How to Schedule Meetings Across Time Zones Without Losing Your Mind

"Let's meet at 3pm."

"Your 3pm or my 3pm?"

If you've worked on a remote team, you've had this conversation. Probably this week.

Scheduling across time zones is one of those problems that sounds simple until you actually try to do it. Then it becomes a maze of UTC conversions, daylight saving confusion, and accidentally scheduling a meeting at 2am for your colleague in Singapore.

Let me save you from that nightmare.

The Common Time Zone Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)

Mistake #1: Assuming Everyone Knows UTC

What people do: "Let's meet at 15:00 UTC."

The problem: Most people don't think in UTC. They have to Google "what time is 15:00 UTC in EST?" which adds friction and leads to errors.

Better approach: Use tools that automatically convert to each participant's local time. When you send a meeting invite, it should say "3pm your time" not "3pm UTC."

Example:

• Bad: "Meeting at 14:00 UTC"
• Good: "Meeting Tuesday at 9am EST / 2pm GMT / 11pm AEDT"
• Best: Use a scheduling tool that shows times in everyone's local timezone automatically

Mistake #2: Forgetting About Daylight Saving Time

The problem: Not all countries observe daylight saving time. Among those that do, they don't all switch on the same date. This creates chaos twice a year.

Real example: In March 2024, the US switched to daylight saving time on March 10th. The UK switched on March 31st. For three weeks, meetings scheduled as "9am EST / 2pm GMT" were suddenly off by an hour.

How to avoid it:

• Use scheduling tools that account for DST automatically
• When scheduling far in advance, use specific times like "9am New York time" rather than "EST" (which becomes EDT during summer)
• Add a calendar reminder to double-check meeting times during DST transition weeks

Mistake #3: Scheduling During Unreasonable Hours

What people do: "The only time that works for me is 5pm EST."

The problem: 5pm EST is 10pm in London and 7am the next day in Sydney. You're forcing someone into an unreasonable time.

Better approach:

• Use the "golden hours" that overlap across time zones (more on this below)
• Rotate meeting times so the inconvenience is shared fairly
• Record meetings for people who genuinely can't attend live

The fairness principle: If you're always scheduling meetings during your own business hours, someone else is always joining at 6am or 9pm. Share the pain.

The "Golden Hours" for Common Time Zone Combinations

Here are the reasonable overlapping hours for common global team combinations:

US East Coast (EST) + Europe (GMT/CET)

• Sweet spot: 8am-11am EST = 1pm-4pm GMT
• Why it works: Morning for US, afternoon for Europe. Both are within normal business hours.

US West Coast (PST) + Europe (GMT/CET)

• Sweet spot: 8am-9am PST = 4pm-5pm GMT
• Reality: Very narrow window. Consider async communication or recorded meetings.

US (EST/PST) + Asia (IST/SGT/AEDT)

• Sweet spot: Basically none
• Reality: Someone is always on an early morning or late evening call. Rotate meeting times:
  • Week 1: 8am EST = 6:30pm IST (US-friendly)
  • Week 2: 8pm EST = 6:30am IST next day (Asia-friendly)

Europe (GMT) + Asia (IST/SGT)

• Sweet spot: 1pm-3pm GMT = 6:30pm-8:30pm IST / 9pm-11pm SGT
• Why it works: Afternoon for Europe, evening for Asia. Not perfect but manageable.

APAC (Australia + Asia)

• Sweet spot: 9am-11am AEDT = 5:30am-7:30am IST (rough but doable)
• Better option: 3pm AEDT = 9:30am IST

Practical Tips That Actually Work

1. Always Include a World Clock Reference

When proposing a meeting time, include conversions:

Good email template:

"How about Tuesday, Jan 15th at:

• 9am EST (New York)
• 2pm GMT (London)
• 11pm AEDT (Sydney)

Link to add to calendar: [calendar link]"

This eliminates back-and-forth.

2. Use "Time Zone Shorthand" in Calendar Events

Add this to every meeting title:

"Weekly Standup (9am EST / 2pm GMT)"

This way, when people glance at their calendar, they immediately know it's timezone-adjusted.

3. Let Scheduling Tools Do the Math

Stop manually converting time zones. Use tools that:

• Show availability in each participant's local time
• Automatically adjust for daylight saving changes
• Send calendar invites with correct timezone info embedded

Example workflow:

1. Share your booking link
2. The other person sees available times in THEIR timezone
3. They click a slot
4. Calendar invite goes out with correct timezone for both parties
5. Zero manual conversion

4. Create a Team "Time Zone Cheat Sheet"

For recurring meetings with the same team, create a reference doc:

Location	Team Member	Timezone	9am EST is...
New York	Sarah	EST	9am
London	James	GMT	2pm
Bangalore	Priya	IST	7:30pm
Sydney	Alex	AEDT	1am next day

Pin it in Slack or your team wiki. Everyone references the same source of truth.

5. Default to Async When Possible

Not everything needs a meeting. For updates, decisions, or brainstorming:

• Use Loom videos (watch on their own time)
• Collaborative docs with comments
• Slack threads with clear questions

Reserve synchronous meetings for discussions that truly need real-time interaction.

Tools That Actually Help

Here's what works (based on real usage, not sponsorships):

For Quick Conversions

• World Time Buddy (worldtimebuddy.com): Visual timezone comparison. Free.
• Every Time Zone (everytimezone.com): See all timezones at once. Great for finding overlap.

For Scheduling

• MeetLink: Shows mutual availability across calendars + auto timezone conversion. (Disclosure: that's us, but we built it because we had this exact problem.)
• Calendly: Automatically converts your availability to visitor's timezone.
• Cal.com: Open source alternative with timezone support.

For Team Coordination

• World Clock Meeting Planner (timeanddate.com): Find best time across multiple zones.
• Timezone.io (Slack integration): See teammate timezones in Slack sidebar.

Advanced: The "Rotating Schedule" Strategy

For teams spread across incompatible time zones (e.g., US + India + Australia), use rotating meeting times:

Example: Monthly All-Hands

• Week 1: 9am EST (good for US/Europe, late for Asia)
• Week 2: 9pm EST (good for Asia, morning for Australia, rough for US)
• Week 3: Recorded presentation + async Q&A

This distributes the inconvenience fairly and ensures everyone can attend live sometimes.

The "No Really, What Time Is That?" Checklist

Before scheduling any cross-timezone meeting, ask:

• Did I include time in at least 2 timezones in my message?
• Did I account for daylight saving time differences?
• Is this during business hours (8am-6pm) for at least 75% of attendees?
• Did I include a calendar link with timezone auto-detection?
• If someone is joining at an odd hour, did I acknowledge it and offer to record?

Real-World Example: How We Do It

Our team is distributed across:

• New York (EST)
• London (GMT)
• Remote workers in PST and IST

Here's our actual system:

1. Weekly team meeting: 9am EST (good for US/Europe, recorded for Asia teammates)
2. APAC sync: Rotating time - alternate between 8pm EST and 8am EST
3. 1-on-1s: We send MeetLink booking pages that auto-convert to each person's timezone
4. Async updates: We use Notion for project updates and Loom for demos

Result:

• 90% fewer "wait, what time was that?" messages
• Zero missed meetings due to timezone confusion in the last 6 months
• Shared inconvenience for odd-hours meetings

The Bottom Line

Scheduling across time zones doesn't have to be painful. The key principles:

1. Automate the conversion - Use tools, don't do math in your head
2. Be explicit - Always include multiple timezone references
3. Be fair - Rotate meeting times so no one is always inconvenienced
4. Default to async - Not everything needs a real-time meeting
5. Use technology - Let scheduling tools handle the complexity

Your global team is your competitive advantage. Don't let time zones turn it into a coordination nightmare.

What's your time zone horror story? We've all got one. Share it with your team and use it as motivation to build better systems.