# Passing the correct timezone in start\_time parameter **URL:** \ **Category:** API and Webhooks\ **Created:** [April 13, 2018, 8:38pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/passing-the-correct-timezone-in-start-time-parameter/1177 "2018-04-13T20:38:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![developer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@developer](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/developer)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2018, 8:38pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/passing-the-correct-timezone-in-start-time-parameter/1177/1 "2018-04-13T20:38:50Z")
Hello, I’m trying to create a webinar with a start\_time in eastern time, I’m able to create the webinar successfully, but I’m having trouble passing the right timezone in my start\_time string. I think the wording in the Zoom API documentation is a bit confusing. Here is what I’m passing (using the [zoomus](https://github.com/mllocs/zoomus) Rails gem): Zoomus.new.webinar\_create(topic: ‘test title’, type: 5, start\_date: “2018-04-24T17:00:00Z”) I’m also passing the host/user id.  I understand this time format is in GMT: “2018-04-24T17:00:00Z” - with the ‘Z’ signifying GMT. In the documentation it says “In the format “yyyy-MM-dd’T’HH:mm:ss”, should be local time, need to specify the time zone.” - does this mean I need to also pass the separate ‘timezone’ paramater? Or is there a way to substitute ‘Z’ in the start\_time string with the timezone I want (eastern time)? Should I just convert my time to GMT before passing it? Any suggestions/insight welcome. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![harris\_yang](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/harris_yang/32/155_2.png) [@harris\_yang](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/harris_yang)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 5:58am UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/passing-the-correct-timezone-in-start-time-parameter/1177/2 "2018-04-14T05:58:17Z")
@developer, We support two formats of start\_time value,  this format - “2018-04-24T17:00:00Z” is GMT, and this format - “yyyy-MM-dd’T’HH:mm:ss” is local time. For example: 1. start\_time=“2018-04-24T17:00:00Z”, timezone=“GMT+1:00”, so the local time is 2018-04-24 18:00:00 2. start\_time=“2018-04-24T17:00:00Z”, timezone=“GMT+1:00”, so the local time is 2018-04-24 17:00:00 ---
**Author:** ![harris\_yang](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/harris_yang/32/155_2.png) [@harris\_yang](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/harris_yang)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 5:59am UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/passing-the-correct-timezone-in-start-time-parameter/1177/3 "2018-04-14T05:59:06Z")
In the above comment, 2. start\_time=“2018-04-24T17:00:00” ---
**Author:** ![developer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@developer](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/developer)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2018, 1:07pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/passing-the-correct-timezone-in-start-time-parameter/1177/4 "2018-04-16T13:07:04Z")
Harris, Thanks so much! The clarification of  timezome syntax is appreciated ---
**Author:** ![developer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@developer](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/developer)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2018, 1:50pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/passing-the-correct-timezone-in-start-time-parameter/1177/5 "2018-04-16T13:50:49Z")
An update on my solution: I decided the cleaniest, easiest way was to convert the time to UTC/GMT and not pass a timezone. In Rails, I did this the following way: “start\_time: start\_date.utc.iso8601” with 'start\_date being a datetime object from the db.  ---
**Author:** ![blamoureux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/58956e/32.png) [@blamoureux](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/blamoureux)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2019, 1:04pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/passing-the-correct-timezone-in-start-time-parameter/1177/6 "2019-07-17T13:04:48Z")
I just wanted to chime in; @harris_yang fixed my issue with sending meetings to the API using C#, however I would also like to join @developer in saying the API documentation is very confusing. The [documentation](https://marketplace.zoom.us/docs/api-reference/zoom-api/meetings/meetingcreate) specifies the time\_zone should be provided as one of the supported time zones in [this list](https://marketplace.zoom.us/docs/api-reference/other-references/abbreviation-lists#timezones), which implies to me that I should pass the ID of the timezone. When I used the timezone id to create a meeting, I would receive a meeting created response with the start\_time in UTC and the time\_zone displayed the correct id I passed, however when I reviewed the meetings on Zoom the times were offset by +1 hours. Once I passed the GMT offset instead and converted the time to UTC and then passed the time in the ISO 8601 format, the meetings I created all lined up to the correct times. ---
**Author:** ![tommy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/tommy/32/72769_2.png) [@tommy](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/tommy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2019, 7:15pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/passing-the-correct-timezone-in-start-time-parameter/1177/7 "2019-07-17T19:15:44Z")
Thanks @blamoureux for your feedback, we will update our documentation to make clear up any confusion. ---
**Author:** ![tommy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/tommy/32/72769_2.png) [@tommy](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/tommy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2019, 11:33pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/passing-the-correct-timezone-in-start-time-parameter/1177/8 "2019-07-17T23:33:31Z")
@blamoureux we have updated this in our docs to make it more clear! > **[Create a Meeting - Meetings - Zoom API - API Reference](https://marketplace.zoom.us/docs/api-reference/zoom-api/meetings/meetingcreate#request-body)** > > Create a meeting for a user. The expiration time for the start\_url object is two hours. For API users, the expiration time is 90 days. > Scopes: meeting:w... Thanks again for your feedback! ---
**Author:** ![DeveloperBot](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/developerbot/32/12632_2.png) [@DeveloperBot](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/DeveloperBot)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 6:26pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/passing-the-correct-timezone-in-start-time-parameter/1177/9 "2020-08-21T18:26:46Z")
Closed on August 21, 2020, 6:26pm UTC