Google Calendar is quite a handy tool for scheduling and organizing meetings. But since not everybody is required to be present for every meeting, it would be good if there was a way for people to know if they need to attend the meeting or not.
Google has now added a feature of Optional Attendees in Google Calendar. The feature would be rolled out on Google Calendars shortly.

Organizing meetings quickly through Google Calendar is a wee bit easier than any other enterprise level calendar system. With the new Optional Attendees feature, users can communicate to with guests whether the meeting is important for them to attend or not.


To get started, hit the Create Event button in Google Calendar, which will take you to the event creation options. Go to Add Guests to add as many attendants you wish to invite. Just below the Add Guests box you need to click on the Make some attendees optional clickable link. This will put an icon just before every Guests' name/email. Then click on the icon to turn it from Black to White and mark those guests as optional attendees.


Next time you create a meeting or event, make sure to use this feature so that the attendants too are informed whether their presence is really mandatory or not.