Overview

Our new system allows us to create events on Google Calendar, and then the website Sign Up Sheet and Docent Internal Calendar automatically pulls those events from Google Calendar into the website.

 

Docents can then view the Internal Calendar, or sign up for time slots on the Sign Up Sheet.

How the system works, and technical details

  • The system is a connection between our new website and our new Google Calendar accounts.
  • The Google Calendar is the central repository of all of our upcoming events, and all events are created, edited, managed, and deleted through Google Calendar.
  • Events on the Google Calendar are automatically synced to the website every 2 minutes, and then displayed on two pages on the website – the Docent Internal Calendar and the Sign Up Sheet.
  • The Google Calendar is organized into Calendar Categories for various purposes. See the next section on this page for a list of categories, what type of events go in what categories, and who manages them.
  • Some categories appear only on the Sign Up sheet and not on the Docent Internal Calendar. These are Tree Watering, Visitor Center, and Visitor Center Cleanup.
  • Some categories appear only on the Docent Internal Calendar and not on the Sign Up sheet, as they don’t have any need for volunteers/sign ups. These are General Internal Events and General Public Events.

Calendar Categories and Managers

  • Campfire Program
    • Primary Manager – Kat
    • Secondary Manager – Hashi
    • Included on Sign Up Sheet
    • Included on Internal Calendar
  • General Internal Events (All docent meetings & social functions)
    • Primary Manager – Hashi
    • Secondary Manager – Justin
    • Third Manager – Kathy
    • NOT Included on Sign Up Sheet
    • Included on Internal Calendar
  • General Public Events (Public facing events)
    • Primary Manager – Justin
    • Secondary Manager – Kathy
    • NOT Included on Sign Up Sheet
    • Included on Internal Calendar
  • Group Tours (all requested group tours except Welcome Walks & School hikes)
    • Primary Manager – Debbie
    • Secondary Manager – Hashi
    • Included on Sign Up Sheet
    • Included on Internal Calendar
  • Jr. Ranger Program
    • Primary Manager – Hashi
    • Secondary Manager – Sasan
    • Included on Sign Up Sheet
    • Included on Internal Calendar
  • Trails
    • Primary Manager – Renee
    • Secondary Manager – Sasan
    • Included on Sign Up Sheet
    • Included on Internal Calendar
  • Tree Watering
    • Primary Manager – Nancy
    • Secondary Manager – Sasan
    • Included on Sign Up Sheet
    • NOT Included on Internal Calendar
  • School Walks
    • Primary Manager – Debbie
    • Secondary Manager – Hashi
    • Included on Sign Up Sheet
    • Included on Internal Calendar
  • Special Events (Public Outreach events like TBFC)
    • Primary Manager – Justin
    • Secondary Manager – Sasan
    • Included on Sign Up Sheet
    • Included on Internal Calendar
  • Visitor Center
    • Primary Manager – Nancy
    • Secondary Manager – Kathy
    • Third Manager – Kerry
    • Included on Sign Up Sheet
    • NOT Included on Internal Calendar
  • Visitor Center Cleanup
    • Primary Manager – Kerry
    • Secondary Manager – Bob M.
    • Included on Sign Up Sheet
    • NOT Included on Internal Calendar
  • Welcome Walks
    • Primary Manager – Hashi (coordinate with Dean)
    • Secondary Manager – Dean
    • NOT directly Included on Sign Up Sheet
    • NOT Included on Internal Calendar
  • Calendar Coordinator Role
    • Calendar Coordinator will facilitate preparation of the annual MCD calendar of activities and review the whole calendar and ensure there are no conflicts between dates of events, and that the calendar is operating correctly. In case of any conflicts, will work with other Calendar Managers to resolve scheduling conflicts.
    • Primary Coordinator – Hashi
    • Secondary Coordinator – TBD

 

Calendar Manager General Responsibilities

  • Review master calendar before scheduling events, and coordinate with the Calendar Coordinator to select dates/times for your events
  • Add your events to the Google Calendar
  • Verify your event information is correct on the new website
  • Update your events on the Google Calendar when things change
  • Manage cancellations of Sign Ups for your events through Google Calendar
  • Sign people up for time slots if they can’t figure it out themselves on the website

Instructions for Calendar Managers

1. Creating an Event on Google Calendar

  1. Log in to calendar.google.com with your @malibucreekstatepark.org email address.
  2. Navigate to the day of the event. Click on the calendar in the day/time of the event.
  3. Add the title of the event. This title will appear on the Sign Up Sheet and Docent Internal Calendar on the website.
  4. Edit the start and end time of the event.
  5. You do not need to add Guests or Location. You can add them for your own purposes, but they will not be displayed on the Sign Up Sheet or Docent Internal Calendar.
  6. If the event has a description, click ‘description’ in the Add description or attachments section. This description will be displayed below the title on the Docent Internal Calendar, but will not be displayed on the Sign Up Sheet.
  7. This last step is very important. At the bottom of the new event window, change the Calendar Category to the proper category. If you don’t select the proper category, the event will not sync with the Sign Up Sheet or Docent Internal Calendar. When you create a new event, the Calendar Category will default to your personal Calendar, so you have to change the Category for all new events.

 

Please note that changes on the Google Calendar can take up to 2-3 minutes to sync to the website.

 

Video Instructions

2. Checking the event is displaying properly on the Sign Up Sheet and Docent Internal Calendar

  1. After making changes on Google Calendar, wait 2-3 minutes for the Sign Up Sheet and Docent Internal Calendar to automatically sync any Google Calendar changes.
  2. Visit https://malibucreekstatepark.org/portal/signup, click the category of the event, and verify all all information is correct.
  3. Visit https://malibucreekstatepark.org/portal/docent-calendar and scroll to the date of your event, and verify all information is correct.
  4. If something is incorrect, return to Google Calendar and edit the event. If the event is not appearing, or is not in the correct category, return to Google Calendar and edit the event to change the category. To edit an event in Google Calendar, navigate to the day of the event, click on the event, and click the pencil icon in the upper right of the popup window.
  5. Make your changes, then click the Save button.
  6. If this is a recurring event, such as the Visitor Center, an ‘Edit recurring event’ window will appear – ensure ‘This event’ is checked, and click OK.
  7. Wait another 2-3 minutes for changes to sync to the website after making any edits, and then refresh the Sign Up Sheet and Docent Internal Calendar pages to re-check that all information is correct.

3. Editing and deleting events

Editing an Event

  1. Log in to calendar.google.com with your @malibucreekstatepark.org email address.
  2. To edit an event in Google Calendar, navigate to the day of the event, click on the event, and click the pencil icon in the upper right of the popup window.
  3. Make your changes, then click the Save button.
  4. If this is a recurring event, such as the Visitor Center, an ‘Edit recurring event’ window will appear – ensure ‘This event’ is checked, and click OK.
  5. Wait 2-3 minutes for changes to sync to the website after making any edits, and then refresh the Sign Up Sheet and Docent Internal Calendar pages to re-check that all information is correct.

 

Deleting an Event

  1. Log in to calendar.google.com with your @malibucreekstatepark.org email address.
  2. To delete an event in Google Calendar, navigate to the day of the event, click on the event, and click the trash can icon in the upper right of the popup window.
  3. If this is a recurring event, such as the Visitor Center, an ‘Edit recurring event’ window will appear – ensure ‘This event’ is checked, and click OK.

 

Video Instructions

4. Cancelling a Sign Up

Docents are unable to cancel their Sign Ups directly through the website. We set it up this way because it would be too easy to cancel at the last minute. To cancel a Sign Up, docents should email whoever is responsible for the particular calendar category, and then the calendar manager can cancel the Sign Up by editing the Google Calendar event, following the instructions below.

 

  1. Log in to calendar.google.com with your @malibucreekstatepark.org email address.
  2. Navigate to the day of the event, click on the event, and click the pencil icon in the upper right of the popup window.
  3. In the ‘Guests’ column on the right of the screen, find the user you are going to cancel, hover over that user, and click the ‘x’ icon.
  4. Click the Save button. If this is a recurring event, such as the Visitor Center, an ‘Edit recurring event’ window will appear – ensure ‘This event’ is checked, and click OK.
  5. A window will appear that says ‘Would you like to send cancellation emails to removed Google Calendar guests?’. Click Send, and a cancellation email will be sent to that user. If for some reason you don’t want the user to receive this email, click ‘Don’t send’. Emails will not be sent to other users signed up for this event.
  6. Wait 2-3 minutes for changes to sync to the website, and then refresh the Sign Up Sheet to check that the Sign Up has been removed from the event.

 

Video Instructions

Add Calendar Categories to your Google Calendar in read-only mode

 

If you want to see calendar categories on your Google Calendar that you don’t directly manage, you can follow the instructions below to add them to your Google Calendar view, and you will be able to see the events but not edit them. This is useful for avoiding date/time conflicts with other events.

 

  1. Log out of any other google/gmail accounts in your browser, or open an incognito window for this process. This is necessary to make sure you only add these calendars to your MCSP google calendar account.
  2. Log in to calendar.google.com with your @malibucreekstatepark.org email address.
  3. Return to this page, and click each link below. When it opens in Google Calendar, click “Add”. Repeat this for each link below.

 

Campfire Program

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/render?cid=c_8346e2361eac3c15b9a3b479bd2f5d607f818cdebeedc6a0af7646539bf42405@group.calendar.google.com

 

General Internal Events

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/render?cid=c_3d28601a21a34d1d88661e28242a7d66fe3ddebeae4d9937aee529aeb5010da0@group.calendar.google.com

 

General Public Events

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/render?cid=c_cbe160572d0cad87f2c4f8dc51328cc386b627612977a14440202bb5cdb65712@group.calendar.google.com

 

Group Tours

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/render?cid=c_d97421f86dc24e985e6a22e6d338496bf0e1e3910037a5346c68f4d030b35bf6@group.calendar.google.com

 

Jr. Ranger Program

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/render?cid=c_b46dfdb4d84473e3631ce902e9525266cbe889093d2d801ded2ba899caeca5d9@group.calendar.google.com

 

School Walks

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/render?cid=c_96f15f7be31dc170d6874b8faf5e58a63c4812a37a309e50323c15954121d4dc@group.calendar.google.com

 

Special Events

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/render?cid=c_fe4b04522314cc5e73c05b574f5dc4691b110ad8a5072a2267fa40be40769700@group.calendar.google.com

 

Trails

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/render?cid=c_7592fe6748e6882a4f6caec24771caf5acc2ab30edcd1dbf75779f7c4710b419@group.calendar.google.com

 

Tree Watering

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/render?cid=c_131d315e4d6df066e8c90bb56bf9446c4b186742c06e95d90fc384af3c07cde6@group.calendar.google.com

 

Visitor Center

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/render?cid=c_042a0f7b42ce86107d0913d6bc5a0fa396f235a1f973f888a137bb63da01a16f@group.calendar.google.com

 

Visitor Center Cleanup

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/render?cid=c_43257b6cbf2c0f1fc98c022e38c8034a04e167de2f8bef54a2c7db22eece6d2e@group.calendar.google.com

 

Welcome Walks

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/render?cid=c_ca1f51077fb2807b319c05332c01a811cce3aabad30a78aa00d8a0c601b87bfb@group.calendar.google.com