Let's see if this is your norm for organizing a meeting:

Step 1: John Doe needs a meeting with a list of people on a specific topic.

Step 2: You send out an email to all the parties asking for a good date/time to meet.

Step 3: You collect many emails from many people with their preferences of a date/time.

Step 4: You send out another email asking if everyone is OK with a specific date/time.

Step 5: You review all the emails.

Step 6: Then, you send the meeting invitation.

If you calculate 15 minutes for each email that you touch for a 10 person meeting, the time to plan that meeting may be longer than the actual meeting.

The steps to plan a meeting seem pretty straightforward, but it's not always so easy to coordinate. What if there was an easier way to request date/time preferences?

FindTime: Your Meeting Scheduling Solution

"FindTime" is a Microsoft product that can be added to Outlook to help you efficiently plan meetings and get back to work. When the attendees respond, you have a tally of their votes. All votes are in one location, easy for you to read and make the best decision at a glance. Simply review the votes and send out the meeting invitation! The process of finding a suitable meeting time is no longer a time-consuming task.

Below is a closer look at how you would view all of the votes in one location:

• You can enter many dates and times.
• Your recipients can select many dates and times that suit them. They can also select "prefer" to show their preference.
• Your recipients can also select dates and times that do not work for them at all.
• At the bottom of the tally sheet, your recipients can suggest dates/times if none of the options work for them.
• Once you have a date that suits all recipients, you select the "schedule" option and the invitation is sent.
• You have an option to receive a notice each time someone votes.
  
  

FindTime is perfect for meetings where:

• You are not able to see other attendees' calendars internally
• Attendees are in different time zones
• Attendees need many options for a meeting date/time

To use FindTime, the organizer is required to be on Office 365 (install is free) and recipients must have an email address.

What Are The Advantages of Using FindTime?

• Ton of time savings
• The time zones adjust for the recipients based on the computer settings
• Much easier to get consensus for meeting dates/times
• It is mobile responsive.

If you have the FindTime application, this is how your process would change:

Step 1: John Doe needs a meeting with a list of people on a specific topic.

Step 2: You send out FindTime email to all meeting recipients with many dates/times.

Step 3: Each recipient votes on a time that suits them.

Step 4: You review the all the poll votes in one location and send out the invitation.

In this situation, the organizer would save approximately 4 hours 45 minutes.

If you spend a large amount of time scheduling meetings, this product is at least worth your time to test. Hope you found this blog (and FindTime) to be a helpful resource! Let us know if we can be of further assistance in the use and/or implementation of any Microsoft Office/Dynamics 365 applications by contacting us today.