This article is a quick overview of how Display.Church (D.C) connects with your Google Calendar (GCal) data. A 'deeper dive' overview is available here.
Which Display.Church products are available?
At the moment, the following D.C products are available to GCal users: Calendar views and Event ALERTS.
Which event filters are available?
Filtering is done in the Setup Tab. Here is a list of the data filter options:
Show events with images only: Just show those items which have some sort of picture or other image.
Merge recurring events: Show only 1 occurrence of events which repeat.
Filter by calendar(s), location(s)
Can we include CTA forms?
Yes. You can include a URL in the Google Calendar event description or event location. Display.Church will include it in your calendar view.
What does the integration process look like?
During the integration process, you will be asked to give Display.Church permission to access your Google Calendar data. This is called 'Scopes'
Public profile: This first item is a must. It is automatically turned on by Display.Church.
Calendar API: Permission to pull your events from your Google Calendars.
Drive API (optional): Permission to pull in images attached to events.
Places (optional): Permission to pull in locations attached to events.
Check the items you wish to use. The box will turn blue.
Uncheck the items you do not wish to use. The box will be greyed out.
PRO TIP #1: Different calendars for different needs
Create separate Google calendars for different purposes. For example, one calendar could be for public events and one for private/ministry meetings. If you are a multi-location/multi-campus church, you can create one calendar for each campus. The options are endless.
Use a different color for each calendar. This will make things easier to manage. In the image below, we see three calendars (gold box and arrow in image below).
Now, when you create a new event, you can assign it to the calendar of your choice (gold box and arrow in image below).
PRO TIP #2: Share the load
Share you calendar with staff members so that others can help create new events and update existing ones.
| Click on the 3 dots near the calendar you wish to share. |
| Click on Settings and sharing. |
| Scroll down to the sharing section. |
| Add people and/or groups. |
| Set permissions. |
How to share your calendar with people
Pro tip #3: Adding images to your event
Did you realize that now you will be able to add images to your Display.Church calendar view? Most likely, you do not include images when you create a Google Calendar. Now you can…and put them to excellent use.
If you enabled the Google Drive API , you have now unlocked the option to auto populate your Display.Church events with images.
Display.Church is set up to pull in the first image which is attached to each Google Calendar event. This makes your Display.Church calendar view even more eye-catching and attention-grabbing. And as we know, images are powerful helpers–boosting the messages in our words. Here's how: https://help.display.church/en/articles/6776073-how-to-add-an-image-to-a-gcal-event