I share the CEO's Outlook calendar with my assistant. Since we both book meetings for him, it is important if we have proposed dates for a meeting that we secure them in his calendar so one of us doesn't use it for another meeting. We do this by putting a hold on the date and time with a brief note with what the meeting is about, for example 'HOLD Strategy mtg w/DCEO'. You can also set the meeting as tentative, but since your boss may not be familiar with the various Outlook settings, it is best to put HOLD in the name. Of course it is then important when you finalize the meeting date that you go back and take the holds out of the calendar.
We use a meeting sheet and note the dates we offered, the purpose of the meeting, attendees, location and a notes section to write anything we need to remember such as any items to bring forward or if we need to remember to make a reservation. This is helpful if either of us is away so we can easily take over from the other. Even if we use meeting tools such as www.doodle.com to offer dates, we still like to use the meeting sheet to document our progress in arranging the meeting. Getting the dates is just the first part of meeting organization.
For most of us, meeting organization is a huge part of the job. The more organized you are, the better the experience will be for you and your boss. And if you share the calendar like we do, it is very important that you are both on the same page.
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