Scheduling meetings can often feel like herding cats. There’s a whole load of back-and-forth involved in synchronizing department commitments, individual schedules and time zones to find a golden overlap between participant calendars. So as a classic shallow task that we could all do without, it’s fed a huge new market of meeting scheduler apps which try to simplify the task. But while well-meaning, not all meeting schedulers are created equal. Here’s why automatic meeting schedulers are the only realistic option for those looking to completely free themselves of low value meeting admin.
What are meeting scheduler apps?
Meeting scheduler apps seek to simplify the unproductive and time-consuming task of setting up meetings. They mainly come in the form of email plugins and web applications, connecting directly to your work calendar app to help manage meeting coordination. You just need to download your preferred app and connect your calendar to get started.
Most meeting schedulers offer a simple calendar interface where people can book a time slot within your predefined hours of availability. Others use polling features to let meeting participants vote on a preferred meeting time. Most apps will send meeting invitation emails to participants once a time has been selected, and update everyone’s calendars accordingly.
How are automatic meeting schedulers different?
While many meeting schedulers simplify meeting coordination, they don’t actually automate it: group polls and open calendar time selectors still require people to spend time consciously considering and synchronizing calendars. In contrast, automatic meeting schedulers actually outsource the task.
The difference lies in artificial intelligence. By understanding how meeting participants work and comparing their schedules for them, AI technology can do all the meeting scheduling leg work for you. Here’s how the AI meeting scheduler Dewo works to illustrate:
- It looks at your calendar and captures what you work on to determine your productive patterns:
- When you want to schedule a meeting, just tell Dewo whom you want to meet with and for how long:
3. By considering your team’s productive patterns, timing preferences and calendar event distributions, Dewo’s AI will find meeting times with minimal disruption to everyone’s schedules. You can hover on a time suggestion to reveal its net impact on productivity.
4. Just click a time suggestion and Dewo will get busy scheduling your meeting — sending invitations, adding calendar entries and handling any email back-and-forth automatically.
The benefits of automatic meeting schedulers
Automatic meeting scheduler apps don’t simply save you time; they actively optimize your schedule to create more space for what’s important. Instead of simply showing your availability to others, they qualify and protect it. Unlike the majority of manual meeting schedulers currently, automatic schedulers can:
- Completely outsource meeting admin: most meeting scheduler apps still require some degree of calendar comparison. It may seem negligible, but with automation you can cut this step out completely: AI saves you time by analyzing all participant schedules and locating the optimal meeting time for you.
- Minimize the productive cost of meetings: automatic meeting schedulers limit the disruptive impact of meetings caused by bad planning. Instead of giving people free rein to pick any available slot on your calendar, they suggest times which protect your space for focused work. It ensures meetings never introduce a string of short, impractical time bubbles into your calendar.
- Optimize your existing meeting schedule: Instead of just making sure new meetings don’t carve up your week, automatic meeting scheduler apps can proactively review timings for existing calendar events to reduce their productive impact. It lets recurring meetings flexibly adapt to changing circumstances and productive patterns within your team, ensuring that your entire meeting infrastructure stays thoughtful and effective.
