Planning meetings from Outlook
Plan meetings in Outlook and decide where to meet from the calendar: how our Outlook add-in ranks locations, installs from AppSource and handles privacy.
By Convien teamPublished 6 min read
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You can decide where a meeting should take place without leaving Outlook. With our Outlook add-in, you add the required attendees to the meeting request as usual, open the add-in, and it ranks the best locations by travel cost, CO2 or travel time; one click on "Choose location" writes the address into the appointment. The add-in is free to install from Microsoft AppSource, and calculations use credits like any other Convien calculation.
This article explains why the calendar is a good place to answer the location question, how the add-in works step by step, how it is installed and rolled out by IT, and what data it needs.
Why plan the meeting location in Outlook
For many meetings, the location is decided in the moment the invitation is written. Someone opens a new appointment, adds the attendees and types a city into the location field, usually the headquarters, their own office or wherever the last meeting took place. Once the invitation is out, people start booking trains, flights and hotels, and the location is effectively fixed.
That is exactly the moment when a better answer is still free to use. Before the invitation goes out, changing the city costs nothing. A week later, it means rebooked tickets and annoyed colleagues. Planning meetings in Outlook moves the location decision to where it is actually made, instead of to a separate tool that someone remembers to open later.
It also makes good location decisions routine rather than reserved for large events. Team meetings, project kick-offs and regional workshops with attendees from several sites rarely get a proper analysis, yet across a year they add up to a lot of trips. If the answer is one click away in the meeting request, more of those meetings land in a sensible place.
How the Outlook add-in works
The add-in sits beside the meeting request and follows the way you already plan:
Create the appointment. Add your required attendees in Outlook as usual. Optional attendees are not taken into account, so the result reflects the people who actually need to travel.
Find the best location. Open the add-in. It ranks the best locations for where your attendees start, by cost, CO2 or travel time. The best format for departure locations is "city, country", and the add-in needs at least two of them.
Choose location. Click a result to see its details. With "Choose location", the address is written into the appointment, and the invitation goes out with a location that was calculated rather than assumed.
The ranking rests on the same basis as the full Meeting Place Finder: real flight schedules and fares from global booking systems, rail, bus and car via routing services, door-to-door travel time and CO2 calculated with atmosfair data according to the VDR standard.
Which criterion should lead depends on the meeting. For a one-day workshop, travel time is often what matters most, because hours on the road are hours not worked. For a recurring meeting with a fixed budget, cost may come first. If your company reports emissions, CO2 shows you which city keeps the meeting's footprint smallest. The best locations often score well on more than one, and seeing them side by side helps you weigh the difference.
Installing the add-in from Microsoft AppSource
The add-in is free to install from Microsoft AppSource (opens in a new tab). There are two ways to get it to the people who plan meetings:
Install it yourself. If your Outlook allows add-ins from AppSource, you can add it to your own mailbox directly.
Have IT roll it out. Your IT assigns the add-in to users or groups in Microsoft Azure. That is the usual route in larger companies: the travel or meetings team asks IT, IT assigns the add-in to the relevant group, and it appears in Outlook for everyone in it.
For a pilot, a single group works well: the travel management team, an events team or the assistants who organise most internal meetings. Once the group is used to it, IT can extend the assignment.
Privacy: origins, not names
A good location needs to know where people start, not who they are. Our calculations work with departure locations: a city, a postcode or an airport, and how many people travel from each. Names are not needed to find the best place to meet.
It is how every Convien calculation works. It keeps the analysis focused on what matters for the decision and keeps personal data out of it. If your data protection or IT security team wants to look at the add-in in detail before rollout, we are happy to answer their questions at support@convien.com.
When to use the add-in and when the full Meeting Place Finder
The add-in is built for the meetings you plan from your calendar. For larger events, such as a sales kick-off, a conference or an incentive with hundreds of attendees, the Meeting Place Finder gives you the full set of tools in one place:
comparing up to three dates
analysing a preferred location you already have in mind, included at no extra cost, and comparing it with the optimal place
three views: maximum productivity, minimum CO2 and lowest ticket cost
the travel details for every origin, so you can balance journeys fairly
the details of each city: travel cost, CO2, travel time and cost of labor, with a map
a savings report with the travel cost and CO2 saved against your benchmark location, and CO2 figures per meeting for your Scope 3 reporting, exported as PDF or CSV
Both work on the same calculation basis, so a small team meeting planned in Outlook and a large event planned in the Meeting Place Finder follow the same logic.
What it costs
Installing the add-in is free. Each calculation has one price, per participant in bands like tax brackets: from participant 101, every additional participant costs less, and there is no base fee. Our sales team sends you the price for your meetings. The credits page explains how pricing works. If your team plans several meetings a year, calculations are cheaper in a subscription; talk to us about the right plan.
A rollout checklist
Decide which group should plan with the add-in first
Ask IT to assign the add-in to that group in Microsoft Azure, or install it yourself for a test
Agree on how departure locations are entered: "city, country" works best
Make sure the people who need to travel are added as required attendees
Run a few real meetings and compare the result with where the meeting would otherwise have been held
Extend the assignment once the first group is comfortable
The add-in is one of several ways to use Convien where you already work. We also offer white label and, on request, an API, and AI connectors that let you ask assistants such as Claude or ChatGPT where to meet are in pilot; see AI connectors.
FAQ
What does the Outlook add-in cost?
Installing it from Microsoft AppSource is free. Calculations made in the add-in use credits like any other calculation.
Who can install the add-in?
You can install it yourself, or your IT assigns it to users or groups in Microsoft Azure.
Are optional attendees included in the calculation?
No. Only required attendees are taken into account, so the result reflects the people who actually travel.
How should I enter locations?
The best format is "city, country". The add-in needs at least two departure locations.
Where do I get help?
Write to support@convien.com. More on the add-in is on the Outlook add-in page.
Try it in your calendar
If you would like to see the add-in with your own meetings, book a demo and we will show you how it works and how your IT rolls it out. Or request a free trial and try a first calculation.
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