PithupScheduling a thesis defense can mean coordinating several committee members, an external examiner and a room. Proposing one hour at a time creates repeated email rounds when each person has a different conflict. This guide uses an illustrative committee scheduling scenario.
Check the academic and practical constraints
Before sending candidates, check your department's defense period and submission requirements. Confirm the committee membership, any required attendees, the room or online format, and travel time for external members. Use your department's actual instructions for academic deadlines and attendance rules.
- 1Open suitable candidatesStay within the department's defense period
- 2Send a short requestInclude the reply deadline and link
- 3Check required attendeesUse their availability as a condition
- 4Resolve flexible repliesAsk the relevant people directly
- 5Announce the agreementInclude room and document arrangements
Open enough time without making the grid too fine
A defense needs a continuous period. Choose a suitable date range and a 30-minute or one-hour step, then check that a candidate lasts long enough for the planned session. Include travel and room availability when setting the range rather than assuming they will work afterward.
Keep the request short and specific
Add the agreed location or meeting link when creating the event so committee members see it with the invitation. Do not put confidential thesis materials into a broadly shared scheduling link.
View candidates around essential attendees
If the chair, supervisor or other members must attend, mark the corresponding responses with a star in the participant list. Suggestions can then be viewed around those conditions. If there is no common time, widen the candidates or ask the committee how to proceed rather than assuming that a high count is sufficient.
Follow up on If needed replies
Some candidates may work for everyone only if a member can rearrange a commitment. Pithup can draft a request for those flexible replies. Check with the relevant person directly before treating that candidate as agreed. The draft is not sent automatically.
Confirm the arrangements together
After the committee agrees and the location is available, confirm the schedule using the private owner workspace and send the final date, time, location and document circulation arrangements yourself. A copied announcement or calendar file is a tool for communicating the decision; it does not replace the department's procedures.