Picture this: you are tasked with managing a big event and you want to use Doodle to make it easier on you and your participants. How do you know when to choose Group Poll or Sign-up Sheet? Let’s break it down.
What is Group Poll and when do I use it?
Doodle's Group Poll is what most people know us for. With Group Poll, meeting organizers propose a series of dates and times to bring a group of people together for a meeting. The poll participants let the meeting organizer know which dates and times work best for them, and the organizer uses the poll responses to book the best date and time for the meeting.
In short, Group Poll democratizes the scheduling of a single meeting date and time in which more than two people will be in attendance.
If you want to create a group poll, ask yourself:
Am I planning a meeting or event that will meet on a specific date and time?
Will the meeting or event be attended by more than two people?
Do I need to make sure the date and time chosen for the meeting works well for as many people as possible?
Do I want to book the meeting after all the poll participants have voted?
If you answered ‘yes’ to all four of these questions, then Group Poll is the best option for scheduling this kind of meeting.
What is Sign-up Sheet and when do I use it?
Sign-up Sheet is a new feature that is currently in beta. With Sign-up Sheet, event organizers offer their target audience the opportunity to enroll in one or more sessions. The Sign-up Sheet participants will review the array of sessions and enroll in the ones that interest them. The event organizer assigns the date, time, location, and capacity for each session, ensuring that nothing is overbooked and everyone knows exactly when and where to arrive.
In short, Sign-up Sheet allows an event organizer to gather enrollment information for one or more sessions that have already been scheduled.
If you want to create a Sign-up Sheet, ask yourself:
Am I planning a meeting or event for which I need to collect enrollment?
Are the sessions dates and times already set?
Do I want my participants to enroll in their choice of session(s) right away?
Do I need to make sure that each session is not over-enrolled?
If you answered ‘yes’ to all four of these questions, then Sign-up Sheet is the best option for managing these kinds of events.
In Summary
A simple way of looking at the fundamental difference between Group Poll and Sign-up Sheet is:
Group Poll is for collecting mutual availability and scheduling a single meeting
Sign-up Sheet is for scheduling and managing enrollment for a series of events with predefined seats
Use Cases for Group Poll and Sign-up Sheet
There are countless ways one could use Group Poll or Sign-up Sheet. Provided below are just some of the use cases for each.
Group Poll is perfect for scheduling a:
Departmental meeting
Companywide all-hand
Board meeting
Company dinner
Sign-up Sheet is perfect for managing enrollment for:
Training and/or coaching sessions - either in-person or virtually
Industry conference speaking engagements
Booths at trade shows
Chaperones for school events
Break out groups at company retreats
Good to know
We have a comprehensive library of help articles dedicated to helping users master Group Poll, Sign-up Sheet and more. Please feel free to visit our Help Center today!