Sites to Coordinate Meetings and Conference Calls
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Aliza Sherman
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Sites to Coordinate Meetings and Conference Calls
Hi there, The Digital Marketer here, ready to help you put the power of the Internet and technology to work for your business.
Do you feel coordinating meetings and conference calls is sort of like herding cats? Are you frustrated by having to match up the busy schedules of everyone involved in that meeting or call? Have I got some solutions for you!
For business owners, it can often take more time to schedule all the people for conference calls and meetings–either virtual or in person– than it does to hold the actual call or meeting. I’ve been using several Web sites to assist me with the coordination part. Some of them even help with the follow-up communications that take place after the pow-wow.
Quick and Dirty Coordination
If you are looking for a fast, no-frills way of coordinating calls and meetings, Doodle at doodle.ch is the way to go. The site is free to use, and you don’t have to register to use it.
At the site, you create a poll and then give everyone date and time options. You end up with a link to an admin page for your poll and a link to pass along to others via e-mail which they can click on and enter their availabilities. Once everyone has filled out their best days and times, you end up with a colored grid that combines all of their input and extrapolates the days and times that work for everyone. Best days and times are easily viewable because they are all in green. Unavailable times are in red.
A quick and dirty tip is to quickly schedule the best date and time before somebody books the date. Luckily, Doodle shows all the mutual availabilities so if you have to go back to the drawing board, you can usually revisit the same grid for another option. And for you power Doodle users, check out the PowerDoodle features including hidden polls and time-zone support.
Another basic coordination tool is Coordinatr – that is C-O-O-R-D-I-N-A-T-R.com. While the site is pitched to people coordinating events with friends, it can prove useful for those impromptu business calls or meetings as well. Register for free, log in, and enter your event information.
When you invite friends or colleagues, they can access the event information without having to register. If they do register with Coordinatr, they can also choose how they’d like to receive notices, updates, and comments about your event including by e-mail and/or text message.
Your event page can include a map for the event location, a place for you and others to comment about the upcoming event, and a way to RSVP. You can integrate your events with your Google, Outlook, or iCal calendars. Coordinatr also has a mobile site so you can create and manage your event pages from your mobile device.
Heavy-Duty Coordination
If you are planning to have a regular meeting that requires scheduling, RSVP management, and then additional follow up among the participants, you may want to look at setting up a private group through Meetup.com.
Meetup is typically used to start a group, manage membership, and organize face-to-face events with like-minded people. With a private Meetup, you can build your group by invitation-only and have all the features available to you as that regular public meetup groups have. Those features include a calendar, message boards for continuing the conversation, and an optional e-mail list in addition to an easy way to broadcast messages to all members.
To set up a Meetup, you do have to pay a fee. I pay $79 every 6 months for administrative privileges. However, participants can sign up for a free Meetup account to interact within your group online.
A good invitation management system is the tried and true Evite. I’ve seen Evite used mostly for social events–which, of course, you could be coordinating for business associates and colleagues. However, if you are looking for robust RSVP and invitation controls, Evite still delivers.
Bottom Line: There are a lot of sites out there that can help you herd those cats and coordinate your calls and meetings with ease. Stop pulling your hair out in frustration and use an online tool to make scheduling easy and virtually painless.
Contact Me
That’s all we have time for today. Visit the show’s website at digitalmarketer.quickanddirtytips.com for links to all of the sites mentioned in the show. If you’d like to ask a question or request a topic for The Digital Marketer, email me at digitalmarketer@quickanddirtytips.comcreate new email or leave a message by calling 206-339-6279.
If you would like more information about keynote speeches, workshops, or other appearances by me, Aliza Sherman, host of Small Biz Tech Girl, visit www.mediaegg.com for details.
The Digital Marketer’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Building Your Business With Web Tools is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips network at quickanddirtytips.com.
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Resources
Doodle – Visit Doodle
Coordinatr – Coordinatr
MeetUp – Visit MeetUp
Evite – Visit Evite
Video Conference image courtesy of Shutterstock