How to schedule a meeting across time zones

Finding a meeting time across time zones is mostly arithmetic, plus a few traps that catch even experienced teams. Below is a method that works with nothing more than a calendar, a worked example with real offsets, and the settings in Google Calendar, Outlook and Zoom that make the maths visible.

Step 1: write down cities, not abbreviations

Start with where each person actually is: New York, London, Bengaluru. Avoid abbreviations like EST or IST in your notes. They're ambiguous (IST can mean India, Ireland or Israel) and they hide daylight saving: New York is on EST in winter and EDT in summer, and people mix the two up all the time. A city carries its own rules, so a calendar or clock app can always work out the right offset for a given date.

Step 2: mark each person's working window

For each city, note the hours that are reasonable for a call. Usually that's 9:00–17:30 local time, though some people are happy to start at 8:00 or take a call at 19:00. Ask rather than assume, especially for the people furthest from the organiser.

Step 3: convert to one reference and find the overlap

Pick one time zone (yours, or UTC) and convert every window into it. The overlap is the set of hours inside everyone's window. With two cities a few hours apart there's usually plenty. With three or more cities spread around the globe there often isn't, and you have to choose who stretches.

Worked example: New York, London and Bengaluru

Take Tuesday, 17 November 2026. On that date New York is on standard time (UTC−5), London is on GMT (UTC+0) and Bengaluru is on India Standard Time (UTC+5:30, no daylight saving).

With a 9:00–17:30 day everywhere, there's no hour that suits all three. When New York starts at 9:00, it's already 19:30 in Bengaluru. Your options:

• Stretch both edges a little. 8:00 in New York is 13:00 in London and 18:30 in Bengaluru. One side starts early, the other stays late, nobody is up at midnight.
• Split the meeting. London overlaps comfortably with both: with Bengaluru in the London morning (9:00 London is 14:30 in Bengaluru), with New York in the London afternoon (14:00 London is 9:00 in New York).
• Rotate the pain. For a recurring call, alternate between a slot that suits Asia and one that suits the Americas, so the same people aren't always taking calls at night.

Step 4: check daylight saving for the exact date

This is where most cross-time-zone mistakes come from.

• The US and Europe change on different dates. In 2026 the UK moved its clocks back on 25 October and the US on 1 November. For that week New York was only four hours behind London instead of the usual five. In spring 2027 it happens again: the US moves forward on 14 March, the UK on 28 March.
• Some places never change. India, for example, keeps UTC+5:30 all year. So the gap between New York and Bengaluru is 10½ hours in the northern winter and 9½ hours in the northern summer. A recurring meeting that was fine in July can land an hour later for your Indian colleagues in November.
• The southern hemisphere goes the other way. Sydney moves its clocks forward in early October and back in early April, around the same weeks Europe and North America do the opposite. In 2026, Sydney went forward on 4 October and London went back on 25 October, so the London–Sydney gap grew from 9 to 11 hours within three weeks.
• Half-hour and 45-minute offsets exist. India (+5:30), Newfoundland (−3:30), Nepal (+5:45) and parts of Australia don't sit on whole hours. Rounding them is a classic way to miss a call by 30 minutes.

If a recurring meeting crosses a change date, look at it again the week after. Calendar apps keep a recurring event anchored to the organiser's time zone, so it can move by an hour for guests whose clocks change on a different date, or not at all.

Step 5: send an invite, not a time in text

“3 pm EST” in a chat message is the start of most mix-ups. A calendar invite carries the time zone with it, and every guest sees the meeting in their own local time. If you must write a time down, write it for each city: “Tue 17 Nov: 8:00 New York / 13:00 London / 18:30 Bengaluru”.

Show more than one time zone in your calendar

Google Calendar

On a computer, open Settings (the gear) → Settings → General → Time zone, tick Show additional time zones and choose a secondary time zone. It then appears as a second column of hours next to your own. In the same settings, World clock → Show world clock adds small clocks for other cities to the side of the calendar. When you create an event, click Time zone next to the time to set it in another zone. The Find a time tab in the event editor shows your guests' busy times, if their calendars are shared with you.

Outlook

In new Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web, go to Settings → Calendar → View → Time zones. There you can add more time zones, give each a label and choose to show it in the calendar.

In classic Outlook for Windows, go to File → Options → Calendar → Time zones and tick Show a second time zone (and, in recent versions, Show a third time zone). The Scheduling Assistant in a meeting invite shows attendees' free and busy times.

Zoom

When you schedule a meeting in Zoom, set the Time zone field to the zone you're thinking in, then add the meeting to your calendar or send the calendar invite. Guests will see it in their own local time.

Doing it faster with a world clock you can drag

Calendars are good at storing a meeting, less good at exploring times. That's what Timeslide is for, a world clock we make. Add the cities of everyone involved, then drag any city's card sideways: one shared time moves across all of them in 15-minute steps, with dates rolling over where midnight passes. You see at once that 8:00 in New York is 18:30 in Bengaluru, and that the day has already changed in Sydney. Timeslide uses each city's real time zone rules, so daylight saving dates are taken care of.

Timeslide Pro on iPhone and Android adds Best time to meet. It looks through the next seven days for the first stretch of weekday working hours when every city on your list is at work. If there isn't one, it finds the stretch that suits the most cities. Tap it and the slider jumps there. You choose when the working day starts, from 7:00 to 11:00.

Timeslide is free for up to three cities, with no ads and no account.

FAQ

What is the best time for a meeting across US, Europe and India?

There's rarely a slot inside everyone's 9-to-5. The usual compromise is early morning in the US Eastern time zone, which is early afternoon in the UK and evening in India: 8:00 in New York is 13:00 in London and 18:30 in Bengaluru in the northern winter. For recurring meetings, consider alternating slots.

How do I find common meeting times across time zones?

Write down each person's city and working hours, convert all of them into one time zone, and look for the hours that fall inside every window. A world clock with a time slider, or a secondary time zone column in your calendar, makes the overlap easy to see.

Should I write EST or ET in meeting invites?

Neither, ideally. Send a calendar invite, which converts the time for each guest automatically. If you write it in text, name a city (“9:00 New York time”) or use ET, which covers both EST and EDT. Writing EST in summer is technically an hour off.

Does Google Calendar adjust meetings for daylight saving time?

Yes. Events are stored with a time zone, and Google Calendar shows them at the correct local time for each guest, including after clock changes. A recurring event stays fixed to the organiser's time zone, so it can move by an hour for guests whose region changes clocks on a different date.

How do I show two time zones in Outlook?

In new Outlook and Outlook on the web: Settings → Calendar → View → Time zones, then add a time zone. In classic Outlook: File → Options → Calendar → Time zones → Show a second time zone.