Prior: Part 10: The Building is Involved, so Include it!

The Church is very much aware that people often use their own calendar systems, especially on their cellphones. With this in mind, it is possible to "Sync" the Church events to your personal calendar system as long as it is Apple or Android and is based on the iCalc format.

Again, from the Help Center under Using the Calendar:

Calendar Settings

The settings options are found in the Gear icon on the right side of the calendar toolbar. The items displayed vary depending on your role. The Gear menu items seen by all users include:

Sync. This option allows you to sync your Church calendar with Microsoft Outlook, Google, Apple, and other calendar applications that support the iCal format. As events are added to your Church calendar, they will be synchronized with your third-party calendar to keep it updated. Simply choose your third-party calendar by generating a synced calendar URL to be used with your third-party calendar. By default, all the ward and stake calendar events listed in your left panel will be synced. You also have the ability to create a custom group of calendars to sync. Please keep in mind that it often takes many minutes, sometimes hours, to receive updates to your third-party calendar.

Should I Sync the Calendar to My Device?

Being able to Sync the Church's calendar to your device is one thing, whether it is desirable to do so is another issue.

If there are a bunch of events, leadership meetings and so forth that have absolutely no relevance to you, then why would you want to add all that junk to your personal calendar? I wouldn't.

Make it Attractive for People to Sync

So, how do you make it attractive for people to sync the calendar? Doing exactly what I'm suggesting you do anyway. Which includes the following:

  • Getting events on the right calendars
  • Making the information on the calendar complete
  • Following the Rules to Calendar and Live By in upcoming blog posts

This is a bit of a no brainer, in my opinion.

Next: Part 11: Random But Important Thoughts on Calendaring

Assignment for Leaders: Determine if your ward and stake calendars are "syncable". If not, make them so.

Assignment for Members: Determine if your ward and stake calendars are "syncable". If you want, try to sync them.


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