How to Schedule a Google Meet Session With a Google Calendar Event

Quick and easy-to-follow guide for Google Meet users

You can set up a Google Meet session in advance by scheduling a Calendar event.

How to schedule a new Google Meet session in advance using Google Calendar step-by-step with images

Step 1

Go to https://meet.google.com and click New meeting.

Step 2

Select Schedule in Google Calendar.

Step 3

One way for guests to join the Google Meet session is by clicking the Join with Google Meet button. They will see it when viewing the event on their calendar.

Manage the Google Meet session’s settings in advance

To the right of the Join with Google Meet button, click the gear icon (Video call options).

Step 4

Host controls

Select Host controls.

You can turn Quick access and Attendance tracking on/off here. If you keep Quick access on:

Users in your domain can join the session without approval at any time
Anyone dialing into the session can join without approval
Anyone can dial out

If you turn it off:

You must join the session first, or else others can’t join
Only people you invited can join without approval; you must approve everyone else during the session, including anyone who tries to join by dialing in
People can’t join anonymously
Only you and other co-hosts can dial out

Attendance tracking

You may also be able to turn on Attendance tracking.

This feature is not available for G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, Google Workspace Business Starter, Google Workspace Business Standard, Google Workspace for Education Starter, Google Workspace for Education Standard, and Nonprofits.

With attendance tracking, you receive an email with a Google Sheets link to an attendance report. The report includes:

Participants’ names
Participants’ email addresses
Part of their phone numbers if they dial in from their phone
When they joined, how long they were in the session, and when they left. If someone leaves and joins multiple times, you’ll only see their overall time spent in the session

Step 5

Create breakout rooms

Select Breakout rooms to separate participants into groups of different sub-sessions.

You can adjust the number of breakout Rooms, set a Timer, Shuffle participants randomly between rooms, or click Clear to reset the settings to the default.

If you click the Timer setting, check the End breakout rooms after a set amount of time box and specify how long you want the breakout rooms to last. When this time runs out, a 30-second countdown starts before all participants return to the main room.

You can click a breakout room’s name to change it.

Click and drag a meeting participant to move them to another breakout room.

Step 6

Invite people to the Google Calendar event

Invite people by entering their names or email addresses under Guests. When they appear below, click to select them.

Searching by name and getting suggestions only works for people in your Google Contacts at https://contacts.google.com.

Step 7

Add attachments to the Google Meet session

You can add attachments to the calendar event and the Google Meet session.

Anyone in the meeting can click an attachment to access it, as long as they have sufficient access permissions.

Click the paper clip icon (Add attachment) in the Description field at the bottom.

Step 8

Share files with session participants

Select a file from My Drive, Shared drives, Shared with me, or Upload a file now.

Then click Select to add it to the event.

Step 9

When you click SAVE to add the event, you will see this warning if people can’t access the attachments.

You can keep Share with x people selected to add those who don’t have access to the files’ direct sharing settings.

Select Turn link sharing on to allow people to access and view the file by link without adding them to the direct sharing settings. They won’t be able to edit the file.

Check the Don’t give access box if you want to keep the file’s settings as they are.

Step 10

If you select the option to add people to the sharing permissions, you can click the sharing level and choose between View, Comment, or Edit.

View only allows people to see the file
Comment also allows them to comment
Edit allows them to edit

Click INVITE.

Step 11

Send an email invitation to all participants

Click Send to send an email invitation to all event guests.

Step 12

Joining the Google Meet session

This is the email invitation.

Guests can see details and let others know if they’re joining.

They can also join the session by phone or by clicking the link there.

Step 13

The meeting will also be accessible before the event starts if Quick access is on. The option to join will be visible on the right on the Google Meet home page at https://meet.google.com.