Scheduling a team dinner

The instinct is to book somewhere first, because that feels like progress. It is not: a booking made before you know who can come is a booking you will change twice and probably lose the deposit on.

Find the evening first. It takes a day. Then book, knowing the number.

• Offer evenings, not days. A dinner is a time, and half your no answers will be about the time.
• Avoid the week either side of a deadline that the team already knows about.
• Include one Thursday. It quietly outperforms Friday for anyone with a commute or childcare.
• Set a deadline of about three days. Longer and people file it under later.
• Ask about food in the comments, so the allergies and the vegetarians arrive with the answers rather than after the booking.

Pick the date and everyone who gave an email address is told, with a calendar file attached so it lands in their calendar rather than in their good intentions. The page keeps showing the final date, so the link you already shared stays the answer to "when is it again?"

Can I collect dietary requirements at the same time?

Leave comments on and ask in the description. Answers and comments arrive together, so you have the numbers and the notes in one place.

Can I add a date later if none of them work?

Yes. Add dates to a running date poll and everyone who has already answered is told once, in a single email rather than one per date.

Does everyone need an account?

No. They open the link and tap. If you invited them by email they can answer from inside the email without opening anything.

Schedule the dinner → Free, and nobody needs an account.

• Client meeting scheduling
• Workshop date poll
• Interview panel scheduling
• Board meeting scheduling
• Committee meeting scheduling
• Team offsite scheduling

• Group scheduling poll Create a scheduling poll for a group in about a minute. Propose dates, share one link, and see at a glance which date the most people can make.
• Book club scheduling Pick the book club date without the group chat. Propose a few evenings, share one link, and everyone marks when they can. Free and no account needed.
• Scheduling a family gathering Get the family onto one date without a group chat meltdown. Propose a few weekends, share one link, and everyone marks when they can. No account, no app.

• How to plan a team dinner Date first, venue second, and a few things that decide whether people come. A practical order of operations for whoever got handed the team dinner.
• How to get people to actually answer your date poll Most people who do not answer a scheduling poll are not refusing - they hit friction. Here is where the drop-off happens and what removes it.