If you are safely locked in an office with no meetings and really don’t have a packed schedule as part of a normal day, and still able to have a thriving business, you’re fortunate.
Most business professionals have very busy schedules and getting time on another person’s schedule is so difficult.
Trying to call, leaving voice mail messages and playing phone tag, is not productive. Emailing back and forth is also not productive. By the time you agree on a time, the other person’s schedule has been changed…yet again.
If you find that Microsoft Outlook, or Google calendar are simply not efficient enough to help you manage your time, it’s time to find another solution.
One tool I’ve known about for some time is TimeBridge. TimeBridge recently upgraded its service to span the full lifecycle of a meeting – from scheduling a time, to setting the agenda and adding conferencing services, through sending reminders and timing agenda items.
For one to one meeting this level of scheduling options is not necessary. But when your schedule is intertwined with other professionals’ schedules being able to manage the meeting agenda, conference call services and reminders is a big plus.
There are many other solutions that help you manage your time better and you can find many of them through this Google link.
Whatever solution you use, you’ll have to spend a few days getting used to it and ensuring that it meets your needs. The nuances of the different systems really matter. Some might have more features than others. Some might have features we don’t need. Some might be complicated to use.
If you find that managing meetings takes you more time than it should, you need to let technology help you.
