Check out the short video below, or keep reading for detailed instructions on how to create a group poll with Doodle.
Step-by-Step Guide:
Choose meeting type
- From your Doodle Dashboard, click on "Create" in the top right corner
- Select "Group Poll"
Provide meeting information
- Set a meeting title, description, and location of your meeting.
- Is the meeting going to take place remotely? Toggle on Video Conferencing. If your default connected calendar is a Google Calendar, a Google Meet link will be added to the booked event. If you want to use Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Webex instead, select it as the main conferencing tool in your account settings.
Add your times
When creating your poll, you can select either week view or month view.
Week view:
- Select the duration of the times you would like to select. Every time slot will have the same duration. You can also select "all-day" and click underneath the days to create all-day options.
- Check for conflicts under "calendar" at the top right corner. Your connected default calendar will be selected automatically, but you can also select any other calendar that you have connected to your Doodle account, or that you subscribe to (for example, shared calendars).
- Check your time zone at the bottom left corner. You have to select YOUR time zone. The group poll will adjust automatically according to the time zone of your participants.
- Click anywhere on the calendar to create time slots. To delete a time slot, hover the cursor over the time slot and click on the little x. You can grab the time slot and move it around as you see fit.
Month view:
- Click on "Month" at the top of the page.
- Select the duration of the times you would like to select. Every time slot will have the same duration. You can also select "All day" and click directly on the dates to offer all-day options.
- Click on the days on which you would like to offer time slots.
- Add a start time to the time slots. If you want to have different times on different days, click "Add different times to dates". You can also add more time slots on specific date by clicking "Add times".
Enable special settings (Doodle Professional features)
You can enable a few special settings for your group poll. All the special settings require a Doodle Professional subscription.
- To enable the settings, tick the corresponding box under "Settings".
Set a deadline (this feature is a Doodle Professional feature): after this date and time, no one new will be able to vote in your group poll, and existing participants will not be able to change their votes.
Limit participants (this feature is a Doodle Professional feature): set the maximum amount of participants that can select the same time slot.
Note: This feature can only be activated during the initial setup of the group poll. It is not possible to activate it after the group poll has been created.
Set automatic reminders (this feature is a Doodle Professional feature): we will send out reminders to the participants who still haven't voted after a given time. More information here.
Hide participant list (this feature is a Doodle Professional feature): only you will be able to see the list of participants and their votes.
Finish up your group poll
- Click "continue" at the bottom right corner to finish your group poll setup.
Share invite
Now it's time to invite your participants. You can invite your participants by sharing the participation link, or by inviting them via email.
Share with link sharing:
- Click "copy link" in the top right corner.
- Distribute the link as you see fit
Share with email invitation:
- Click on "more"
- Click on "Email invitation"
- Enter the emails of your participants
- Edit the invitation message if needed
- Click "send"
Make it even easier for yourself by adding your Google or Outlook contacts to your Doodle account settings. When you start typing the emails of your contacts, they will autofill. You can also change the automated message that goes along with your email invitation.
Good to know
-
As the organizer, you will automatically have voted for all suggested meeting times in the group poll. However, you can change your participation at any time. Read about how to change your vote here.
-
Once you have the votes you need, select the final option and click "book it". Read about selecting the final option here.
- The booked event will appear automatically in your calendar, and a calendar invitation will be sent to your participants.