How to Find a Time to Meet that Fits Everyone's Schedules

We’ve all been there—sending out endless emails, getting ghosted by calendar invites, or worse, finally scheduling a team meeting only to have that one crucial attendee say, “Actually, that time doesn’t work for me.” 😱

Trying to find a time to meet can be surprisingly difficult and time-consuming. And while real Tetris is pretty fun, playing calendar Tetris with a bunch of schedules simply isn’t. 

But it doesn’t have to be this way! With a few simple strategies and the right tools, you can master the art of finding meeting times that work for all attendees, no matter how crazy their calendars look.

Best practices to find a time to meet that works for everyone

Scheduling a meeting can sometimes feel like organizing a family reunion—many moving parts, different personalities, and a whole lot of coordination. But just like any good reunion, a little planning can go a long way. 

Here’s how you can find a common time to meet without a hitch, even if your team is scattered across the world. 👇

1. Gut check—do you really need a meeting?

Before you even start thinking about when to meet, ask yourself the million-dollar question: do you really need a meeting?

We’ve all been in meetings that could have been an email, a Slack message, or even just a quick update in a shared document. Meetings should have a clear purpose, and if you’re struggling to define that purpose, it might be time to reconsider.

Before you hit send on that meeting invitation, try putting together an agenda. 

If you can’t fill out the meeting agenda with specific points to discuss or decisions that need to be made, chances are you don’t need to meet at all!

2. Who absolutely needs to be involved?

We’ve all (unfortunately) sat through a meeting wondering why we were even invited in the first place. 

Not only does inviting unnecessary attendees waste time and money, it makes trying to find a meeting time that much more difficult.

If you aren’t sure who to invite, try asking yourself these questions:

• What are the goals of my meeting? (Since you definitely followed our advice from tip #1 and already made an agenda, this one should be really easy to answer 😄)
• Who can help me achieve those goals?
• Who are the key decision-makers?
• Who will be affected by the outcome of this meeting?
• Who will be responsible for implementing any changes decided on in the meeting?

Remember that by keeping the attendee list small, you’ll reduce the number of calendars you need to coordinate, making it easier to schedule a meeting time!

Use the RACI Matrix to determine who should be invited to the meeting

As you decide who should be a part of the meeting, consider using the RACI matrix across your projects. This will make it easier to determine who needs to be:

• Responsible: Someone who's directly responsible for completing a task. Definitely invite this person to the meeting.
• Accountable: Holds the ultimate responsibility for the success of the project. This is likely the person running the meeting.
• Consulted: Individuals who have valuable insights or expertise to share. Depending on the meeting agenda and goal, they may or may not need to be in the meeting.
• Informed: Someone who just needs to be informed on progress, goals, and other things related to a project. They just need the meeting notes and next steps and don't need to be invited into the meeting.

(Source)

3. Consider time zones

Ah, time zones—the ultimate scheduling nemesis. 👹

If you’re working with a team spread across different regions, you know how tricky it can be to find a time to meet that’s convenient for everyone. 

What’s a perfectly reasonable time for you might be the middle of the night for someone else. And if your team spans multiple continents, you might feel like you’re trying to coordinate with someone on Mars, the home planet of the men.

When scheduling meetings across different time zones, always double-check where your attendees are located and what time it is. Tools like time zone converters can be a lifesaver, helping you avoid the dreaded “Oops, I scheduled this during your dinner time” mistake.

Psst…If you’re already using an online scheduling tool, like YouCanBookMe or Calendly, they’ll do the time zone math for you! 

4. Have everyone set their working schedule

One of the biggest headaches when trying to find a time to meet is not knowing when people are actually available. 

Sure, their calendar might look free, but that doesn’t mean they are. Maybe they block off time for deep work, or perhaps they prefer not to have meetings in the afternoon. 

This is where setting working schedules comes in. Once this is done, you’ll know exactly when someone is available and when they’re not. 

Here’s a quick overview of how you can use a few tools to help you out. 👇

YouCanBookMe

YouCanBookMe allows you to fully customize your availability down to the minute. You can specify the exact days and times you’re open for meetings, block out periods for deep work, and even set up recurring availability that matches your routine. 

This tool is especially powerful for those who need to control their schedule tightly—like avoiding meetings in the afternoon or only allowing bookings during certain hours. 

You can set minimum and maximum notice periods for meetings and add automatic buffer time between calls to customize your schedule even further. 

As a bonus, you can edit your availability directly in YouCanBookMe or via your integrated calendars, such as Google, iCloud, or Microsoft!

Google Calendar 

In Google Calendar, you can set your working hours by going into the calendar settings and specifying your preferred hours for each day of the week. 

Once set, anyone trying to schedule a meeting with you will see your working hours and will be discouraged from booking outside of those times!

MS Teams

While neither a calendar nor a scheduling tool like our other two contenders, MS Teams also has a feature that can help you set your availability. 

The messaging app allows you to set your working hours by syncing with your Outlook calendar. 

In your Outlook settings, you can define your work hours, which Teams will then reflect. You can also set your status (e.g., “Do Not Disturb”) during times when you need to focus, ensuring no one can book meetings during those periods.

5. Be considerate and give people ample notice

Nobody likes a last-minute meeting—they can be disruptive, stressful, and leave you unprepared. 

To ensure productive meetings, you need to give your attendees enough notice to prepare, review, and get all their ducks in a row. 

If you already use a meeting scheduler like YouCanBookMe, you can set a minimum notice period for meetings. Whether you need 2 hours or 12 hours of advance notice, this feature ensures that no one can book a meeting last minute and catch you off guard.

6. Sync all your attendees’ calendars

The easiest way to find a time to meet online? Syncing everyone’s calendars. Thank god for technology. 😮‍💨

If you’re scheduling an internal group meeting 👉 use a scheduling tool for teams to create a single unified page that shows everyone’s available times. 

If you’re scheduling a meeting with external attendees 👉 use a meeting scheduler with calendar overlay. This handy feature will let every invitee overlay their own calendar over yours and instantly see the times that work for both sides. 

How do you ask for a time to meet?

Now that you’ve got the basics down, we’ll throw in one last helpful tidbit: a couple of email templates that can help you find a time to meet!

Use these as a starting point and edit them as needed depending on who you’re meeting with and what you’re meeting about.

Template for internal meetings

Template for external meetings