Scheduling a meeting in the email era can be a nightmare. The scenario is all too familiar: a meeting organizer suggests a date and time and each attendee responds with a different, typically conflicting, alternative. That process then repeats itself, often several times, before the group can find a date and time that works for everyone.
But what technology complicates, it can also simplify. A variety of free, easy-to-use tools are available to help you schedule meetings painlessly. With these tools, the organizer usually sends out an invitation to a group asking them to mark their availability on an online calendar. The organizer can then look at the entire group’s availability in one central location and choose a time when everyone is available.
Here are three of the more popular meeting planning tools currently available:
* UPDATE: In a blog post on 9/18, Tungle announced that they would be closing their meeting planning service in December 2012.