Top 10 Apps for Scheduling a Meeting Online
Meetings suck. But if there's one thing worse than meetings, it's playing email tag to schedule them. Is your company still sending out mass emails to ask for preferred meeting times? It's the pits, isn't it? Yes, Outlook has a hack whereby you can solicit responses for scheduling, but it's not much of an improvement. There's a better way, and it's a ridiculously simple concept. A Web app lets you pick a range of dates on a calendar and then notify your colleagues so they can pick the times and dates that work for them. You then view the responses and you're done.
Just as wikis solved the distributed document collaboration problem (that we used to use email for), this class of online tools solves our scheduling problem. Here's our rundown of the ten best scheduling apps to be found, in order of preference. Most of them operate on a freemium basis or are fairly cheap.
Tungle
The first thing you'll notice about good apps is that many of them have ridiculous names. Tungle is no exception. But ignoring the silly branding, Tungle is my pick for the most innovative of the bunch. Its Web interface is quite nice, and it has support for the broadest range of integration including: Outlook, Google Calendar, iCal, Xing, LinkedIn, Facebook, Ning, and your blog. Why so many? Tungle is all about sharing your calendar as broadly as possible after you've published it.
Doodle
Doodle doesn't have the social Web love that Tungle does, but it's dead simple. If your coworkers can't figure out how to use this, you may need to find a new career quickly. We covered Doodle launching branded versions for continuing use by a company. But if you just want to try it out once, then you don't even need an account.
TimeBridge
TimeBridge is another app that syncs well with the standard set of both cloud-based and desktop calendars. As we mentioned in our initial review, the cool thing about TimeBridge is that the "Yes/No/Best" answer that can be provided by those you invite makes it really easy to get a response even from those who might be reluctant to use this kind of app.
Setster
Setster is a little more complex to navigate, but that's because it's probably better suited to more complex scheduling jobs. If you need a persistent SaaS calendaring tool that has good collaborative characteristics, Setster is probably your best bet. Read our full review from March here.
Congregar
Congregar doesn't waste any of your time, and that's to be admired. You can create a new event to schedule right from the home page, preview what the emailed poll will look like, and then move immediately to inviting people. Done, end of story.
Presdo
Presdo is pretty slick looking, but the interface is slightly less intuitive than many of the other apps in the list. If you need something with a decent feature set that's really going to look more impressive to the boss, then Presdo would be a great choice.
Diarised
Diarised has got the simple process of online scheduling down pat. But it has one of those annoyingly long sign-up forms, and there doesn't seem to be much integration with Outlook, GCal or iCal. Diarised would be just fine for a quick and informal job, but if you're looking for something to use in the enterprise I'd pick something else.
When is Good
When is Good is probably the most bare bones of these apps on the list, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Like Doodle there's no sign-up required. It's got a highlighted calendar grid for choosing a range of dates, and it works the same whether you're setting up the poll or responding.
Meet-o-Matic
Meet-o-Matic has got a really old school UI, with check boxes for choosing the dates you want to propose to coworkers. But it's free and there's absolutely no sign-up required for the basic version. The "advanced" version is a little under $20 a year, but I would suggest you hunt around for something with a better UI and more features if you're willing to pay.
Meeting Wizard
Meeting Wizard is going to come up high in search results if you're looking for this kind of thing. It's been around for quite some time, and it has more of a corporate look than I would like. But it still definitely works fine and could be the ticket for you.
Photo by ghindo
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Nice list, useful and unique too!
Well, why don't simply use Gmail and its calendar?
Meetings don't suck if you're making decisions and getting support for cool projects. Just FYI. ;)
I can't tell you how many times this week people asked me for a list like this! Too busy to make it myself, so I really appreciate this post. And I didn't know about Tungle, so I'm really grateful to learn about that one! Thanks!
I personally prefer http://resubj.com because it does not require signing up and can be used by anyone with an email. It's a great tool to discuss the upcoming meeting with others without introducing them to an unknown interface, because they can always use ReSubj just from their email without anyone noticing this.
makulia,
Many of the apps on that list don't require any signup at all.
Posted by: stevenwalling.com
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September 5, 2009 12:34 PM
Always looking for great apps.Will try them out and see what advantages there are. Thanks for putting this list together.
One to add to tour terrific list: Agreeadate.
I've been using it for the past few weeks. I like it a lot.
More interesting, though, is that this service produces responses from people more than any other I've tried.
Posted by: nevon.wordpress.com
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September 6, 2009 11:49 AM
There is also Rendezvous which does not require registration.
These are some cool tools... you may also find Wiggio interesting (www.wiggio.com). You can schedule both in-person meetings, but we also host free conference calls, video conferences and online group chats.
Another vote for including AgreeAdate from over here.
The best I've found so far for organising multi-participant podcasts across multi-timezones that folks a) respond to and b) actually get their version of the time right.
You can limit their access by only allowing them to have access to certain parts of your software which will help you by taking some of your work load and you won’t have to worry about personal information getting into the wrong hands.
do any of these or others allow attachments to be sent with the request, so invited parties can review a document for the meeting?
do any of these or others allow attachments to be sent with the request, so invited parties can review a document for the meeting?
Schedule+
Do any of these allow you to schedule office hours? I want an ap where I pick times in a calendar that other people are allowed to edit, and then they are able to pick out slots & write their names / emails into them.
Thanks for the list. Tungle's integration with Google and its iPhone app make it really easy to use, as I found out by trying it after seeing it in your list.
Walter Adamson @g2m
http://xeesm.com/walter
Hi, Joanna! May be it's smth. you are looking for. But instead calendar you use tasks and can appoint it to any person you like. You may share your comments and files in the task. So it's really easy to use and free get it on Net online scheduler page
I like the video tour that Tungle uses.
It shows how to use it in a fun and personal way. I am sure the other services are nice, but Tungle has that little extra imo.
When you have decided to use the Appointment Plus scheduling software, you must choose what features you want to have available to use. You also have to decide if you want your customers to have the option of scheduling their own appointments.
The great app I like to use in order to schedule my meetings and communications is Neatcall. They are doing great job for finding the optimal time slot and connects all invitees to the selected event. Neatcall schedule your event directly from your mobile phone, the web, or directly from your Outlook
I agree Neatcall www.neatcall.com is a great solution
I love WhenIsGood. It's extremely simple to use, and easy to share with others. I'm trying to set up a meet with others from the design community Deviantart in my city, so using this makes it a snap. This gets my vote!
Great list. There are a few other scheduling apps. that were recently released. Recently came across this video http://bit.ly/5RIphQ meebee seems pretty cool (still in beta) and I think google chrome will be handy at work.
If you like (or need) a meeting agenda and minutes afterwards give MeetWithAgenda a try!
You can create an online meeting agenda in a few steps (with or without registration) for all participants to see and afterwards you can convert the agenda into minutes and add actions items.