Free Meeting Scheduling Tools

You write to your study group or moot court team and say, “Hey, when can we meet?”

– Then everyone writes back different times, and you write back, and they write back.  Fifty-seven emails later, you may or may not have an acceptable date and time.

What a pain!  Looking for some online tools to make  meeting scheduling easier?   Here is a short but thorough review of a couple of free  online scheduling tools:

1. The Classic Schedule Tool ~ Doodle:  This free web-based tool uses a survey approach to finding the best meeting time.  This can also be used as a polling device.  Setting up a Doodle scheduling request is a simple 4-step process which doesn’t require you to enter an email address.  As a result, user identities are not private.  Doodle integrates with Google Calendar and popular desktop schedulers. It also offers a “MeetMe” feature which can help you outline your free time with your meeting partners and it offers an  iPhone app (for $2.99).

2. The Private Scheduling Tool ~ ScheduleOnce:This tool is a private scheduler, rather than public scheduler offered in Doodle and WhenIsGood.  The administrator sets up meetings, attendees privately pick times with the administrator.  This is great tool when privacy is important.   ScheduleOnce also works great with Android/Google platforms.  It even has an integrated plugin for Google Calendar and Gmail, which places a box (in Gmail) right above the chat window that displays upcoming meetings.

3. Runner Up Scheduling Tool~  WhenIsGood: is a more bare bones tool, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. When is Good has several models or versions. This review is limited to the free basic account.   Like Doodle there’s no sign-up required, thus not private.  It also has a highlighted calendar grid for choosing a range of dates, and it works the same whether you’re setting up the poll or responding.

Thanks to Beth Ziesenis and her blog, My Nerdy Best Friend for featuring these tools and offering her insights.