned automatically. The link will be added to the calendar event for other participants to join the meeting easily.
Meeting Notification Sounds can be adjusted in the settings menu. Click on the Gather grapes logo to open your settings, click User Settings, scroll down in the Audio/Video tab, and toggle on/off the Calendar Sounds setting.
Notes on Calendar Integration
- If you have not yet connected a calendar (and you have Build permissions in the Space), you can still create new events. If you have a Google Calendar, you can still create an event in the Google Calendar. It just won't show up in the Space's calendar.