Google Calendar gives us the easiest way to know the time across different time zones

We schedule our live streaming YouTube show at 2pm Eastern time. We have people who join us from all over North America, some in Europe and some in Australia. What time is it for them? I got it all figured out and listed the time in multiple time zones … then came daylight savings. I need to recalculate and make special adjustments for Arizona because they do not follow Daylight Savings.

I found a better way!

I use Google Calendar settings for World Clock. This is the best way to ask Google to calculate the time in different time zones.

  • Open Calendar.Google.com and click the gear for settings.
  • Find the section for World clock
  • Click “Add Time Zone” then click the drop-down arrow to see a looong list of possibilities.
  • Add as many time zones as you want, then click the “back” left arrow at the top left of the screen to return to your calendar

Once you are back looking at your Calendar, you will see the World Clock locations in the left sidebar. When you first open your calendar, before selecting any appointment, the World Clock will be showing the current time in all those locations. For example, if I look right now (12:11 EDT) I see 9:11am Los Angeles time and 6:11pm Germany time.

It’s not just about the current time

Unlike the clocks for New York, Tokyo, and Los Angeles, Google Calendar is not limited to showing you the current time in other places. Just select another time and the calendar will recalculate.

As soon as you create, or select another appointment in the calendar you will see the corresponding time in all the other time zones. For example, if I click on our scheduled show on Sunday at 2pm my time, I see 11am Los Angeles time, and 8pm Germany time.

What a relief to know that my time zone calculations are accurate! No more will I be heard to say, “So sorry I gave you the wrong time, I was confused about the time zone.”