Tech special: Apps that can make organising a get-together easier

Remember the last time you decided to organise a gettogether with your friends Chances are that it played out like this mdash you schedule a time and venue and chaos followed Some friends complained neither works for them others agree halfway while some suggested an alternative plan which only adds to the confusion Messages were exchanged but nothing worked outApps such as Meetifyr NeedToMeet and Klutch help one plan and organise a large meetup Pic for representational purpose onlyHere are some apps to help you organise that meetingDOODLE iOS Android WebDoodle simplifies the process of planning a meeting One person from the group has to take charge and select a handful of dates and times for a possible event You name the event select a location and feed in email addresses of invitees and share the Doodle link with them They can then select their preferences which appear in the form of a grid showing red and green checkmarked boxes for all the dates and times people can make it You or any other invitee do not need to create a Doodle account to create an event mdash all you need is your email id to use the app But if you create a Doodle account for the paid premium version you can link it to your calendar Google Outlook iCal Yahoo and so on have the event uploaded automatically and manage multiple events simultaneously The paid version also sends out automatic reminders customises the design of your invite tracks down those who are missing from the event and requests additional information from participants such as their reason for absence You can also set up a lsquoMeet Mersquo calendar which shows when you are free and available to meet up with your private groupsMEETIFYR iOS WebMeetifyr is a breeze to use Run the app click on lsquoCreate an Eventrsquo fill in a few basic details about the type of event you want to arrange where and when you want to meet select options for the dates or simply leave them open The app asks you to add the names of the friends you want to invite and sends them a link using email Twitter or Facebook message When the friends click on the link they see a list of invitees and the datetime range They can click on what suits them best and the lsquoBest Datersquo tool makes it easy to see what works best for maximum number of people It also lets friends communicate and comment on the upcoming event on the app itself eliminating the need for long email trails Meetifyr however does not have a paid version It does not let the organiser add or upload additional details for the event and neither does it work in tandem with your other calendars mdash you have to schedule it all yourself into the main calendar for remindersKLUTCH MEETUP MESSENGER iOSKlutch thankfully is better than other similar apps It does the usual mdash you can create an event select various dates and time invite friends by sending them a link over email Facebook or Twitter They can select what suits them best On registering you can sync the event with your calendar check your availability from the app and get reminders for the eventWhat however sets Klutch apart is that lets it you create different groups within the app and you can select the group you want to send the invite to So you could have a group for your school friends your work buddies and your family mdash and could invite a specific group for the event and even chat with them using the app to finetune details You can schedule different meetups with different groups and multiple meetups with one group It helps you select the venue for the meetup by showing you nearby places restaurants bars and so onNeedToMeet iOS Android WebNeedToMeet lets you schedule the date and time of a meeting and determines what suits the maximum number of invitees The organiser can log in to the app or the webpage with their email id Facebook or Twitter account create an event and send out email invites to attendees If you feel creative you could generate a customdesigned invite and invite all your friends in style The invitees just need to click on the link go to the event page select the time and date that suits them the best The invitees can leave comments about convenient and inconvenient time slots or send out messages on the event board to discuss the details One can schedule a single meetup or even plan a recurrent activity at one go Registration on this app is optional but has its advantages Registered users can sync their calendars with the NeedToMeet calendar and directly upload the final event The lsquoMy Meetingsrsquo page saves the links to all your meetings so you could schedule multiple meetings and get their updates on a single page The response table is posted to your email so you do not need to go back to the app to get updates of your events