Google’s greatest power is ubiquity. Almost everyone uses Google for search. Google has become the standard place people store their RSS subscription information. And Google Calendar seems like it’s almost there too. That means if you run a small group that has events, you should strongly consider putting together a Google Calendar for it that members can subscribe to. That way the group events can plop right down into the calendar that many members already refer to every day. Classes and weekly seminars are a perfect match.

It’s surprisingly easy and I’m doing it with both my classes this semester. Here’s what my TA and I did:

1. Create a new calendar making sure to check the “Make This Calendar Public” box.
2. Add all the lectures (with weekly topics), exams, and paper due dates as separate events.
3. Go to Calendar Settings for the calendar and click on ICAL next to Calendar Address to get a link for it.
4. Email the group and tell them all to bring up Google Calendar, scroll down to Other Calendars, and click on the little triangle next to it. Then they should select Add By URL and paste in the link that popped up at the end of Step 3.

And that’s all there is to it!