Scheduling a meeting shouldn’t be hard. But all too often, it feels like:
The back-and-forth is enough to suck your soul dry.
Thankfully, there are apps to improve the process. I’ve used a few of these myself, and recently asked fellow nonprofit professionals which apps they use to book appointments, office hours and team meetings.
This is their short list.
Here are some questions and features to consider as you evaluate which app might make life easier for you:
- Does it require users to sign up or sign in?
- Does it work across a range of popular calendar apps or just one?
- Does it allow contacts to book directly on your calendar or request a booking time?
- Does it send reminders?
- Will it allow you to show “office hours”?
- Does it have a polling or voting feature to help determine best time for groups?
- Can you get your own customized booking URL to offer contacts?
- Does the app allow you to create custom questions that people can use to sign up to meet with you?
- Is there a mobile app?
- Is there a browser extension?
Doodle
Create a poll with meeting times. Invite people to vote. Choose the best group meeting time.
Calend.ly
Schedule one-on-ones, groups, share availability, team scheduling.
You can book me
Share your availability and let contacts book straight into your calendar.
AcuityScheduling
Self-book appointments, pay online and reschedule with a click.
Freebusy.io
Coordinate team meetings right from Google Calendar.
Timebridge
Automated scheduling for Outlook and Google Calendars.
Use an app that’s not on this list? Make this post better – share your experiences with scheduling tools, for better or worse, in the comments section.
