So many people have asked me about this, I decided to write about it.

You may find yourself in the position of planning a meeting with many people with busy schedules. The big obstacle is of course how to get everyone together at the same place and time. You could email everyone and say “what time is good for you?”. Then each person replies (often to all) with all the possible times they could meet. Listing all the times one is available takes time, and is inconvenient for the attender.

Then you, the planner, must wade through the available times for each person, looking for a common open spot. If you find one, you then email everyone again. If the time still works, everyone emails you back (often replying to all) that yes, they will attend. Surely there’s a better way. Oh yes, dear reader, there is. MeetingWizard is a free service that handles this onerous task with flair. Here are the steps for you as the meeting planner.

1. Create a free account on MeetingWizard.
2. Choose up to 12 possible times for the meeting that work for your schedule. I’ve found that six or so times is optimal.
3. Paste in the email addresses for attendees.
4. Click send.

The MeetingWizard software then sends an email to each attendee with a web link, and a message from you about the meeting details. Attendees click the link and view a chart of possible meeting times. They check their own schedules, then click the times on the chart they are available. MeetingWizard aggregates all this information, and then notifies you when everyone has responded. You then click the link provided by MeetingWizard and confirm the meeting time. MeetingWizard emails the attendees a confirmation message. A nice feature is you the planner can see at any time who has and has not indicated availability, and easily send a reminder message.

It takes longer to explain it than to do it. We’ve used MeetingWizard successfully in our department several times, and I’m not just a fan, I’m a customer. (Can I be considered a customer if it is free)?

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