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Presdo Simplifies Scheduling Get-Togethers
Posted by Gina Trapani at 1:30 AM on April 29, 2008
Next time you agree to meet someone for coffee or lunch "sometime soon" head over to collaborative scheduling webapp Presdo. In Presdo's single entry box enter the event, your cohorts' names, and a time (vague times like "afternoon" or "next week" work too)—like "Powwow with Adam, Kevin, and Tamar next week". Presdo will create an event where you can enter a description, pick a location and shoot off an invitation email to whomever is joining you. You can suggest times and dates, and your invitees can choose which ones work for them. Check out Presdo's two main screens in action.
Like Google, Presdo's homepage also boasts only a single entry box. Enter your event title, invitee list, and time description in natural language and press the "Do" button.
Then, enter a description, pick a location, and enter your invitees' email addresses to get them in on choosing the best time.
Kind of like a supercharged When Is Good or Doodle, Presdo has a few killer features those do not: like calendar export to Outlook, iCal, Google or Yahoo Calendar, Google Maps integration, and messaging right on the event to discuss details.
Have you used a collaborative scheduling webapp to plan a meeting or get together, or do you just stick to trusty old email for the task? Let us know in the comments.
Tags: calendars | collaboration tools | event scheduling | meetings | top
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
GA TechWriter
Posted 2:20 AM 29/4/08
Nice! I've been using Doodle but the integration with Google Calendar makes this one step up - even better, it works well from my mobile phone including updating my calendar.
GA TechWriter
NuDigi
Posted 3:25 AM 29/4/08
Honestly, I don't see the point. You can do the same thing with Google Calendar, can't you?
I tried it for a meeting plan, but after trying it, I think maybe it was better to just use the Google Calendar feature. It works the same way. Also, there's no integration with Google Apps calendar.
NuDigi
TechTalk WRLR 98.3FM
Posted 3:04 AM 29/4/08
Been using TimeBridge for a while now with no complaints. Dead easy to use and people like the ability to choose one date as their 'best' time. It integrates with outlook very tightly, not sure about gcal, but another plus is you don't need to sign up for anything if you're an invitee.
[shameless plug] Been a coolsite of the week and frequent mention on my radio show too! [techtalk.wrlr.fm] [/plug]
TechTalk WRLR 98.3FM
acatzr800
Posted 5:07 AM 29/4/08
Waaaay too much glossy button effect- almost to the point where you can't read the labels...
acatzr800
GA TechWriter
Posted 5:24 AM 29/4/08
@NuDigi: Yes, but Google Calendar still requires an invitee to sign up - during my test of Presdo it didn't require an invitee to do anything other than reply and/or leave a comment. Also, you said there's no integration with Google Apps calendar - are you sure? I was able to add a created event to my GCal.
GA TechWriter
Shiznit
Posted 6:15 AM 29/4/08
User danman3459 once recommended when2meet for scheduling. It's remained my favorite, as it gives everyone a say in what time to meet, instead of one person picking what the possible options are. It doesn't automate sending invites, but that's kind of a non-issue as other sites need you to enter your cohort's e-mails anyways.
Shiznit
JohnD65
Posted 7:25 AM 29/4/08
@acatzr800: Too glossy? That's the first time I've heard that about something with such as simple interface. Here's an easy way to remove the glossy effects: disable stylesheets. If you prefer Web 1.0, you can still try it out by downloading Netscape 3.0.
@GA Techwriter: Yeah I've used doodle too, but this seems just easier to use. Doodle is nice and simple, but jeez, they could do something about the 20 input boxes you get blasted with when you try to create an action.
JohnD65
NuDigi
Posted 12:40 PM 29/4/08
@GA TechWriter: When I say "Google Apps", I meant the one for domains. It integrated with the GCal that's part of my Google Profile and not my domain one.
Alright, so that sounds like a good app to use so that others don't need to sign up for it.
NuDigi
Eschguy
Posted 1:31 PM 29/4/08
I'll stick with regular 'ol Google Calendar.
Eschguy
ericly
Posted 7:29 AM 29/4/08
As the creator behind Presdo, I found it interesting to read the comments about Presdo here.
I'd like respond to one of the comments made about Presdo vs Google Calendar, and why there's a place for Presdo WITH Google Calendar.
One of the big differences is that Presdo lets organizers give multiple or even ambiguous times ("next week") to guests. It then lets all of the event's participants refine the time to a specific best time. If none of the suggested times is good, guests can also give one or more times . Presdo then "rolls up" these inputs and shows the organizer the best time(s) for all guests.
With Google Calendar, I believe that organizers can only propose a fixed date and time, and guests can either say yes or no to it. It's a simpler model, yes, but in my own experience (even without Presdo), it was actually more effective to schedule by suggesting multiple times to people so they can pick which time will work for them. This is what Presdo tries to mimic, and hopefully, it's a good model to work from.
ericly
callingshotgun
Posted 12:33 PM 30/4/08
As a developer and lifehacker reader, the first two questions that came to mind were "Does it have an API?" and "Can I wire it up to Launchy with some cURL action?"
So far, seems to be a "no" on both.
It looks awesome, but I don't really need a meeting reminder service. I just wish Remember The Milk had a natural language interpreter as extensive as presdo's.
callingshotgun
bjnortier
Posted 6:35 PM 1/5/08
I like the graphic design :) I did something similar to Doodle if you wanna have a look
[www.dayfindr.com]
bjnortier