How to Find a Meeting Time That Works for Everyone (Plus Tools)

Are you tired of the endless back-and-forth when trying to schedule a meeting? You‘re not alone. According to a recent survey by Doodle, the average professional spends nearly 5 hours per week just scheduling meetings. That‘s 260 hours a year spent on this tedious task instead of doing productive work!

In today‘s fast-paced, globalized business environment, finding a time to meet with colleagues, clients or partners often feels like trying to solve a complex logistics puzzle. Between packed calendars, time zone differences, and the rise of remote work, getting everyone in the same "room" (even virtually) can be a massive headache.

But it doesn‘t have to be this way. With a few simple strategies and the right tools, you can streamline your meeting scheduling process and reclaim your valuable time. In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll walk you through proven tips and tools to find the perfect meeting time, every time.

Why is Scheduling Meetings So Hard?

Before we dive into solutions, let‘s take a closer look at some of the biggest obstacles to efficient meeting scheduling:

1. Conflicting Schedules and Priorities

With the average office worker attending 62 meetings per month, it‘s no wonder that finding a mutually convenient time can feel like an impossible task. Between team meetings, client calls, project work, and personal commitments, everyone‘s calendar is jam-packed.

2. Dispersed Teams and Time Zones

Gone are the days when most meetings happened face-to-face in a conference room. In our increasingly globalized and remote workforce, many meetings now involve participants spread across multiple time zones. Trying to find a time that works well for everyone often means someone has to compromise on their working hours.

3. Lack of Transparency into Availability

Without insight into each attendee‘s real-time availability, scheduling a meeting can involve a lot of guesswork and assumptions. This often leads to multiple rounds of "Does this time work for you?" emails before landing on an agreeable time.

4. The Dreaded Scheduling Domino Effect

We‘ve all been there – you finally find a time that works for most people, then someone has to reschedule at the last minute. This sets off a chain reaction of back-and-forth messages as you attempt to find a new time that accommodates the change. It‘s frustrating, time-consuming, and inefficient.

The impact of these scheduling challenges goes beyond annoyance. Unproductive meetings cost U.S. businesses a staggering $37 billion per year. But with the right approach, you can avoid these common pitfalls and make meeting scheduling a breeze.

8 Tips for Streamlining Your Meeting Scheduling Process

Follow these proven strategies to simplify your scheduling workflow and find meeting times that work for all:

1. Get Clear on the Meeting‘s Purpose

Before sending out any meeting invites, take a step back and define the objective of the meeting. What exactly do you aim to accomplish? Who are the key stakeholders that need to participate? Many meetings are scheduled out of habit or perceived necessity without a clear purpose in mind.

Once you have a specific goal for the meeting, you can determine whether a meeting is truly the best format to achieve the desired outcome. Could it be handled asynchronously via email or your team collaboration tool instead? If so, you‘ll save everyone the time and effort of aligning schedules.

2. Keep the Guest List Focused

The more people you invite to a meeting, the harder it becomes to accommodate everyone‘s availability. To keep scheduling simple, only include those whose input and participation is essential. If someone just needs to stay informed, consider sending a recap afterward instead. You can always record the meeting for teammates who can‘t attend live.

According to research by Steven Rogelberg, author of The Surprising Science of Meetings, the ideal meeting size for engaged discussion is between 5-8 participants. More than that and engagement tends to drop.

3. Consult Attendee Calendars First

Before building your dream list of meeting times, do your due diligence and check each person‘s calendar for their existing availability. Assuming your team uses a shared calendar system like Google Calendar or Outlook, you should be able to see a broad view of when people are free versus booked.

Pay attention to time zones and aim for a time that falls within the majority of participants‘ normal working hours. There are plenty of free online tools like World Clock Meeting Planner and Every Time Zone that simplify time zone conversions for global teams.

4. Embrace Scheduling Automation

Trying to manually juggle multiple calendars and availability is a recipe for scheduling frustration. That‘s where meeting scheduling software comes in. These tools connect with your calendar to identify mutual availability and allow attendees to book a time that works for them, all without the usual back-and-forth.

Some of our favorite scheduling tools for businesses include:

• HubSpot Meetings Tool: A free tool that syncs with Google or Office 365 calendar so leads and clients can book meetings with you through a personalized link.

• Calendly: Easily share your availability preferences, manage multiple calendars, and automatically send reminders and follow-ups. Integrates with Salesforce, Slack, Zoom, and more.

• Doodle: Simple, poll-based scheduling that lets participants vote on pre-selected meeting times, with premium features like bookable calendars and automatic scheduling.

• Xoyondo: Offers both meeting polls and bookable calendar pages to streamline scheduling for groups of any size. Syncs across time zones for easy global collaboration.

A comparison of popular meeting schedulers:

Tool	Free Plan	Calendar Sync	Time Zone Detection	Custom Branding	Integrations
HubSpot Meetings	Yes	Google, Office 365	Yes	No	HubSpot CRM
Calendly	Yes (Basic)	Google, Office 365, iCloud	Yes	Yes (Paid plans)	100+ apps
Doodle	No	Google, Office 365	Yes	No	Slack, Zapier
Xoyondo	Yes	Google, iCal	Yes	No	None

Using a dedicated scheduling tool eliminates the risk of double-booking and allows you to create buffers between meetings to avoid that back-to-back meeting burnout. With HubSpot‘s Meeting tool, for example, you can set a daily meeting cap and limit last-minute scheduling.

5. Offer Multiple Time Options

When possible, propose a few different meeting time slots to choose from rather than a single take-it-or-leave-it option. Giving attendees some flexibility increases the odds of finding a mutually workable time.

If you‘re using a scheduling tool, you can simply share your calendar link and let each person book a slot that aligns with their schedule. For group meetings, send out a poll with several time options and go with the most popular choice.

6. Confirm the Meeting in Advance

Once a meeting time has been set, be sure to send a calendar invite to all attendees with the date, time, and location details. Include a brief agenda of what will be discussed and any relevant attachments or pre-reading.

If your scheduler doesn‘t have a built-in reminder feature, it‘s a good practice to send a confirmation message to attendees 24-48 hours before the meeting. This helps ensure the meeting stays top of mind and reduces the risk of no-shows.

7. Keep Meetings Short and Sweet

The longer a meeting drags on, the harder it is for people to stay engaged. When scheduling, opt for the shortest possible meeting duration to achieve your objective. Most meetings can be wrapped up within 30-45 minutes if run efficiently.

To keep meetings focused and on-track, try techniques like:

• Assigning a meeting facilitator to guide the discussion
• Using a timed agenda and holding people accountable to it
• Capturing notes, action items, and decisions in a shared document
• Ending with clear next steps and owners for each task

If a discussion needs more time, schedule a follow-up meeting rather than attempting to cover everything in one marathon session.

8. Establish Team Scheduling Norms

If finding meeting times is consistently a challenge for your team, it may be helpful to agree on some scheduling guidelines as a group. These "meeting norms" might include things like:

• Establishing team-wide "no meeting" blocks for focused work
• Sharing calendars and keeping availability updated
• Defaulting to certain days or times for regular team meetings
• Using asynchronous communication whenever possible

The key is to find a scheduling cadence that optimizes your team‘s time while still allowing space for collaboration. Don‘t be afraid to experiment with different meeting formats and frequencies to see what works best.

Mastering the Art of Meeting Scheduling

In today‘s meeting-heavy work culture, finding a time to gather shouldn‘t have to be a huge drain on your productivity and mental energy. With a proactive, organized approach to scheduling and the right tools to automate the process, you can become a master scheduler.

Remember, meetings are meant to be an engine of collaboration and decision making, not an obstacle to real work. By being intentional about the meetings you schedule and making the process as painless as possible, you‘ll free up more time and headspace for the work that matters most.

Now that you‘re armed with these scheduling tips and tools, you‘re well on your way to calendaring bliss. Here‘s to less time coordinating and more time collaborating!