Meetings are a fact of church-life.  And increasingly, scheduling meetings into our over-booked calendars is a complex, and sometimes time-consuming task.  Here’s a tool to help.

Doodle is not a tool for your own website, but it is a free web-based tool for scheduling meetings.  Use it to create a “poll” by entering possible meeting times, and sending to a list of attendees.  The recipients can indicate if they are available (yes), not available (no), or could make the meeting (“if need be”).

Their responses will enable the meeting organizer to quickly scan through and find the time that works best for everyone.  An email announcing the selected meeting time can then be sent from within Doodle.

With the free level of Doodle, meeting organizers can log in and re-send emails to recipients when they haven’t responded.  But you can also get a Premium level of Doodle for $39 per year, which will automatically send “nagging” emails for you until every recipient has responded.

Would you (or have you) used Doodle to schedule meetings?  Answer in the comments.