How to Use Nook Calendar’s Free Meeting Scheduling Tool
Sick of sending and selecting meeting times via impersonal scheduling links? So were we, so we made a less-awkward online scheduling tool for proposing meetings.
Booking meetings used to be simple. You’d pick up the phone, ping a personal assistant, or send a quick email to schedule a meeting.
Now, our calendars are increasingly crammed full. And with many people splitting time between home and the office, working in different time zones, and exploring flexible work arrangements, finding the best time to meet with someone isn’t so easy.
And, as a recent debate highlighted, proposing a meeting time through a Calendly link or using an online scheduling tool like Doodle can come across as incredibly impersonal, maybe even a little passive-aggressive… yikes.
Meet our take on meeting scheduling software
At Nook Calendar, our goal isn’t just to build a good-looking calendar app with the same features as everyone else. We want to free up people’s time, so they can focus on work that actually matters.
That’s why we created a new free online scheduling tool to simplify the oft-complicated process of proposing a meeting time with someone outside of your organization.
What makes Nook Calendar’s meeting proposal feature different from Calendly, Doodle, and other alternatives?
It’s free
Calendly, Doodle, and other online scheduling tools often charge a monthly subscription fee to access even the most basic features, with many providers charging $6 for individual users to $16 and higher for more robust plans. Nook Calendar lets you propose and book meetings, ad-free.
It’s personal
Sending someone a link to a booking page can come across as impersonal, putting the onus on the invitee to do all the heavy lifting. Nook Calendar humanizes meeting scheduling: you intentionally select your preferred dates and times for each individual meeting before sharing a link directly with invitees, giving it a more personal feel.
And, unlike other alternatives, Nook Calendar’s meeting proposal links aren’t permanent—once an invitee selects a time, the link is no longer accessible, helping to prevent double-bookings.
It’s easy to share times
Some online scheduling and meeting proposal tools force you to only use a link or add extensions to share times in the body of emails. But with Nook Calendar, you can select your preferred times and copy and paste them directly into messages via dynamic text links, so invitees don’t have to take any unnecessary steps to view which times are available. And available times are always up to date and adjusted as your calendar fills up, so the times sent to invitees reflect what’s actually available.
It’s easy to see availability
Whether team-wide or across multiple calendars, Nook Calendar can give you visibility into your personal, professional, and close colleagues’ availability, so you don’t waste any time deciding which dates and times work best with all of your schedules when proposing a meeting.
Here’s a quick walkthrough of how to propose a meeting in Nook Calendar
From Nook Calendar’s web platform, start by clicking Create event.
Then, a panel appears on the right side of the screen.
From the Create event dropdown in the top, right-hand corner of the screen, users can select Share availability and begin highlighting the preferred times in their calendar when they’re available to meet.
Once meeting times, which can range from 15-minute to two-hour increments, have been selected, users can:
Add a title (this is required)
Input a location
Select their preferred video conferencing software (like Zoom or Google Meet)
Add any notes or an agenda of what the meeting will cover
Include any close colleagues from the People bar (based on their availability, of course)
And click Create link to generate an Availability page or Dynamic text links that can be added to any email or exchange.
Headache-free meeting scheduling, even on mobile
Let’s be honest: most online scheduling and meeting proposal tools make booking meetings a first-come, first-served free-for-all.
Nook Calendar, on the other hand, takes a more intentional approach to proposing meetings.
Users purposefully select which times work best for them before sending links directly to invitees to choose from, rather than thoughtlessly sharing availability in bulk with multiple users at once, which can lead to accidental double-bookings and unneeded frustration.
And, unlike other free scheduling tools or online meeting scheduling software, Nook Calendar’s proposal feature is also available on our native mobile apps from the App Store and Google Play, meaning you can easily propose meetings on the go.
Whether you’re a sales superstar, in-demand consultant, busy recruiter, or someone who simply needs to schedule a lot of meetings, one thing’s for sure—you’ve probably booked a lot of them over the past two years.
Hybrid work has forced the majority of our meetings online, and while we appreciate being able to wear sweatpants during normal work hours, the time-consuming ballet that is sharing your availability, finding a time to meet, and adding it to your calendar isn’t quite as enjoyable.
Speaking with everyone from solopreneurs to seasoned professionals, it seems like a lot of people find meeting scheduling software either costly, impersonal, or just plain boring. And Calendly and other alternatives don’t always cut it.
We hear you.
Everyone is different, and so is how they work. Making good first impressions is important, and you shouldn’t have to pay a premium for them or basic customizations and integrations with your meeting booking system.
Nook Calendar’s meeting proposal feature is already used by tons of high-performing teams for selecting and proposing meeting times outside of their organization.
Now, we’re making things even easier by letting you build personal pages with shareable calendar-booking links, right in Nook Calendar. Add them to your LinkedIn profile, email signature, website, or messages when finding a time to meet.
We think it’s the best meeting scheduling software out there, and we’re excited for you to give it a try, so let’s get started.
Here’s How to Set Up a Personal Booking Page in Nook Calendar
First off, if you’re new to Nook Calendar—hello! (If you’re already a Nook user, you can skip ahead.)
You’re going to start by syncing your calendar—either from Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook—and entering your work email address.
Once you approve any necessary permissions, you’ll set up your People Bar. Search for any connections and add the people you interact with the most when scheduling meetings.
From there, you can add any additional calendars you want to see (add your personal one, if you like, to further prevent any overlaps when scheduling meetings), integrate with Zoom (so you can launch calls straight from your calendar), and choose your preferred display setting—select Match OS, Light Mode, or Dark Mode.
Launch Nook Calendar, and you’re ready to set up your online meeting scheduler.
Now, the fun begins
You’re going to start by claiming your unique URL for sharing your meeting availability page.
Your first name appears by default, but really, it can be anything. We recommend using your full name (e.g., /john-smith).
(You can always change your URL in the future, as long as it’s still available.)
From there, you want to complete your profile.
Your profile pic is automatically pulled in from your Microsoft or GCal account.
But you can add your name, job title, welcome message, and links to social media profiles or professional website, so guests know a bit more about you when booking a meeting.
Then, you can start setting your weekly availability.
Nook Calendar defaults to traditional time blocks—9–12 a.m. and 1–5 p.m. These are the hours someone can book a meeting from your personal page. Adjust them based on your availability.
Your timezone is automatically set to your local time, but you can change it if you primarily work with people in a different timezone and it’s better to visualize that when setting your availability.
Choose which calendar you want to accept meetings in—it can only be booked in one, but Nook Calendar will automatically reference your availability in other calendars you’ve synced to prevent double-bookings when someone schedules a meeting.
Now, it’s time to set up some paramaters.
You can set up your preferred meeting duration in either 15, 30, 45-minute or one-hour increments (or a custom time).
You can also add buffer time to give yourself a break between meetings, or set a lead time of up to 24 hours, so no one can book any last-minute meetings.
And you’re all set! You can preview what the page will look like, then share it with contacts or add it to your LinkedIn profile (we suggest adding it as a secondary URL), email signature, and anywhere else you do business.
Once someone books time in your calendar, you’ll receive an email and get a notification in the Pulse.
If you ever need to make any changes, you can access your personal meeting page in the bottom of the Magic Panel and make any adjustments—either to your weekly availability or personal information.
You can also remove your availability by simply creating events in Nook Calendar and marking them as Busy to block off time and prevent any bookings.
Nook Calendar’s new personal pages for sharing meeting availability are available on Web, iOS, and Android.
If you have any questions or thoughts, we’d love to hear them. Hit us up in our Slack Community or contact us through Support.
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