Time Genie University

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Welcome to Time Genie University, affectionately known as TGU.

My name is Jesse and I will be your professor today.

I have an expertise in time zones and I will be teaching you all that you need to know about time zones, how to convert time zones effortlessly and how to effectively use Time Genie to your benefit.

This educational course is approximately 15 minutes long. You can make it shorter by skipping some sections if you want!

With the knowledge you learn you will save hours of frustrations by avoiding common mistakes. Plus, you will always convert time zones perfectly.

Upon successful completion of this course, you will have a forgery free, 100% uncertified Master's Degree in time zones.

This course is designed for individuals or for businesses, such as call centers, that need to train thier staff on converting time zones.

Let's begin...

There Are Some Simple Things To Know...

The reality is this... there are but 2 Golden Rules when converting time zones. Remember these 2 rules, even if you forget everything else, and you will always convert time zones accurately.

Since there are only 2 Golden Rules, everything else is basically about how to apply the 2 Golden Rules and what you should avoid doing!

The First Golden Rule

• Convert time zones by always comparing the time for cities!

If you remember anything, remember this one golden rule and you will always accurately convert time zones.

Note: There are many cities around the world with the same name. So you need to choose the correct city based on country. In some situations you need to choose the correct city based on state or province also. When using Time Genie, the city name and country name will also appear in the search results — this will help ensure you choose the correct city always.

Congratulations, you now have a Bachelor's Degree in time zones. Keep reading to get your Master's...

The Mistakes People Make

The reason why you need to convert time zones by comparing the time for cities is because...

• A country can have more than 1 time zone.
• A state can have more than 1 time zone.
• A province can have more than 1 time zone.
• A county can have more than 1 time zone.
• A district can have more than 1 time zone.
• A region can have more than 1 time zone.

But, a city can only have 1 time zone!

If you convert the time for the state of Florida, you have a 50% chance of being wrong. Why? Florida has 2 time zones.

When you convert time zones based on the city, you never need to remember which country, state, province, etc has more than 1 time zone.

By embracing this simple truth, you will almost be an expert like me (:

Time Zone Names and Abbreviations

Avoid converting time zones based on time zone names or abbreviations. Why?

Simple.

Time zone names and abbreviations are not standardized. Thus, you can have more than 1 time zone name that is either the same or similar. You can also have multiple time zone abbreviations that are the same.

Examples: Eastern Time Zone

• Do you mean the Eastern Time zone in North America (Canada and the USA)?
• Do you mean the Eastern European Time zone?
• Do you mean Eastern Time in Australia or Greenland?
• As of this writing, Mexico is talking about creating an eastern time zone.

So which eastern time zone do you mean?

Furthermore, some locations do not observe daylight saving time while other locations do.

Example:

• The state of Arizona uses Mountain Standard Time (MST) all year.
• If you convert the time in Arizona using Mountain Daylight Time (MDT), then you will incorrectly convert the time for cities in Arizona.

Now, how about those time zone abbreviations.

When you say EST, which is the abbreviation for Eastern Standard Time, do you mean eastern time in Australia or eastern time in North America?

What happens if you use EST when it should be EDT — Eastern Daylight Time.

What happens if you use EDT when you are contacting someone in Jamaica or The Bahamas? If you used EDT in these situations you would be wrong because although Jamaica and the Bahamas are in the Eastern Time Zone, these 2 countries do not observe daylight saving time. Thus, they use EST or Eastern Standard Time all year!

Different jurisdictions around the world also use different methods of writing their time zone abbreviations. In North America, D is added to the abbreviation for Daylight and S is used for Standard. But in Europe, as an example, S is added for Summer and nothing is added for standard time, otherwise known as Winter Time.

So, EST stands for Eastern Standard Time while EDT standards for Eastern Daylight Time.

But in Europe, EET stands for Eastern European Time while EEST stands for Eastern European Summer Time.

Confused? If you are confused, then that's good. I want you to be slightly confused. Why? Your confusion will help you realize why the First Golden Rule is so important. Remember the First Golden Rule and then the above becomes knowledge you can forget! This ultimately allows you to have more clarity.

Convert all time zones based on the city!

→ View a complete list of Time Zone Names and Time Zone Abbreviations.

How To Easily Convert Time Zones

Time Genie provides you with 2 excellent tools so that you can accurately and effectively convert time zones.

Guess what? The 2 time zone conversion tools are designed to convert time zones based on a specific city. Why? The First Golden Rule says to do it this way!

Meeting Planner

Time Genie's meeting planner does the following:

• The meeting planner provides a chart for 24 hours.
• The 24 hour chart allows you to quickly and easily scan the entire day.
• The meeting planner provides results in 20 minute increments.

Time Zone Converter

Time Genie's time zone converter does the following:

• Converts a single time.

Daylight Saving Time (DST)

Daylight Saving Time (DST) is also known as Summer Time in some parts of the world such as Europe.

When Daylight Saving Time starts, clocks are moved ahead 1 hour. This allows for more daylight in the evening. Example, 6 PM now becomes 7 PM.

Without going into great detail, daylight saving time can increase daylight into the evening because during the summer months, the sun is positioned over the north or south pole.

For people living in tropical countries, this concept can be difficult to understand because along the equator, daylight hours are almost the same all year. But in the northern and the southern hemispheres, there is less daylight in the winter and more in the summer.

Daylight saving time usually begins on a Sunday at or around 2 AM but this can vary — Europe, as an example, uses a different start and stop time than North America. The start and stop time is usually anywhere from midnight to 3 AM — this creates the least amount of inconvenience. Therefore, if you are planning a meeting or a phone call with a client, chances are you won't be contacting them exactly when DST starts or stops.

Caution:

Do not print nor save your time zone conversions. You should update them daily or as needed.

If you save your time zone conversions, you run the risk of saving old or out of date information.

You should also not predict what a time zone conversion will be for the future. Always check your time zone conversions daily. This is important to ensure you get the most up to date and accurate information.

While countries like Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand and all of Europe follow set rules that you can easily predict long into the future, many other countries do not follow set rules. Some countries provide only a 1 week notice before switching to daylight saving time.

Also, daylight saving time rules are constantly changing. Some countries or locations start DST, others cancel or abolish DST.

Some Islamic countries will stop DST when Ramadan starts and restart DST once Ramadan ends!

Confusing? Remember the golden rules.

The Second Golden Rule

So what's the Second Golden Rule? You just learned it — always update your time zone conversions daily!

Time Genie's Meeting Planner and Time Zone Converter will update automatically.

So please remember the second golden rule, always update your time zone conversions daily!

How To Know When DST Starts and Stops?

If you really want to know when DST starts and stops, you have two options.

First, you can view Time Genie's Worldwide Daylight Saving Time (DST) Schedules page — but this is really meant for time zone geeks.

Second, for any city that observes daylight saving time, the information will appear on the page.

Please Note: Cities that do not observe daylight saving time will not have this information.

Time Genie Tricks and Tips

You can use Time Genie's search box to search for the following:

• Cities
• Countries
• Major or important states, provinces, regions and districts of the world

Graduation

Congratulations, you have successfully graduated from Time Genie University with a forgery free, 100% uncertified Master's Degree in Time Zones!

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