Why meet later when you can meet now

Meet now versus meet later

Setting up a meeting at the right time is an invaluable skill. Just think about some of your previous romances - did you really have to introduce them to friends and family so soon or, adversely, did you take way too long to set it up? If you value speed, then you can of course meet now but most of us require a little prep time.

Timing, while overused as an excuse, is still a very important part of organizing your life and ensuring you do what needs getting done. 

Along with the help of a smarter approach to scheduling by way of our meeting journey builder and live engagements tools, here are some ways to help you figure out when it is best to meet now or better left for later. 

Best times for meetings

Here are some strategies you can employ to figure out when is the best time to meet for you and your scenario. Figure out when to approach people in a way that benefits all parties and use scheduling software and time-zone information to explore the best time for meetings that work for you. 

What time of day is the best time to set a meeting?

Although early mornings are peak for productivity, they are not always very conducive to productive meetings. When you make it to work and open your emails, you’re generally not extremely attracted to the idea of launching straight into a professional conversation. Let people settle in, do some work, then aim for a mid-morning to early afternoon session where people are awake and their beds and subsequent commutes are a distant memory. It is generally a good idea to give people some room to breathe before asking them to meet now. 

If you’re considering scheduling a meeting in people’s lunch break, make sure it is treated accordingly and cater where possible. If you’re considering setting up a meeting after hours; don’t.

To set you and your team up for scheduling success at the right time of day, everyday, get started here. 

Which days of the week are best for meetings?

This might seem a bit obvious, but Mondays and Fridays are generally not the best days to discuss important information or draft long-term goals and priorities. Until we manage to usher in the 4 day alternative, the two bookends of our work week remain somewhat less practical and helpful when needing to communicate. 

Granted, this isn’t always the case, but make sure to set clear expectations and keep meetings tight and concise when doing so on either Monday or Friday, especially if you’re prone to running overtime. 

To set up recurring meetings with you and your team that ensure future Mondays and Fridays don’t become frenzied wastes of time, sign up for free here. 

What is the best time to respond to meeting invites?

What time of day you check your emails can have a huge impact on how you structure your hours and go about ticking off your to-do list. Some of us like to allocate specific times of day to go through mails so the entire day isn’t spent reading and responding to things that might look high priority but are not. Some sacred among us have managed to only check mails once a day, scanning for relevance and chalking the unread pile up to bad timing. 

Specific ways of going about prioritization are rather personal and should be adapted to suit an individual’s flow and preference. Meeting requests, however, bode well with timeous responses that allow ample time for rescheduling and setting expectations from the jump. If you have notifications turned on, train your eye to catch an invite as it pops up so you can quickly get back to your work. 

Get started and meet now 

To get started on sending high quality booking links and meeting requests, sign up here today. 

As to be expected, there really isn’t a hard and fast set of rules that govern how we should go about meeting with each other and having productive conversations. It really is up to us to shape the working world we wish to engage in, so have a little consideration for the people you work with, time things as best you’re able and maaaaybe don’t schedule a meeting at 16:30 on a Friday.