New Google feature will let you pick how you want to attend a meeting; coming first to Calendar and then to Gmail

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way we work. Amid the changed circumstances, working from home has become more of a norm these days. But as more and more offices open their doors to their employees, hybrid work culture is taking over the work-from-remote-locations trend. But there is a major problem with the hybrid working culture. When setting up a meeting, the organisers are not sure how many people would be attending the meeting in person and how many would do so virtually. Google has taken note of this issue and so it has rolled out a new feature in Google Calendar that aims to clarify it for the organisers just who is attending a meeting and exactly how.

Google today announced a new feature dubbed as RSVP for Google Calendar. This feature will help the meeting organisers understand how a particular guest aims to attend a meeting -- physically or virtually. As of now, when users get an invite for a meeting, they are given two options -- Yes or No -- to pick from. Now, an image shared by Google shows that users will get a drop-down right next to the Yes option that will give them two options to pick from. The options are -- ‘Yes, joining virtually’ and ‘Yes, in a meeting room’.

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Once a guest picks their option, both the organiser and guests will be able to see how attendees are planning to attend the meeting in the event detail. This will help meeting attendees know what to expect when joining a meeting, and prepare accordingly.

“Note that if you select the new RSVP options, the join method details (e.g. “joining virtually”) are not shared with contacts on other platforms, such as Microsoft Outlook,” Google explained in a blog.

Google says that the new RSVP option will initially be available on Google Calendar and that it will be coming to calendar invitations in Gmail soon. It will be available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers across the globe.