Thing 17: Arrange a meeting using Doodle

Have you ever doodled with Doodle? This free internet calendar tool is all about easy scheduling. In the manic world that is academia— where you often have to balance home life, teaching, research and extra-curricular activities— finding a suitable time for people to meet, who have such different timetables and demands, wastes precious time. Yet, the nature of academia requires that we meet with others on a regular basis, thrash out ideas and make time to collaborate. Anything that makes this task even fractionally easier is good news. The basic set up (outlined in the step-by-step instructions blow) is simple and easy to use. Doodle uses a simple “polling” system which allows each individual to cast a vote on the best time for them to meet, according to the days and times that you set. Once each person has cast their vote, you can “close” the poll, and Doodle works out the most suitable time and notifies the participants by email.

by Marco Buonvino

The way to get the most out of Doodle is to integrate Doodle with your Microsoft Outlook, Yahoo calendar, Google calendar, or Apple iCal, which syncs your Doodle meetings with all these other calendars, updating them automatically whenever you set up a poll. Who needs a diary? Doodle does all the remembering for you. On the page doodle.com/calendar click ‘Calendar Connect’ and then select ‘Connect with Google’, or whichever service you use. You will then be redirected to a page which will allow you to connect with your calendar instantly.

More information about using Doodle Calendar Connect can be found on the Doodle website.

For Thing 17, we are asking you to arrange a meeting using Doodle: perhaps invite fellow 23 Things participants. You don’t even need to register to set up a meeting, only to administer it. Follow the step-by-step instructions in this video to get started :

Emma Cragg : 28 Nov 2011 11:00 |  Tags: Organization Theme6 Thing17 |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem