6 best meeting scheduling tools

1. Doodles

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Doodle offers free and subscription options to simplify meeting scheduling, making it one of the best options for personal and professional use. This tool stands out with its convenient and easy-to-use features including:

1. Automatically detect time zone.
2. Sync with Google calendar, Office 365 and Apple iCloud.
3. Submit proposed meeting times for a vote.
4. Automatically shows the best meeting time based on everyone's availability.

To create a free Doodle poll, follow these steps:

1. Visit Doodle's website or download the app for or .
2. Select Create a Doodle .
3. Enter event information (such as title, location, etc.) and suggest a meeting time.
4. Select Create and Share .

If you create an account, you can subscribe to Doodle Subscription with one of three payment plans: Free, Pro and Team. With Doodle, you can streamline your scheduling process and easily determine the right meeting time.

2. Google Calendar

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Google Calendar stands out as the top scheduling app thanks to its easy-to-use interface and customizable features. Google Calendar, one component of a broader suite of tools, integrates easily with other Google applications such as Gmail, providing extensibility flexibility. This app lets you create team calendars, track everyone's availability, monitor absence status, and coordinate deadlines effectively.

To schedule a meeting, you need to create a Group Calendar on the website or in the app. Here are the steps to get started:

1. Launch Google Calendar on your laptop, Android or iOS device.
2. Select Other Calendars and Create New Calendar .
3. Click the three dots next to the calendar name and select Settings and Sharing .
4. Select the sharing option to share the calendar.

For a versatile, easy-to-use meeting app, Google Calendar is a great choice. If you have multiple meetings coming up, consider these additional tips for organizing your Google Calendar.

3. Calendarly

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Calendly is another great option with free and premium subscription options. When you set up your schedule, Calendly asks for your time slot preferences, then uses them to determine availability. The recipient will select a meeting time via email, and once confirmed, the meeting time will automatically be added to your calendar.

Other outstanding features of Calendly include:

1. Integrates with Google, Outlook, Microsoft Office and iCloud.
2. Time between meetings to accommodate overtime.
3. Automatically adjusts for time zone differences to determine availability.
4. Schedule a face-to-face meeting.
5. Track the no-show rate of each meeting.

Calendly provides a flexible scheduling solution with features designed to streamline processes and increase productivity.

4. StrawPoll

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StrawPoll is a no-signup tool for creating a variety of polls, but its creators especially pride themselves on the ability to quickly and efficiently schedule meetings. StrawPoll is highly regarded as a quick online meeting scheduling tool, especially when scheduling with multiple people.

With StrawPoll, you can:

1. Set an end date and specify who can modify the vote after the poll is sent, if needed.
2. Quickly select multiple time frames with just one click, saving time during the scheduling process.
3. Access demo videos to see the site in action and experience live voting before creating your own poll. For example, you can see a demo of StrawPoll staff choosing a party date.
4. See the final results in a clear and easy-to-read table.

To get started, simply select Create a Poll in StrawPoll and add meeting details; The poll will then be complete. In the advanced settings, you can also make the poll private with a direct link, allowing "if needed" replies and hiding participants from each other.

5. Rally

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Rally provides a great platform to use on your phone, both as a creator and a receiver. This free, open source, ad-free scheduling tool requires no registration and can run on a server for security.

To get started, simply enter meeting details like name, location, description, and date. Add time periods (ideal for weekly views) or stay the same day (ideal for monthly views), provide name and email to receive admin login details, then Share the link with others. Rally also allows poll creators to update details or options if needed, allowing re-voting without the need for a new link.

As the recipient, you will see 3 response options for the meeting time: Yes (green), If Need Be (yellow), and No (gray). Once everyone has responded, the results appear in a simple table. Participants can also leave comments and add their name for identification, no registration required. To see the results, you can export all data as a CSV file. This makes it easier to analyze responses in a spreadsheet.

6. ZCal

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ZCal's mission seems to be to put Calendly out of business because it offers Calendly's most important features for free. The manufacturer has also made it clear that it will always be 100% free forever and without ads.

ZCal works with both Google and Microsoft calendars. When creating a ZCal invitation, you can add name, location (or online meeting link), description, cover photo, etc.

Additional features of ZCal include:

1. Ability to create different types of meetings, 1-1 scheduling, groups, meeting polls, etc.
2. Personalization if you register and create a profile. This includes creating a profile and adding links to your LinkedIn and Twitter accounts.
3. You can record a welcome video on ZCal to encourage participants to join the meeting.

When choosing a platform, consider your recipient's preferences - some may avoid polls that require registration, while others may appreciate flexible features. With this in mind, you'll find these scheduling tools make organizing your meetings much easier.

Samuel Daniel

Update 01 August 2024