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"This post is part of Mashable\u2019s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.  The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.\nName: Doodle\nQuick Pitch: Doodle enables users to establish a \"poll\" (a tabular display of available time slots), invite participants, and enable them to vote transparently and democratically for their preferred meeting times and activities.\nGenius Idea: Scheduling group meetings can be a tedious process, especially if everyone in your group is on a different schedule, lives in a different time zone, or has different daily obligations. Doodle makes scheduling meetings easy, by providing attendees with a way to vote on what time works best and keep updated on the status of the meeting in their existing calendar or e-mail program.\n\nDoodle has been around for a long time and already boasts more than three million unique visitors a month. What makes Doodle stand out against other online scheduling services is its tight integration with existing communications systems. Doodle can be used on Facebook, XING, as an Outlook plug-in, and as an ICS feed (perfect for iCal and Google Calendar users).\u00A0 \nYour participants can also provide comments, which is nice if there is additional information that can't be summed up with \"yes/no/maybe.\" After you create a poll and get feedback from your participants, the poll can be closed and each recipient is informed of the agreed upon meeting time.\nThe standard Doodle service is available for free. With it, you can create an unlimited number of polls with an unlimited number of participants.  However, Doodle also just rolled out Premium Doodle. In addition of offering all of the standard Doodle features, Premium Doodle also lets users use an avatar, customize the theme of their poll, and add additional input fields. Premium Doodle is also an ad-free viewing experience for both the administrator and the participants.\nInvites: Premium Doodle is CHF28.00 a year (about $27 US) or CHF10.00 per quarter (about $9 US), but the company is offering 50 Mashable readers one year of free Premium Doodle. Just use the coupon code 97nz5tx3 when signing up.\nSponsored by Microsoft BizSpark\n\nBizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.\nEntrepreneurs can take advantage of the Azure Services platform for their website hosting and storage needs. Microsoft recently announced the \"new CloudApp()\" contest - use the Azure Services Platform for hosting your .NET or PHP app, and you could be the lucky winner of a USD 5000* (please see website for official rules and guidelines).\u201D"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2009/08/28/doodle/>