Time Zones
How to Schedule Meetings Across Time Zones
Scheduling international meetings without confusing everyone — or accidentally booking a 6am call — requires a few simple strategies. Here is what actually works.
The golden rule: always specify the time zone
More international meeting confusion is caused by unspecified time zones than anything else. "Let's meet at 3pm" in an email is ambiguous. 3pm where? Does the recipient know which time zone you are in? Always write the time zone explicitly — "3pm GMT", "3pm ET", or "15:00 UTC". Better still, use calendar invitations which convert automatically.
Finding the overlap — common time zone pairs
These are approximate — always verify with a live converter as DST affects these windows seasonally.
Practical tips that actually help
Use UTC for global teams. UTC never changes with DST. "14:00 UTC every Tuesday" means the same time year-round, unlike "2pm GMT" which shifts to BST in summer.
Rotate meeting times. If the same people always get the inconvenient slot, alternate the meeting time between options that suit different regions. This distributes the burden fairly over time.
Record everything. For very spread-out teams, asynchronous communication (recorded videos, written updates) is often more respectful of everyone's time than finding one slot that works for eight time zones.
See the current time in every city at once
Add the cities you need, see live times side by side, find the overlap.
Open World Clock →Frequently asked questions
What is the best time for a meeting between the UK and US?
For the UK and US East Coast (New York), 2pm–5pm London time is the sweet spot — that is 9am–12pm New York time. For London and West Coast (Los Angeles), 5pm–7pm London gives 9am–11am LA time, though this is tight for UK participants. For three-way meetings including both coasts, 3pm London (10am New York, 7am Los Angeles) is usually the least bad option.
How do I avoid scheduling a meeting at the wrong time due to daylight saving?
Always use a time zone converter rather than calculating manually, and always share meeting times in a format that includes the time zone explicitly (e.g. '3pm GMT' or '3pm ET'). Calendar apps like Google Calendar and Outlook automatically convert times to each participant's local time zone — use them rather than emailing times without a time zone label.
What does 'rotating meeting times' mean?
When teams span very different time zones, a fixed meeting time inevitably inconveniences the same people every week. Rotating means alternating the meeting time between slots that work better for different regions — one week at 9am UTC (good for Europe, inconvenient for US), the next week at 3pm UTC (good for US East Coast, late for Europe). This distributes the inconvenience fairly.
How do I write a meeting invitation that shows the right time for everyone?
Send calendar invitations (Google Calendar, Outlook) rather than emails with times in them. Calendar apps automatically convert the meeting time to each recipient's local time zone. If you must write a time in an email, include the time zone explicitly: '10am EST (3pm GMT, 11pm SGT)' removes any ambiguity.
What is UTC and why is it used for international meetings?
UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) is the world's time standard — a fixed reference that does not change with daylight saving time. Using UTC to communicate meeting times removes the ambiguity of whether a timezone is currently on standard or daylight saving time. For example, '14:00 UTC' is unambiguous year-round, while '2pm GMT' technically only means GMT in winter when the UK is not on BST.
Is there a tool that finds the best meeting time across time zones?
A time zone converter lets you see the current time in multiple cities simultaneously and compare them. For finding mutual availability, tools like World Time Buddy, Calendly, and When2meet are specifically designed to find overlap between people in different time zones. A world clock that shows multiple cities at once is the simplest starting point.