Polling (vote-based scheduling)
A scheduling method in which participants vote on whether they can make each candidate date and time, and the one with the most votes is chosen.
Polling (vote-based scheduling) is a scheduling method in which the organizer presents multiple candidate dates and times and participants vote on whether they can attend each candidate. Once everyone’s answers are in, the date and time that the most participants answered “can attend” is chosen. It is the basic mechanism used by poll-based scheduling tools, PickDay among them.
Answer options in polling
Can definitely attend at that date and time
May be able to attend by rearranging other plans
Cannot attend at that date and time
The pros and cons of the polling method
The central advantage of the polling method is the ease of use: participants are not asked to connect a calendar or register an account. Anyone can answer just by opening a shared URL, so the burden is small even for people outside the organization and participants who are not very tech-savvy.
On the other hand, when there are many participants (10 or more), cases where no date and time gets a ○ from everyone increase. In that case, it works well to distinguish “required attendees” from “optional attendees” and prioritize the dates and times where all required attendees answered ○. Also, too many candidate dates increase the burden of answering, so you will want to narrow them to about 5-7 candidates.
When to use it vs the booking type
There are broadly two approaches to scheduling: polling (vote-based) and the booking type. Polling suits situations where you “line up several people’s schedules,” and the booking type suits situations where you “have one other person pick an open slot one to one.” When choosing a scheduling tool, check this distinction first.
Decide in advance how to read △
What tends to cause disputes in running a poll is how to treat △ (can adjust). Its meaning varies by respondent, from “I can probably go” to “I probably cannot go,” and confirming a date while counting △ in the headcount easily leads to absences on the day. In practice, stating the tally rules at the time you present the candidates, such as “count △ as 50% attendance” or “check individually with △ respondents before confirming,” reduces mismatches after confirmation. You will also want to decide in advance how to choose when no candidate gets ○ from everyone (by majority, or prioritizing required attendees).