Time Zone Meeting Planner

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Compare 2 to 5 time zones on one 24-hour strip, set working hours for each city and see the start times that suit the most people. Share the plan as a link or save the meeting to your calendar.

Quick answer: To plan a meeting across time zones, pick the date, add each city, set its working hours and read the best start on the strip. On January 15, 2026, 9:00 AM in New York is 2:00 PM in London and 1:00 AM the next day in Sydney, so no start falls inside 9 AM to 5 PM in all three cities. The planner ranks the closest options and shows who meets outside their working day.

Cities and working hours (the first city sets the day shown)

Selected start

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Best options

    The 24-hour strip

    Each column is 30 minutes of the first city's day. Move the meeting with the options above or the start time box below the strip. The strip is a visual aid: the options above and the table below give the same information as text.

    Meeting time in each city

    Share or save this plan

    Open in Google Calendar

    How the planner picks a time

    Each city's working hours, 9 AM to 5 PM unless you change them, are turned into exact moments with your browser's IANA time zone database, so daylight saving is applied for the date you pick. The planner then tests a meeting at every 30-minute start across the first city's day. A city is inside when the whole meeting fits within its working hours. Options are ranked by how many cities are inside, then by how few are fully outside, then by the total minutes outside, then by how close the outsiders are to their working day.

    How to Use the Time Zone Meeting Planner

    1

    Set the date and meeting length

    Pick the date of the meeting and how long it will run. The date matters because daylight saving moves each city's offset, and the strip is built from the exact clock times on that date.

    2

    Add your cities and working hours

    Choose 2 to 5 cities. The first city sets the day shown on the strip. Set when each city's working day starts and ends; 9 AM to 5 PM is the default.

    3

    Read the best options and the strip

    The options list ranks start times by how many cities are inside working hours. On the strip, a tick means that 30 minutes falls inside a city's day. Use an option, or the start time box, to move the meeting.

    4

    Share the plan or save it to your calendar

    Copy the link to send the same plan, download the .ics file or open Google Calendar to add the meeting, or copy the invite text with each city's local time.

    How do I pick a time for New York, London and Sydney?

    On January 15, 2026 no one-hour start sits inside 9 AM to 5 PM in all three cities. The best compromise is 11:00 AM in New York, which is 4:00 PM in London and 3:00 AM in Sydney. Alternate it with an evening start in New York that suits Sydney, so the same city is not always outside its day.

    The reason is the shape of the day. That day, New York and London share the hours from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM London time. Sydney's working day falls between 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM UTC, so it never touches that window. When two groups of working hours never meet, the planner shows the options with the fewest people outside and how far outside they are.

    Two options for a one-hour call on January 15, 2026 (our arithmetic from the IANA time zone database)
    OptionNew YorkLondonSydney
    New York morning11:00 AM4:00 PM3:00 AM, January 16
    New York evening5:00 PM10:00 PM9:00 AM, January 16

    The morning option keeps two cities inside their day and puts Sydney 6 hours before its working day starts. The evening option puts Sydney inside its day and London 5 hours after its day ends, which is why a recurring call works best when the options take turns.

    How many working hours do two cities share?

    It depends on the pair and the month. New York and London share 3 hours of 9 AM to 5 PM on both dates, London and Sydney share none, and Sydney and Tokyo share 6 to 7. The table gives twelve pairs for January 15 and July 15, 2026.

    Hours when both cities are inside 9 AM to 5 PM, January 15 and July 15, 2026 (our arithmetic from the IANA time zone database)
    City pairJanuary 15July 15
    New York and Los Angeles5 hours5 hours
    New York and London3 hours3 hours
    London and Dubai4 hours5 hours
    London and India2.5 hours3.5 hours
    Sydney and Tokyo6 hours7 hours
    Los Angeles and Sydney3 hours1 hour
    Los Angeles and LondonNoneNone
    London and SydneyNoneNone
    New York and SydneyNoneNone
    New York and TokyoNoneNone
    New York and IndiaNoneNone
    London and TokyoNoneNone

    The overlap moves because only some countries change their clocks. London and Dubai gain an hour in July because London is on summer time and Dubai does not change its clocks. Los Angeles and Sydney lose two hours because their summers fall in opposite halves of the year, which pushes the two working days apart. Two cities with no shared hours always mean one side meets early or late.

    How do I rotate a recurring meeting fairly?

    Alternate between two start times so each city takes the awkward slot in turn, and tell everyone the rotation up front. A fixed time that is always late for one office feels like a decision about whose day matters.

    London and Sydney show how it works. On January 15, 2026, 8:00 AM in London is 7:00 PM in Sydney, which is an evening call for Sydney. The other way round, 8:00 AM in Sydney is 9:00 PM the evening before in London. The two cities share no working hours, so swapping which one stretches its day every other week splits the cost evenly (our arithmetic).

    Pick the option in the planner that suits the group that cannot move, then change the date to the next occurrence. The strip shows whether a clock change has moved the overlap.

    What does the planner not know?

    It does not know weekends, public holidays, lunch breaks or who is on leave, so check those before you send the invite. It assumes one working day per city with the same start and end, and it looks at 30-minute starts within the first city's day.

    Clock changes are handled through your browser's time zone data. If a city changes its clocks on the day you pick, or its gap to the first city differs from its usual January and July gap, a yellow note says so. For just two cities, the Time Zone Converter adds a clock-change week list for New York and London. If you are flying to the meeting, the Flight Arrival Time Calculator gives your local arrival time.

    ⚠️ Disclaimer This planner uses your browser's built-in IANA time zone database. It shows working hours as you enter them and does not know public holidays, weekends or leave. Confirm the time with the people invited. A future clock change that a government has announced but your browser has not yet received will not appear until its data updates.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    It shows the same moment in several cities at once and marks the hours each person is at work. This one compares 2 to 5 cities, lists the start times that suit the most people and gives you a link, a calendar file and invite text for the one you pick.
    You can build one in a spreadsheet by adding each city's UTC offset to a start time. The weak point is daylight saving, because cities change their clocks on different dates. This planner reads your browser's time zone database, so it needs no spreadsheet, formulas or download.
    You do not need to install anything. The planner runs in your browser on a phone or a computer, needs no sign-up and keeps the cities and hours you enter in your browser. A shared link carries them in its web address, which our web host receives when someone opens it.
    Add three cities, set each one's working hours and pick the date. The top option is the start where the most cities are inside working hours. If no start suits all three, read which city is outside and how far from its working day.
    Choose one reference city as the first row, pick a date and decide whose time cannot move. Put the time in the invite in that city's local time and as UTC, and let each person's calendar convert it.
    Subtract the two UTC offsets on the meeting date, not today's date. New York is UTC-5 and London is UTC+0 on January 15, so the gap is 5 hours. The planner adds a note when a city's gap to the first city is not its usual January or July gap.
    It depends on the pair. Sydney and Los Angeles share 3 hours of 9 AM to 5 PM in January and 1 hour in July, while Sydney shares none with London or New York in either month. For those pairs one side meets early or late, so rotate who stretches. Enter your own cities and date to rank the options.
    Use up to five cities, one for each region on the call, and set realistic working hours for each. A global team rarely gets everyone inside their day, so rotate the early and late slots between regions.
    Press Copy link. The link stores the cities, date, length, working hours and chosen start in the web address, so whoever opens it sees the same plan and strip. You can also copy the invite text, which lists each city's local time.
    Yes. Download the .ics file to add the meeting to Outlook, Apple Calendar or Google Calendar with the right start and end in UTC, or open the Google Calendar link, which fills in the title and time. Add the people you are inviting in your calendar.
    From 2 to 5 cities. The first city sets the day shown on the strip, and each city has its own working hours.

    Sources & Methodology

    Time zone offsets and daylight saving rules come from the IANA time zone database built into your browser. The tables and examples above are our arithmetic from that database for the dates shown. Calendar files follow the iCalendar format (RFC 5545), with times written in UTC. For reference, the sources behind this page: