How to Set Up a Google Meet: Account, Invite, and Recurring Meetings

You usually don’t start by saying, “Today I will master google meet video conferencing.” You start by thinking, “I need a meeting in 10 minutes and someone told me to host it.” Different energy. Same outcome: you need to figure out how to set up a Google Meet without turning it into a half-hour side quest through menus, tabs, and tiny buttons in the bottom right corner of your screen.

So let’s do this like real people do it. We’ll talk about using Google Calendar, the google meet app, the gmail app, and yes, the browser on your laptop. We’ll cover instant meeting setups, scheduled meeting setups, recurring meetings, and the small but important stuff like meeting details, meeting reminders, time zones, and what happens when your internet connection decides to test your patience.

And for the neat, ultra-structured version of this whole process, I’ll point you (three times, as requested) to the main guide: How to Create and Schedule a Google Meet. Think of that one as the clean manual. This one is the human version with fingerprints on it.

How to set up a google meet

At its core, how to set up a Google Meet means one of two things:

1. You create a meeting right now (an instant meeting).
2. You schedule a Google Meet for later using Google Calendar.

Both give you a meeting link (and usually a meeting code) that your participants can use to join. Both create a google meet session. The difference is whether you want structure, invites, and reminders—or chaos and speed.

If you want something tidy and repeatable, especially for a future meeting or recurring meetings, you’ll end up using Google Calendar. If you just need to talk now, you can start a video meeting directly in Meet.

Open google calendar

Let’s start with the most reliable path: open Google Calendar.

You can do this in a browser, in the google calendar app on mobile devices, or even indirectly from Gmail. Once you’re there, look at the left sidebar, pick a date, and click new event (or just click a time slot on the calendar grid).

This is where meetings organized actually happens.

When you create a calendar event, you’re not just picking a time. You’re setting up:

• The meeting details (title, description, agenda).
• The guest list (who you invite participants).
• The meeting link (by clicking add Google Meet video).
• The reminders, time zones, and all the stuff that saves your future self from chaos.

Google Calendar ensures that everyone gets the same info, in their own time zone, with a proper calendar invite or google calendar invite sitting in their schedule.

If you want a very clean, step-by-step walkthrough of this flow, that’s exactly what How to Create and Schedule a Google Meet is for. Keep it bookmarked.

Video conferencing

Video conferencing sounds fancy, but in practice it’s just: camera, mic, link, people.

With Google Meet, the video conferencing part is baked into your calendar workflow. When you add Google Meet video to an event, you’re attaching a persistent video meeting link to that event. That link opens a google meet session where your meeting host and participants show up at the scheduled time.

You don’t need extra software. You don’t need plugins. You just need a google account and a browser or the meet app.

Any device

On an android device (or an iOS device, honestly), the flow is almost the same, just more tapping:

1. Open the google calendar app or meet app.

2. Tap new event or new meeting.

3. If you’re in Meet, choose to schedule in Calendar.

4. Add meeting details.

5. Tap save.

Your phone will now happily remind you about this scheduled meeting like it’s the most important thing in your life. Which, at that moment, it probably is.

New event

The new event button is where most Google Meet stories begin.

Click it, and you’ll see fields for:

• Title (what the meeting is actually about).
• Date and time (don’t forget time zones if people are remote).
• Guests (this is where you add guests or invite participants).
• Description (agenda, links, relevant documents, note taking links, etc.).

Then you hit add Google Meet video and watch the meeting link appear like magic.

Finally: click save.

Or tap save.

This is the moment the calendar event becomes a real google meet meeting.

Open gmail

You can also open Gmail and use the gmail app or the web interface. There’s usually a Meet section or meet tab tucked into the interface.

From there, you can:

• Start an instant meeting.

• Or jump into scheduling, which sends you to Google Calendar anyway.

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It’s handy if your life already lives in email and you want to access Google Meet without opening another tab.

Click save

This sounds obvious, but it’s the most common failure point in human history.

You fill in the event details, you add the meeting link, you add guests, and then… you close the tab.

No click save. No tap save. No meeting.

Always save. Always.

When you do, Google sends out the meeting invite or calendar invite automatically. That’s one less thing to remember.

Google meet directly

Sometimes you don’t want to deal with calendars at all. You just want to start talking.

You can go to Google Meet directly:

• In your browser: open meet.google.com.
• In the google meet app or meet app on your phone.

Click new meeting, then choose start an instant meeting or create a meeting for later. You’ll instantly get a meeting link and meeting code you can share invite through messaging apps, email, or whatever messaging platform your team uses.

This is great for quick calls. Less great for anything that needs reminders, structure, or people in different time zones.

Note taking

A small but powerful habit: add your note taking doc link to the meeting details in the calendar event.

Whether it’s Google Docs, Notion, or something else, having notes attached to the meeting means:

• Everyone knows where to write.
• You can link relevant documents.
• The meeting host looks suspiciously organized.

It also helps when you look back at old google meet meetings for future use and try to remember what actually happened.

Meeting directly

You’ll hear people say, “Let’s just do the meeting directly in Meet.” That usually means an instant meeting.

It’s fast:

• Open Meet.
• Click new meeting.
• Click start an instant meeting.
• Share the meeting link.
• People join.

No calendar event, no reminders, no structure. Sometimes that’s perfect. Sometimes it’s a recipe for “Wait, what time was that call again?”

Using google calendar

For anything even slightly important, using Google Calendar is the better move.

Why?

• You get a proper scheduled meeting.
• You can set meeting reminders and even send meeting reminders automatically.
• You can manage time zones.
• You can attach files and links.
• You can create recurring meetings for weekly check-ins, classes, or standups.

This is why the main guide, How to Create and Schedule a Google Meet, focuses so much on Calendar. It’s the backbone of sane scheduling.

Google account

To do any of this, you need a google account.

That can be:

• A personal google account (your regular Gmail).
• Or a work/school account under google workspace or google workspace essentials users.

The account type affects some features like recordings, larger meetings, or admin controls—but creating a meeting, getting a meeting link, and inviting people works on both.

Setting up recurring meetings (the quiet superpower)

If you have a weekly team call, class, or check-in, recurring meetings will save your sanity.

In Google Calendar:

1. Create a new event.
2. Add Google Meet.
3. Set the date and time.
4. Click the “Does not repeat” option and change it to weekly, biweekly, monthly, or custom.
5. Click save.

Now you have one google meet session that repeats, with the same meeting link, the same calendar event series, and automatic reminders.

This is peak “set it once, forget it” energy.

Inviting people (and actually getting them there)

When you invite participants in a calendar event, Google sends a calendar invite or google calendar invite automatically.

They get:

• The meeting link.
• The time (in their time zones).
• The meeting details.
• Any attached relevant documents.

You can also copy the meeting link and share invite manually in Slack, Teams, or other messaging apps. Just remember: the calendar is still the source of truth.

A quick word on testing your setup

Before your first meeting—especially if you’re the meeting host—test technology:

• Check your mic.
• Check your camera.
• Check your internet connection.
• Make sure you can join your own meeting.

Five minutes of testing can save 30 minutes of awkward silence.

Instant meeting vs scheduled meeting (again, because it matters)

• Instant meeting: Fast, flexible, zero planning. Good for quick syncs.
• Scheduled meeting: Structured, reliable, includes reminders and invites. Good for anything important or with many participants.

Both are part of google meet video conferencing. You just choose the vibe.

About Google Workspace and features

If you’re on google workspace or one of the google workspace users plans (including google workspace essentials users), you may also get extras like:

• Larger meetings.
• Better admin controls.
• More video conferencing features.
• Sometimes recordings and attendance tools.

But the basics schedule a Google Meet, get a meeting link, send invites—are the same.

The three promised references to the main guide

If you want the clean, structured, no-detours version of scheduling, read How to Create and Schedule a Google Meet.

If you’re setting this up for a team or organization and want the official flow, How to Create and Schedule a Google Meet is the one to follow.

And if you just want a reliable checklist for future meetings, bookmark How to Create and Schedule a Google Meet and thank yourself later.

Final thoughts

Setting up a meeting in Google Meet isn’t complicated. It just feels complicated when you’re in a hurry, juggling tabs, and someone is already asking for the meeting link.

Remember the simple paths:

• For now: go to Meet, start an instant meeting, share the link.
• For later: open Google Calendar, create a new event, add Google Meet video, click save, and let the invites do their job.

That’s how to set up a Google Meet in real life. Not perfect. Not fancy. Just reliable.

And honestly? Once you’ve done it a few times, it becomes muscle memory. You’ll be the person sending the link before anyone even asks.

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