How often should a peer group set its dates?

Once a quarter is the practical rhythm. One poll settles three or four sessions, and you only re-poll when something has to move.

What if only half the group responds?

Send one reminder to the non-responders with the deadline restated, then decide from the answers you have. Waiting for full participation usually costs more attendance than it saves.

Should assistants be included in the poll?

Yes, directly and by name. Most members with full calendars delegate scheduling answers to an assistant, and leaving them off the distribution list is the most common reason a member's answer never arrives.

Should the chair schedule around a member who never responds?

In most groups, yes — decide the dates from the members who answered and inform the non-responder afterwards. State that policy once to the whole group so it doesn't feel arbitrary when it happens.

Guide

How to schedule a peer advisory group meeting

Scheduling a peer group is a coordination problem disguised as an admin task. The members are all decision-makers, none of them share a calendar system, and most delegate the answer to an assistant who is not on the group's mailing list by default. A chair who solves this once, with a repeatable process, spends far less of every quarter chasing dates than one who improvises each time.

Find a Date See how it works

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

Poll a quarter, not a meeting

The single highest-leverage change a chair can make is to stop scheduling one session at a time. Put a full quarter of candidate dates into one poll and set the cadence from the overlap.

It costs the members one round of answers and removes the end-of-meeting negotiation entirely — the awkward five minutes at the end of every session spent trying to agree the next one while half the room is already packing up.

Give the poll an end

State the deadline in the message and set it on the poll. Without one, the last three answers arrive after you needed to book the room.

48 hours for a reschedule, a week for a quarterly calendar.
One reminder, sent only to the people who have not answered.
Close the poll when you decide, so nobody answers into a settled question.

Keep the cadence, not just the dates

Most peer groups run on a fixed rhythm — monthly, six-weekly — and members plan around that rhythm as much as around specific dates. When you poll a quarter, keep the gaps between sessions roughly consistent rather than optimising each date independently, or the group's usual rhythm quietly drifts and attendance follows it down.

Handle the chronic non-responder

Some members will never answer a poll. Decide in advance whether the group waits for them or schedules around them — and say which, once, to the whole group. Ambiguity there is what makes the chase feel endless.

In practice, most chairs land on scheduling around the group and informing the non-responder afterwards. That keeps the other eleven members' answers meaningful rather than provisional on one person's reply.

Publish the calendar the same day you decide

Send calendar invites for the whole quarter the day the poll closes, not the day of each individual meeting. A published date the member has already accepted survives a competing request far better than a date that is only in your head or a spreadsheet.

Worked example

Example: a twelve-member CEO peer group setting a quarter's dates

A chair running a monthly peer-advisory group wanted to lock in Q3's three sessions in one round instead of negotiating each one at the end of the prior meeting.

1Built a poll with nine candidate Thursdays across the quarter, spaced to preserve the group's usual monthly rhythm.
2Sent it to all twelve members and, separately, to the four assistants who usually answer on their principal's behalf.
3Set a one-week deadline and sent a single reminder to the three members who hadn't answered by day five.
4Picked the three Thursdays with the highest combined attendance, informed the one chronic non-responder of the chosen dates rather than waiting on them.
5Sent calendar invites for all three sessions the same afternoon the poll closed.

All three sessions were locked with at least ten of twelve confirmed each, and no end-of-meeting scheduling negotiation was needed for the whole quarter.

Frequently asked questions

How often should a peer group set its dates?: Once a quarter is the practical rhythm. One poll settles three or four sessions, and you only re-poll when something has to move.
What if only half the group responds?: Send one reminder to the non-responders with the deadline restated, then decide from the answers you have. Waiting for full participation usually costs more attendance than it saves.
Should assistants be included in the poll?: Yes, directly and by name. Most members with full calendars delegate scheduling answers to an assistant, and leaving them off the distribution list is the most common reason a member's answer never arrives.
Should the chair schedule around a member who never responds?: In most groups, yes — decide the dates from the members who answered and inform the non-responder afterwards. State that policy once to the whole group so it doesn't feel arbitrary when it happens.

peer group session datesFor chairs and moderators.mastermind schedulingKeep the circle's cadence intact.annual forum calendar planningExtend the same approach to a full year.getting busy executives to respondTactics for chronic non-responders.

Planning a forum calendar for the yearOne well-run poll in the autumn can settle a year of forum days, chapter events and retreats.Getting busy executives to answer a scheduling pollResponse rate, not software, is what decides whether a group poll works. These tactics move it.

Find the day everyone can make it