How do I find a date that works for everyone?

Propose a range of candidate dates in a shared poll rather than a single date. Everyone marks what they can make, and the dates are ranked by availability so the best option is obvious.

What if someone never responds?

Set a response deadline when you create the poll. When it passes the poll closes automatically, and you decide from the answers you have.

Is EveryoneAvailable free?

Yes. EveryoneAvailable is currently free to use. There are no paid plans, no upgrade prompts, and no ads.

Is it better to pick a date with more yeses or wait for a unanimous one?

In most groups a unanimous date never arrives, and waiting for one costs you the plan. Pick the strongest date on the grid and treat the remaining maybes as people to follow up with individually.

Find a date

Find a date everyone is available

The question "what date works for everyone?" has one honest answer: ask everyone, in one place, at the same time. That is all this does — and then it counts the answers for you.

Find a Date See how it works

Create a free availability poll and share it with your group.

Start from the range, not from a date

The instinct is to propose one date and see who complains. That produces a slow no. Proposing a range produces a fast yes: people answer once, and you learn which days are genuinely open rather than which day the loudest person dislikes.

The three-step version

Create a poll covering every date you would accept.
Send the single link to the group — text, WhatsApp, email, Slack, anywhere.
Watch the ranked list. When the top date stops moving, book it.

When there is no perfect date

Often there isn't one, and the useful question becomes which near-miss costs least. The grid makes that visible: a date where four people are available and one is a maybe is usually a better plan than waiting for a unanimous day that never arrives.

If the person who must attend is out on the top date, you can see it immediately instead of discovering it after you have booked.

Keep the momentum

Set a deadline, chase once, and decide. Groups will happily leave a decision open forever if nobody closes it — the poll gives you a natural moment to say "the 14th wins, booking it tonight".

Deciding when a maybe should count as a yes

Not all maybes are equal. A maybe from someone waiting on a rota or a leave request is likely to firm up if you ask them directly once the date is picked. A maybe from someone who is simply undecided about attending at all is a different problem, and no amount of date-shuffling will fix it. Separate the two before you let maybes influence which date you choose.

What to do when nobody has a fully free day

For larger or busier groups, a date where everyone is free may not exist, and waiting for one can cost you the whole plan. Pick the date with the best-attended core group — the people the event genuinely needs — and treat the rest as invited guests who may or may not make it, rather than blocking on a status that is unlikely to change.

Worked example

Example: finding a date for a 20-person leaving do

A department of twenty needs to find one evening in the next three weeks for a colleague's leaving drinks before she moves cities at the end of the month.

1The organiser creates a poll with every weekday evening across the three weeks.
2The link is shared over email with a note that the deadline is in four days, tied to the colleague's leaving date.
3Sixteen people respond within two days; four are chased once by direct message.
4The grid shows a Wednesday with eighteen of twenty available, two marked maybe pending late meetings.
5The organiser confirms the Wednesday and messages the two maybes to ask if their meetings can move.
6Both meetings are moved and the final headcount reaches nineteen.

The leaving do went ahead on the Wednesday with nineteen of twenty colleagues present, decided six days after the poll opened and well within the three-week deadline.

Frequently asked questions

How do I find a date that works for everyone?: Propose a range of candidate dates in a shared poll rather than a single date. Everyone marks what they can make, and the dates are ranked by availability so the best option is obvious.
What if someone never responds?: Set a response deadline when you create the poll. When it passes the poll closes automatically, and you decide from the answers you have.
Is EveryoneAvailable free?: Yes. EveryoneAvailable is currently free to use. There are no paid plans, no upgrade prompts, and no ads.
Is it better to pick a date with more yeses or wait for a unanimous one?: In most groups a unanimous date never arrives, and waiting for one costs you the plan. Pick the strongest date on the grid and treat the remaining maybes as people to follow up with individually.

create a free availability pollHow the poll itself works.run an event date pollChoosing a date for an event.guide: finding a date that works for everyoneThe longer version, with examples.guide: finding a date everyone is freeA closer look at reading the results grid.

Find the day everyone can make it