Find a meeting night the whole committee can make

Why a poll beats reply-all

Email eight volunteers asking which evening works and you get eight emails back, three of them replying to each other, and a spreadsheet you end up building by hand. A poll is that spreadsheet, already built: every evening down one side, every member's answer next to it, and the evening the most people can make lit up in green.

Nobody installs anything or makes an account. A member opens the link, types their name, and taps the evenings that work. Thirty seconds, which matters for people who are giving up their evenings in the first place.

Which evenings to offer

• Four to six, across three weeks. Volunteers plan around work and family first, so evenings a couple of weeks out find far more overlap than evenings this week.
• Skip the nights you already know are taken. Sports practice, choir rehearsal, the other committee. Offering them just adds a column of Can'ts.
• Put the agenda in the description. People vote faster when they know what the meeting is for and how long it'll run.

The people who have to be there

Most committees have two or three members without whom nothing can be decided. The results page shows who said what for each evening, so you can pick the evening that has those people plus the most of everyone else, rather than the evening with the biggest raw count. A comment on a Maybe ("can join from eight") often settles it.

What the committee sees

One page with the meeting name, the evenings you offered, and three buttons for each: Works, Maybe, Can't. Once they've voted, they see how everyone else answered, so a member can tell at a glance whether the evening they're hoping for is going to happen.

A committee that meets every month

Run a poll for each meeting rather than fixing one night for the year. The night that suited everyone in September rarely suits everyone in March! Each poll is its own event with its own link, and a free poll is free every time. On Autopilot, the same members are already in your address book, so next month is picking them from a list instead of pasting addresses again.

What if the evening that wins is one someone can't make?

If they're one of the people the meeting needs, add another evening to the live poll and send the link around again. If not, lock in the evening that works for the rest and send them the notes.