University Computer Help Desk

Before You Begin

You can create meetings and invite attendees using your Exchange calendar in Outlook 2011. To use these instructions, you must have an Exchange account, and Outlook must be configured for Exchange.

Create New Meeting Request

To create a new meeting request in or Outlook 2011, do the following:

1. Open Outlook.
2. Click Calendar on the side of the window.
3. Click Meeting in the upper left corner of the window.
4. Select date, start, and end times for your meeting. You should do this before inviting people so you can check their availability for the time of the meeting.
5. Click the address book icon to the right of the To: field.
   • To invite someone, use the Search icon to the right of the To: field. The Contacts Search window will appear. When you search, type that person's last name in the search field.
6. Click the Required, Optional, or Resource button under the person’s information.
   • Repeat steps 5 and 6 to invite multiple people to the meeting.
7. To reserve a location for your meeting, use the Search icon to the right of the Location: field. The Contacts Search window will appear.
   • When you search, use the location's abbreviated name. For example, to search for a room in Julian Hall, type JH in the search box.
   • Select the location from the list and click Add to Meeting.
   • This step is used to reserve common meeting areas like conference rooms and training labs. You are not required to reserve a location, and you may manually add a location to later if you wish.
8. To avoid scheduling conflicts and to check the status of the location you selected, click Scheduling and review the availability of your attendees and location.
9. Type a short description of the meeting in the Subject: field.
10. The location resource you selected is automatically added to the Location: field.
    • If you did not reserve a location for the meeting, you may type the name of a location in the Location: box.
11. Add an agenda or notes in the large, white box.
12. Click Send to send your meeting request.

The people you invited will receive the meeting request as an email. You will get an email and your calendar will be updated when they accept or decline your invitation.

If you reserved a location for the meeting, it will also respond to your meeting request. Some location requests are handled automatically by Exchange, whereas others must be approved by a human responder. Automatic responses are usually received within a few minutes; location reservations handled by a person may take longer.