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Step Two: Setup your calendar/events

This step publishes your public events for your community into your app

Your app can access a calendar you already administer in systems such as Google calendar, Office 365, or ChMS systems such as infoodle.

Watch the video for an overview of what needs to be achieved in this step, and then follow the step-by-step instructions below.

There are two steps to this process:

  1. Firstly, identifying the calendar system you’d like to integrate and getting the required information from that platform. (an ics link in all cases except Google Calendar).
  2. Secondly, applying that information into the EzyStream dashboard:

Choose your calendar source

Consider where you already operate a calendar of all public events in your community. If you don’t have one, consider making a ‘Public’ calendar in a platform that your staff already use. If you already have one, that’s great. If you use a platform for managing people and events, like infoodle, choose an appropriate calendar there. The events from this calendar will be populated for everyone viewing your app to see.

NB: Your app will automatically sync with your calendar each night. If you want to force a sync, you can come and click sync on the calendar page whenever you wish.

For a Google Calendar, we need the public URL for your Google Calendar and your Google Calendar ID.

  1. On your computer, open Google Calendar, under the account which owns the calendar you’d like to integrate with your app.
  2. At the top right, click Settings,
  3. On the left side, under Settings for my calendars, click the name of the calendar you want to share. (Or create a new Public one if required).
  4. Select Calendar Settings from the dropdown.

5.    Under Access permissions for events tick Make Available to public and ensure the dropdown See all event details is selected. If a popup opens, select Ok

6.    Scroll down to Integrate calendar and copy the:

  • Calendar ID
  • Public URL to this calendar

7. Copy these IDs for use in the EzyStream Dashboard as follows.

Applying your Google info into the EzyStream Dashboard

  1. Login to the EzyStream Dashboard (admin.ezystream.com).
  2. Click ‘Content’ in the main top blue navigation menu,
  3. Select ‘Calendar’
  4. Click the ‘Settings’ tab.
  5. Enter the name of your calendar. This can be the name of your church, or a specific description of the calendar such as ‘Campus X Calendar’.
    If you only use one calendar in your app, this will remain hidden to your app users. If you plan to use multiple calendars, name it in a way to distinguish it from the next calendar.
  6. Enter the address of the site that this calendar relates to.
  7. Enter the details you obtained in the steps above.
  8. Click ‘Save’
  9. Go back to the ‘Calendar’ tab, and click Sync.
  10. Google may prompt you to re-login to Google. If you do need to do this, double check the synchronisation has occurred after your enter your details. You may need to click sync a second time.To authorize the synchronization you might need to authorize our developer account. If you get the message “Google hasn’t verified this app” message follow this instruction:

a) Click the ‘Advanced’ link in the bottom left corner.

 b) Select the “Go to ezystream.com (unsafe)” option.

c) Select the “Allow” button to allow EzyStream app to access your calendar.

This should complete your sync, and your events display in your app once refreshed.

NB: Follow the same process for each additional calendar you’d like to add.

To integrate an Outlook calendar, we need an ICS feed link for the EzyStream dashboard.

1. Login to https://outlook.office.com/ using the account of the outlook calendar you wish to share.

2. In the top left, selected the calendar icon (circled)

3. After selecting Calendar, select Settings at the top right of the screen.

4. Select Calendar -> Shared calendars

5. Under Publish a calendar. Use the dropdown to select the calendar you wish to share, and select can view all details. Ensure this calendar is only used only for your members to view and not for personal events. This is because all items in the calendar will show in the app.

6. Select Publish

7. 2 links will be created. You must copy and save the ICS link and send it to the delegate. The HTML link is not required. Be careful to ensure you only copy the correct link.

  • The incorrect HTML link begins with https:// and ends with .html
    This appears first. Do NOT copy this
  • The correct ICS link begins with https:// and ends with .ics
    This appears second. Copy this one

8. Copy these IDs for use in the EzyStream Dashboard as follows.

Applying your Office 365 info into the EzyStream Dashboard

  1. Login to the EzyStream Dashboard (admin.ezystream.com).
  2. Click ‘Content’ in the main top blue navigation menu,
  3. Select ‘Calendar’
  4. Click the ‘Settings’ tab.
  5. Enter the name of your calendar. This can be the name of your church, or a specific description of the calendar such as ‘Campus X Calendar’.
    If you only use one calendar in your app, this will remain hidden to your app users. If you plan to use multiple calendars, name it in a way to distinguish it from the next calendar.
  6. Enter the address of the site that this calendar relates to.
  7. Click ‘Use an ICS Feed’
  8. Enter the ICS URL you obtained – (the green highlight) in the Office 365 steps above.
  9. Click ‘Save’
  10. Go back to the ‘Calendar’ tab, and click Sync.

NB: Follow the same process for each additional calendar you’d like to add.

Copy a ICS URL from your source calendar.

Each ChMS/calendar platform will have a way for your to copy an ICS URL of your calendar. This is likely to be in a ‘Share your Calendar’ section.
Please contact the support team for your platform if you need help sourcing this ICS feed.

Applying your Office 365 info into the EzyStream Dashboard

  1. Login to the EzyStream Dashboard (admin.ezystream.com).
  2. Click ‘Content’ in the main top blue navigation menu,
  3. Select ‘Calendar’
  4. Click the ‘Settings’ tab.
  5. Enter the name of your calendar. This can be the name of your church, or a specific description of the calendar such as ‘Campus X Calendar’.
    If you only use one calendar in your app, this will remain hidden to your app users. If you plan to use multiple calendars, name it in a way to distinguish it from the next calendar.
  6. Enter the address of the site that this calendar relates to.
  7. Click ‘Use an ICS Feed’
  8. Enter the ICS URL you obtained – (the green highlight) in the Office 365 steps above.
  9. Click ‘Save’
  10. Go back to the ‘Calendar’ tab, and click Sync.

NB: Follow the same process for each additional calendar you’d like to add.

Tip and Tricks

  1. You can add a ‘Register’ button to an event by simply adding the URL of the booking link into the description of your event. This is added in your calendar platform, and once sync’d the app will automatically generate the ‘Register’ Button.
  2. Your calendar will automatically sync once a day, so you only need to click Sync yourself if you want to see updates in your app more quickly after creating a new event.

Need help?

The Baptist NZ comms team is able to help you configure your app to get the most out of it. You can give us a call, or email support here.

We suggest your app is configured to do at least the following:

  • Send Push Notifications,
  • Display events,
  • Offer digital giving,
  • Publish sermon media
  • Publish weekly newsletters
  • A full feature list is available here.

If you’re stuck getting these operating, please get in touch. We want your app to be an effective tool for your community.

Request Support