Scheduling Get Togethers When Everyone’s So Busy

Have you found it’s difficult to schedule time with friends, family, and co-workers?  With so many people busy with work, school, car pool, extra curricular activities and medical appointments, a simple thing like coordinating dinner with friends becomes a challenge.

There are two groups of pals I try to reunite with every couple of years.  This time I’m trying a different tactic.  I’m using technology to help increase our odds of actually getting together.  What I mean is I’m using a scheduling app called Doodle.   It’s something a friend turned me on to.  This is not a paid testimonial.  It’s the first and only such site I’ve heard of and it’s working really well so I continue to use it.

Basically it lets you create a poll listing a number of dates for your possible get-together.   The link to the poll is sent to your friends via e-mail.  At their convenience they can open the survey and simply click on the dates that they’re available.  In the end, it’s easy to see the one date that has the most people available.   Problem solved.

What I like about a solution like this is that it ends the back and forth texts or e-mails with Sally saying she IS available on X, Y, Z dates and Mary saying she is NOT around on A, B, C dates.  I find those threads make my head hurt.  If you get overwhelmed by the process of trying to scheduling a group get together, or even a meeting for work or your sports team or volunteer group, you might consider using a scheduling app.

How do you generally plan meetings and social events?  Are there any online tools that you find helpful?