With AUTM less than a week away, you might be thinking things like “How am I going to get all my work done before AUTM?” and “What exactly is my plan for AUTM?” While I cannot help you with the former, I have written this blog to quickly and efficiently figure out your schedule for AUTM in ten minutes. Ready? OK – let’s go:
First print out this blog, unless you have dual screens so you can read this and use AUTM Connect™.
0:00 - Log into AUTM Connect™ here.
If you're registered for the meeting, your user name has already been emailed to you. If you can't find it, click on the login link anyway, and select the "retrieve login credentials" link on the login page.
I know what you may be thinking – “I don’t have time to figure out a new system,” but trust me – it is worth taking ten minutes here…
0:05 (If you have not used AUTM Connect™ before, you will need to change your password) Now, hit the “X” on the startup screen – I will walk you through this…
0:10 OK – Click on “Agenda” on the blue bar at the top.
0:15 Scroll down and review the February 27th agenda.
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To keep from double-booking yourself, look on the right side under “Personal Schedule” – there you will see any meetings you have planned that day through AUTM Connect™.
Want to learn more about an event? Click on the name to see the description, and then tab over to the Speakers to see who is talking.
Quick note – to return to the previous screen, click the blue “back” button above and to the right of the event/session title.
2:00 To add that event to your AUTM Connect™ calendar (and shortly your personal calendar), just click on the calendar icon with the green plus sign.
2:10 Repeat the calendar icon clicking for any other events that day.
3:00 Once you are finished for the day, click on the next day of the conference (at the top of the screen next to “Date”).
3:10 Repeat for the next three days of the conference.
Can't decide between two sessions? Click each of them!
OK – that should have taken you 9 minutes or so, but do not go to the next step until you have made all your choices.
9:00 Almost done! Now, click on the calendar icon just next to your picture (if you put one up—and really, put up a picture! It takes only a minute) in the top left. The calendar icon is just to the left of the printer icon for those without your glasses on.
9:10 OK – If you use non-Outlook software, click on the “For more information on how to perform this, please Click Here” link and follow their directions from here. For those using Outlook, keep reading…
9:15 Outlook users only - click “Export to Personal Calendar”.
9:20 A dialog box will have popped up – click “Open”.
9:30 Then, on your Outlook calendar, you will notice that there is a new calendar (which will be named something like "appointment...ics").
9:35: Open each of those entries from that new "appointment...ics" calendar and click on the "Time Zones" icon (the globe) and change it to "Central Time" for each entry.
9:55 After changing each of the calendar entries on your new "appointment...ics" calendar, THEN move them to your "real" calendar in the same place.
10:00 Voila! Your entire schedule (including room numbers) from AUTMConnect™ is now on Outlook (and hopefully your other calendar software systems as well). If you had previously accepted a meeting, you will find those there too.
Note: If you follow these directions more than once, you will duplicate the entries on your calendar. Not the worst thing in the world (there is always “delete”) if you accept a late breaking meeting or switch your session…
Note 2: Your event/session choices do not override your meeting availability for partnering – those times will still be available for people to set up meetings with you (as much as I want you to attend the Plenaries, if that is the only time the licensor/licensee can meet, I’d rather you not miss that connection…). Of course, you can always block off any crucial times by choosing “Networking” on the top blue bar and click “Update Meeting Availability” anytime.
Now, in just ten minutes, you have your whole schedule downloaded to your current scheduling software, can therefore see any conflicts that you may have with any meetings you planned outside AUTM Connect, and are now all set for the AUTM Annual Meeting. You can thank me in San Antonio, but for now, get back to work!
Steve Susalka
Assistant Vice-President, Annual Meeting