How to find a date everyone is free

Ask earlier than feels necessary

Calendars fill from the outside in. A date four weeks out has far more unanimous options than the same question asked next Tuesday. If a plan matters, the date question should be the first thing that happens, not the last.

Ask about a range, once

One shared poll covering the whole range beats a sequence of individual proposals. Each round of "does the 12th work?" costs days and loses people; one round gets you the full picture.

Two mistakes that stall plans

• Asking an open question — "when are you free?" — which nobody can answer without doing your work for you.
• Leaving the decision open after the answers arrive. A poll that closes and a date that gets announced is what turns availability into a plan.

When nobody is free at the same time

Shorten, split or shift. A two-hour window finds dates a full day cannot; two smaller gatherings sometimes beat one impossible one; and moving the event a month later usually opens the calendar right up.