If there is such thing as a magic wand for setting schedules for so many people within a so limited time, this must be it!
Doodle is an online scheduling tool that can be used quickly and easily to schedule a meeting with multiple people. Consider the difficulty of getting everyone on the same page with just five other coworkers, let alone fifty new volunteers you may have never met. Now these hassles in scheduling an event are a thing of the past. Doodle can be an important tool for coordinating for a large event like volunteer training or a small occasion like a monthly meeting with the board.
What makes Doodle appealing is it’s easy of use. As soon as the dates and times for your event participants have been chosen, then Doodle creates a polling calendar that is sent to participants for feedback. As each participant selects the dates and times most convenient to them from the polling calendar, Doodle collates the responses and suggests which option works best for everyone.
ADVANTAGES OF USING DOODLE (4 Hour Work Week Tool):
1. Doodle simplifies Scheduling
2. Doodle cooperates with your calendar
3. No switching between your calendar and Doodle
4. Avoid conflicting bookings
5. Automatically sync appointments to your calendar
Doodle radically simplifies the process of scheduling events, whether they’re board or team meetings, dinners with friends, reunions, weekend trips, or anything else. This smart assistant saves time for millions of people worldwide, and in the end, it brings people together.
Doodle is free and doesn’t require registration by either the initiator or the participants of a meeting poll.
Functions and Products
Doodle offers a wide selection of online solutions that radically simplify the process of scheduling appointments, ranging from the group event “poll” that doesn’t require registration to the professional booking service.
1. Connect calendars (free): Connects your calendar with Doodle. Start and answer meeting requests directly in the calendar interface.
2. MeetMe (free): Your main contact center to coordinate your meetings. Partners, colleagues, and friends want to meet you. Show them when you are available and how you want to be contacted.
3. Premium Doodle (charge): An ad-free professional version of Doodle for individuals (Solo) or companies and organisations (Business or Enterprise). A premium subscription offers premium functionality and theming possibilities.
Doodle guides you through the 4 steps in creating a polling calendar. Every step of the way are options to make the whole process easier the people you’re trying to meet with.
1. Schedule an Event The first step in scheduling an event with Doodle is to fill out a simple form with the title, location, and description of the event. This information will be visible on the poll, informing participants exactly what the event is. On this page you will also enter your name as administrator and your e-mail address so that you can receive the link to view, update, or edit the poll.
• Easy Directions: The location automatically links to Google Maps, making getting directions a breeze.
• Your Own Doodle Account: Although creating an account is not required, signing in makes checking up on your scheduling polls a lot easier (especially if you have several out at a time).
2. Propose Times Next, you will be asked choose days and times that you are considering for the event.
• Time-Zone Support: If you’re scheduling an online event, such as a Twitter chat or a video conference, you can enable time-zone support to keep participants across the country or across the world on the same page.
3. Choose Settings In this third step, Doodle offers options to enable changing of the basic poll to suit specific needs. These customizable settings allow for tailoring your Doodle scheduling poll to each event. You can use different settings to transform your scheduling poll into a registration sheet, or to offer extra options to your event participants such as greater privacy.
• Yes-No-If Need be Poll: In a basic poll, the people you invite can only respond “Yes” or “No.” This option adds a third possible response, “If need be,” to give you more detailed information on participants’ availability and flexibility.
• Hidden Poll: If you want to schedule times to meet with donors, Doodle allows you to keep each donor’s schedule and availability confidential from the other donors.
• Limit Number of Participants per Option: setting the group limit to only a certain number of people per time slot would be handy if you are looking to conduct feedback meetings with past volunteers. Once a timeslot has reached the number of names required, it will stop being shown as an option.
• Participant Can Only Choose One Option: This option coupled with limiting the number of participants per option turns the poll into a registration sheet, allowing each participant to sign up for a timeslot on a first-come-first-served basis.
4. Invite Participants The final step is to send out the invitations. Doodle delivers your poll to participants via email, Facebook, and Twitter. For smaller or internal meetings, email is the way to go. But if you are putting together a larger event, a social media platform might be a better choice. By posting the Doodle poll link on Facebook or Twitter, you can both advertise your event and select a good day for it.
• Import Contacts: Link your Doodle account to your email account to easily import the email addresses of the participants you’re interested in inviting.