How Do You Speed-up setting up a meeting with more than 1 of your contacts?

[juliansdad]

I'm using ACT! Premium v.18 with Windows 10 Pro.  I frequently set up group meetings with 2 - 3 separate contacts.  For example, I will plan a lunch meeting with 2 other separate (but Primary) contacts. Let's call them Mary Smith and Jim Gold.  

I begin by setting up a 12 noon meeting with Mary Smith. After I save that meeting, I set up the same 12 pm meeting with Jim Gold.  I go through this "double entry of the appointment" because I want the appointment to show in both Mary's and Jim's History.   The trade-off for this is that the meeting with each contact shows in my calendar as two separate meetings at the same time.

Is there any way I can streamline my process so that I don't have to enter the same meeting with the two contacts twice but still have that meeting show in each ot their activities beforehand and in each of their histories afterward?

[Roy_Laudenslager]

When you create the activity for the first contact on the schedule with line click on Contacts and you can add other contacts to the activity. Then in the lower left corner there's a check box that allows you to create a separate activity for each contact. Unchecked clearing any one of the activities clears for all, checked each activity must be cleared separately.

[ch1p]

As an alternative if you highlight them in list view and then click the call or meeting button it will create an activity with all selected in it.

[juliansdad]

Hi ch1p,
Thanks for your suggestion. I have well over 1,500 contacts in my ACT! contact list. Are you suggesting that I switch to a list view, highlight the first contact I'm planning an activity with and then scroll to the next contact? I just attempted that, but I'm not sure to add the second person to the list view. When I entered the second contact's name in the contact lookup field, I lost the view of the first contact. Will you please clarify what you man?

[juliansdad]

Roy, your advice worked like a charm and saves me a lot of time.

Thank you!!

[ch1p]

Hi and glad Roy's advice has worked well for you.

My option is effective when meeting 2 or 3 people at the same company -

In Contact view look up company name.

This will then go to List view with matches shown.

Click on those you are meeting with the Control Button also down. This will highlight those you want.

Now click on Call or Meeting Icon and it will put in the names of those you have highlighted.

Again this method is only effective if you can do a lookup first that narrows down the number of contacts to a reasonable number. 

[juliansdad]

The details you just gave me cleared up my confusion.  The "missing piece" is that these steps are effective when the meeting is with people from the same company.  That makes sense now.    The reason I got stuck with that is my meetings are often with 2-3 people, each from a different company.

Thanks ch1p.