Appointment Prep and Finish Times allow you to determine how long staff need to be present at the beginning and end of an appointment.

Let's say you have board settings that don't allow overlapping appointments.

But you want to make an exception for a certain service -- like Acupuncture. It has a lot of down time in the middle for the teacher. This downtime can be used to start a new appointment or wrap up another.

Lighter sections are when staff do not need to be present. If staff don't need to be present in the middle of the appointment, this allows you to stack your appointments on top of one another.

Edit a service (click appointments > services > edit > scroll to Timing > on the left, under buffer/overlap, choose a setting for both 'start' and 'end' that allows you to edit the staff presence.

This board doesn't allow overlapping appointments, so, instead of going with 'follow board,' I've chosen 'None' for both. Notice how I can now customize the staff presence off to the right.

'Buffer', which adds time between appointments will also allow you to customize your staff presence. 'Overlap,' which allows appointments to overlap will not allow you to customize your staff presence).

Back to the Accupuncture example, on the right, we're displaying how these changes will show on your schedule, using the 'Options' menu > 'show prep & finish parts of reservation.'

The lighter sections represent time when staff do not need to be present, and can start (or finish up) another appointment in a room nearby.

Note: In this example, we're using hour long appointments with settings of 'staff present only' for 15 minutes at the beginning and end.

You can use any timing settings you like, but make sure the light sections don't overlap with the dark ones -- so that staff know where they need to be and when.

Saved changes will only show for new appointments booked after changes are saved -- and only for the service you updated. Existing appointments will not be affected.

The same customizations made with staff presence can also be made with a location. Ie. if you have a service where a room is going to be available in the middle of the appointment, you can add time at the beginning and end for 'Location Occupied.' This allows for the same staggering of appointments for this particular service.

For example, you may have a teacher that coaches. They meet their student in a room for the first 15 minutes, then leave for the next 30, making the room available. They return for the last 15.

Adding a Location Occupancy Exception can make this room bookable for another coach performing the same service, resulting in staggered appointments and higher revenue per hour, using just 1 room.

Notice here how we're viewing the venue (room 1) instead of a staff member's schedule. In the span of 3.5 hours we've squeezed 6 hour long appointments into 1 room, spread between just 2 teachers, alternating: Anna & Jen.

By using Options > Show Prep and Finish parts of reservation we can see the lighter shades that indicate the space is free.

Edit a service (click appointments > services > edit > scroll to Timing > on the left, under buffer/overlap, choose a buffer setting for both 'start' and 'end' that allows you to edit the staff presence. If you don't use buffer settings for this service, select 'none.'

Then select when the location will be occupied during the service to make it available for other appointments. Ie. the location of an appointment scheduled with this service will be available during the 'free' time pictured.