How to coordinate dates with a large group

Decide your threshold up front

Before you send anything, decide what success looks like: "the date where at least twenty can come" or "the date that works for all six organisers plus the most guests".

Announcing the threshold with the poll changes how people answer. They stop treating it as a vote and start treating it as a schedule.

Fewer options, clearly labelled

Large groups need short polls. Five to eight options, each obviously distinct — a weekend, a specific evening — will out-perform a thirty-day range every time.

Chase twice, then close

Expect roughly 60% to answer on the first message and 85% after one reminder. The last 15% will not answer regardless, so build your deadline around two nudges and then decide.

Send the second reminder only to the people who haven't answered, not the whole group again — repeated blanket reminders train people to ignore the poll entirely.

Accept the near-miss

With thirty people, a perfect date almost certainly does not exist. The grid lets you see exactly what a near-miss costs — which three people lose out — and that is a decision you can make and explain in one message.

Delegate the chase for very large groups

Past about 40 people, one organiser chasing individually doesn't scale. Split the list among a few sub-organisers (department heads, table captains, chapter leads) who each chase their own smaller group — it turns one impossible task into several manageable ones.

Use time slots when the group spans multiple sessions

If a large event runs across several sessions or seatings — a conference dinner over two nights, a workshop repeated twice — poll each option as a separate slot rather than forcing everyone onto one date. People can mark whichever slot suits them, and you can balance numbers across sessions instead of overloading a single one.