University Computer Help Desk

Before You Begin

You can create meetings and invite attendees using your Exchange calendar in Outlook Web App (OWA).

When you create a meeting, you are known as a meeting organizer. The people you invite are called attendees. You can also reserve resources to use for your meeting. For example, you could reserve a conference room, laptop or projector, or other resources.

Create a New Meeting

To create a new meeting request in OWA, do the following:

1. Go to https://owa.illinoisstate.edu and log in.
2. Click Calendar on the left side of the window.
3. Click New > Meeting Request.
4. Search for the people you want to invite and add them to your meeting. Do all of the following:
   • Click To.... This opens the Global Address List (GAL) so you can search for people and resources to invite.
   • Enter the name or ULID of someone you want to invite to the meeting and press Enter.
   • Select the person's name from the list of results and click either To -> or Optional -> depending on whether you consider this person a required or optional attendee.
   • Repeat these steps to add additional people.
   • When you are done, click OK.
   • Before you click OK, you may want to reserve a room for your meeting, as described in the next step.
   • Notice that any people you added appear in the To... field.
5. You may also want to reserve a room or equipment resource for your meeting. If so, do all of the following:
   • If the GAL window is not already open, click Resources.... This opens the same GAL window you used to invite people to your meeting (as described above).
   • Enter the name of the resource you want to reserve for your meeting. For example, enter the name of a conference room. You can also reserve equipment resources like laptops and projectors. For details on equipment resources, consult with your department's technical support staff.
   • Select the resource you want to reserve and click Resources -> in the area below.
   • Repeat these steps to reserve additional resources.
   • When you are done, click OK.
   • Notice that any room or equipment resources you added appear in the Resources... field. If you added a room, the name of the room will also appear in the Location: field.
6. Select start and end times for your meeting.
7. Click Scheduling Assistant to review the availability of the people you want to invite and the resources you want to reserve.
   • If the people or resources have a conflict on their calendars, you will see that on the Scheduling Assistant tab.
   • After reviewing this information, click the Appointment tab to complete the meeting request.
8. Enter a short description of the meeting in the Subject: box.
9. If you the Location: field is currently empty, you can can enter a location for the meeting (it just won't be reserved in Exchange).
10. Add an agenda or notes in the large, white box at the bottom of the window.
11. Click Send.

The people you invited will receive the meeting invitation as an email. They can accept or decline your meeting invitation using an Exchange client like Outlook or OWA.

Responses to Your Meeting Invite

When the people you've invited to your meeting respond, you will get emails and your calendar event will be updated to reflect the status of your attendees. They can choose to accept or decline your meeting. They can also propose a new time if desired.

The resources you want to reserve for your meeting, including both room and equipment resources, will also respond to your meeting invitation. Some resources are set up to auto-accept meeting invites and will automatically accept or decline your invitation based on availability. Other resources are managed by a moderator who will review your reservation request and will approve or deny it.