The Best Time for a Conference Call

How do you schedule your conference calls? Sometimes scheduling is easy, like when everyone is in the same time zone or only an hour apart. But what about bicoastal or international calls?

If your call just needs to link together offices that span North America, consider 10 or 11 AM PST (1 or 2 PM EST). This makes it a lunchtime call for those on Central Standard Time, but at least everyone can be in the office without worrying about arriving early or running late.

The frequently cited best time for an international conference call is 6 a.m. PST. At this time, the times around the world are:

• Americas - 6 AM Pacific (Seattle, Los Angeles), 8 AM Central (Chicago, Houston) 9 AM Eastern (New York, DC, Miami)
  
• Europe - 2 PM GMT
• South Africa - 3 PM
• Middle East - 4 PM (Riyadh)
• India - 6:30 PM
• Singapore - 9 PM
• Japan - 10 PM
• Australia - 11 PM (Canberra)

Sure, Los Angeles and Canberra get the shortest end of this stick, but at least it's the same day for everyone on the call.

Any other conference scheduling tips and tricks you'd like to share? Feel free to post them in the comments.