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How does your team plan meetings? If team members are on the same calendar system such as Google Calendar or Outlook, then it’s pretty simple. However, trying to coordinate with a few volunteer leaders or anyone outside of church staff can get complicated. Have you found yourself in the eternal email thread detailing everyone’s availability? Here’s your solution: there are several scheduling software tools and apps that make this process easier and more efficient.
Stop the madness and check out our favorites that also happen to be user-friendly and time-saving.
#1 – Calendly
With Calendly, you can set availability preferences of when you’re willing to meet. Once you set your preferences, you can send your Calendly link to anyone interested in scheduling a meeting with you. They pick a day and time that’s open on your calendar and the meeting is then added. You can connect your Calendly calendar to a Google, Office 365, Exchange, Outlook, or iCloud calendar. Additionally, Calendly works for both individuals and teams. As far as scheduling software tools go, Calendly is a great choice.
Price: A Basic plan for individuals is free. Premium for individuals or small teams is $8 per month. Pro is $12 per month for teams and businesses for additional scheduling requirements.
#2 – YouCanBook.me
With this tool, you start by connecting your Google or Microsoft Outlook / Office 365 calendar so YouCanBook.me can check your availability (you can also set availability from within YouCanBook.me). From there, you create a booking page that you’ll send to people who want to schedule a meeting with you. Once you share the booking page, people can schedule appointments. The tool then adds that meeting to your calendar.
Price: $10 per month per user (free 14 day trial)
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#3 – Doodle
First, sync your Google Calendar, Office 365, or Apple iCal with Doodle. Next, gather several people together for a meeting and send out a list of proposed meeting times. People can reply back with “free” or “free if need be” votes.
This option for scheduling software tools is customizable, too. With the Pro, Team, and Enterprise plans, you can include your church logo and colors. To schedule meetings, you can provide individuals with your best times to choose from, open a block of time for people to see and schedule, or invite a group to a Doodle poll to get consensus on a meeting time.
Pricing: Pro Plan is $6.95 per month per user (paid annually). The Team plan costs $8.95 per month per user (paid annually). The Enterprise plan is customized – contact Doodle for pricing.
#4 – NeedToMeet
With NeedToMeet, you can poll meeting invitees via the website, app, or the Outlook Add-In. Simply enter the meeting details, select attendees and time slots to choose from. The Meeting Poll will display the proposed dates and times and gives each person the option to indicate his or her availability. Once everyone replies, you can select the time that works best for everyone and schedule the meeting.
Price: Standard is free. Advanced plan is $12 per year per user. Premium is $19 per year per user. There is a 14 day free trial as well.
#5 – Meeting Scheduler for Gmail
Meeting Scheduler for Gmail is a scheduling software tool that’s fully integrated with Google Calendar. Once you install the extension, you click the “Calendar” icon from a new email to create a link to your calendar. Once you send out the email, recipients can click the link and select an open timeslot on your calendar. You can also create a “Book me” link for people to use to schedule meetings with you. This tool can also check multiple calendars to confirm your availability.
Price: The Basic plan is free. The Premium plan is $6.99 per month (this option includes your own branding plus email and phone support).
Check out: 7 Online Training Resources To Equip Volunteers
#6 – Google Calendar
If your whole staff uses GSuite, you can schedule a meeting while checking everyone’s availability through Google Calendar. When you add a guest to an event, that individual’s calendar should appear next to yours. View their calendar to find a day and time that works for their schedule.
Alternatively, you could view a team member’s calendar by clicking “Other Calendars”, then “Add other calendars”, and “Subscribe to calendar.” Enter and select the email address of the individual whose calendar you want to view. From there, you can quickly check team members’ availability by checking the box next to their name.
Avoid the eternal back-and-forth email thread detailing everyone’s availability. Scheduling software tools and apps are available at all price points and will make meeting planning a breeze. Find one for your team today. Click To Tweet
There you have it! Six of our favorite scheduling software tools and apps to make meeting planning a breeze. If you’re spending more time trying to schedule a meeting than you will in the meeting itself, it’s time to consider one of these options.
What software does your team utilize? What’s your favorite feature? Drop a comment and share you experience.
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