How to Schedule a Meeting at Work With Email (Template and Examples)

how to write email to schedule meeting

Writing a formal meeting invitation email should be formatted like a business letter, with no typos and grammatical errors.

The meeting invites message should be short and concise with information on the purpose of the meeting request.

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1. Write clear meeting request email subject line

Subject line for email meeting request should be clear, concise and include information that is relevant to the recipient. The recipient should be able to prioritize the importance of the email without opening it. Include the word, “meeting” or “discussion” in the title.

If you are sending an email invite to someone who is not expecting it, include information that that will convince them to open the email, such as the project name, or a name of a colleague the recipient may know.

Meeting request email subject line templates

• Request for meeting with [Other person’s name] on [Topic]
• Request discussion with [Other person’s company] on [Topic]
• Meeting request on [Day of the week] to discuss on [Topics]
• Meeting today at [Time and place]
• Weekly meeting on [Day of the week]
• Monthly meeting on [Date of the month]
• Virtual meeting on [Topic]
• [Lunch/ Breakfast] meeting with [Personnel]
• [Urgent/ Important] meeting on [Topic]

Meeting request email subject line examples

• Meeting request on Monday to discuss on upcoming sales conference.
• Please let me know if you are free on Tuesday to have a quick discussion.
• Hope we can meet on Wednesday this week to talk about an important issue.
• Weekly Thursday team meeting.
• Friday meeting with the ABC project team.
• Weekend team building exercise.
• Meeting today on Microsoft Teams at 1.00pm.
• Connecting with Mark from ABC company on Thursday, 16th Dec 2022.
• Follow-up meeting on ABC project.
• Lunch meet up with the new hires.
• Urgent meeting for the upcoming ABC project.

2. Start your meeting email with a professional greeting

Start your email with a proper salutation and greet your recipient professionally.

Beginning your email professional with an appropriate salutation will generally lead to better positive response and reply rate.

General professional formal greetings

Generally, “Dear Mr./Ms.” follow by the recipient’s last name is the most appropriate way to greet someone professionally.

• Dear Mr./Ms. [Last Name],
• Hi Mr./Ms. [Last Name],
• Hello Mr./Ms. [Last Name],

Gender neutral greetings

When you are writing to someone with an unfamiliar name or unsure of the gender of the person, you can write both of their first and last name when greeting.

• Dear [First Name] [Last Name]
• Hi [First Name] [Last Name]
• Hello [First Name] [Last Name]

Group greeting

Group greeting will be used when you are sending email to multiple people. You can use the group title, department, team, such as “Management Team”, “Manufacturing Supervisors”, “ABC Project Team”, or a generic term, such as “Team”, “All” to address the group.

• Dear [Department] Team,
• Hi [All/Team],
• Hello [Group Title]

Email greetings without name

If you need to sent an email to a recipient without his or her name. Use the name of the department, team, or company. Otherwise, you can use generic formal greetings.

• Dear [Team/Department/Company Name],
• Dear Sir/Madam,
• Hi,

Email greetings without a name should be your last resort.

Why it is always better to include recipient’s name in the greeting of an email?

Using the name of the person is an effective way to let the person to pay close attention to what you are saying.

As a general rule when sending an email, it’s always better to start an email addressing to the person you are talking to. This can help you make a good right impression.

Furthermore, addressing a person by their name is often associated with a sign of respect.

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3. Introduce yourself

As necessary, you may need to schedule a meeting with someone who does not know you. When you are scheduling a meeting with someone you’ve never met, you may want to introduce yourself to the person in the email.

Include relevant details such as your company, department, or project that you are handling.

These information can help them be assured that the email is authentic and not a spam email.

Introduce yourself in an email

Email introduction should be short and on point. A good introduction should include your name, your job title, and your job responsibility.

The introduction paragraph should be less than 25 words and should be able to give your email recipient an idea of who you are, and what you do.

Email introduction paragraph example

• “My name is John Smith, and I am an accountant in ABC company working in Finance department.”
• “My name is Mary Jane, and I work in the marketing department on the ABC project.”
• “My name is Sally Smith, and I am the new software engineer of ABC company, working on the ABC project.”

4. Explain why you want to set this meeting

A meeting is where two or more people come together virtually, or physically to discuss issues, to improve communication, promote smooth coordination, and help get the job done in a fast and efficient manner.

Simple issues can often be resolved by email or over the phone.

Complex or urgent issues often requires a meeting in order to have effective communications to resolve the issue.

A well conducted meeting can help people feel included, trusted, as well as giving the participant the opportunity to contribute to the success of the common goal.

When talk about the purpose of your meeting, you’ll need to be specific and on point.

• “I would like to set up this meeting to discuss about hiring a new Marketing Manager for our newly setup Marketing department.”
• “I would like to show you the steps you’ll need to take to raise a purchasing order for our new vending machine.”
• “I would like to discuss on the progress of the ABC project that we will be launching next summer.”

5. Sending meeting agenda in the email invite

Meeting agenda gives the person conducting the meeting control over the topics that is required to be discussed in the meeting. In additional, the meeting agenda allow the recipient to have a glimpse on the flow of the upcoming discussion, and prepare for the required information for the meeting.

Meeting agenda helps to set the stage on the expectations and more effective communications.

An agenda sets out the list of items to be discussed at a meeting.

What should be in the meeting agenda?

In a meeting agenda, it should include:

• Purpose of the meeting.
• List of topics to be discussed.
• Set the list of topics to be discussed in order of the flow of the meeting.
• Included the expected length of time for each topics to be discussed. (Optional)

Why is a meeting agenda important?

Meeting agenda is important for effective meetings. An agenda is a meeting program which indicates what will be discussed, and let everyone knows what is going to happen next.

With a meeting agenda, it help to keep the discussion to be within the predetermined topics, which allows a more effective use of time during the meeting.

What does setting a meeting with no agenda mean?

If you do not have an agenda for a meeting, it means you do not have a plan or goal in mind.

Without a meeting agenda, the meeting can go off-topic and become chaotic.

Often, if the meeting is without a clear agenda, this can result in the meeting to get extended, or important issues unresolved.

6. Suggest time and place for a meeting

When possible, give your recipient the options for choosing the time and place for the meeting that can work for both of you.

Simply suggest a few time and place for your meeting so that they can commit to the one which they most preferred.

However, you’ll need to make it clear that you are open to suggestions.

Time and place for one on one meeting example

“I am available to meet at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday next week.

If you like, I can book the Conference Room 1A for face-to-face meeting.

Please let me know when is the best time you want to meet, or if you like to have virtual meeting through Microsoft Teams instead.”

Time and place for group meeting example

“I will be setting our weekly virtual group meeting on Friday at 9 a.m. through Microsoft Teams.

Please let me know if this time and date works for you by this week Thursday by 10.a.m. Thanks.”

7. Politely ask for reply or email confirmation message

Ask for response on the meeting invites if they can attend the meeting can help you make the necessary arrangements. A confirmation on the meeting can improve time management, prevent misunderstanding, saving you both time and money.

Not only getting a confirmation on the meeting give you a better idea of the attendee of the meeting, it also let you better prepare for the meeting to the attending audience.

When asking for reply or email confirmation message, be clear about how can the attendees inform you about their attendance.

Request for confirmation template

• “Please reply with confirmation that [Things you’ve requested].”
• “I would really appreciate if you could confirm that [Request you’ve suggested].”
• “Kindly acknowledge [Meeting you’ve arranged].”

Request for confirmation example

• “I would really appreciate if you could confirm on attending of the meeting and also let me know does the suggested date and place works for you.”
• “Please reply with confirmation that you’ve received and accepted this meeting invite.”
• “Kindly acknowledge to accept the meeting scheduled to discuss on the ABC project.”

PS. You can check this post on how to reply to an meeting invite through email.

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scheduling meeting email (template)

Scheduling a meeting using email is often the most common way of communication at work. A well written meeting invite provides the information required for your attendees to decided if they want to attend the meeting.

Writing a meeting request email at work:

1. Write clear meeting request email subject line.
2. Start your meeting email with a professional greeting. 
3. Introduce yourself.
4. Explain why you want to set this meeting.
5. Sending meeting agenda in the email invite.
6. Suggest a time, date and place for a meeting.
7. Ask for a reply or email confirmation message.

Common recipient of a meeting request at work:

• Boss and managers
• Colleagues and coworkers
• Project teams
• Customers or clients
• New contacts

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Request a meeting Via email (Example)

Here are some examples of how you can schedule a request for meeting using emails.