Booking a chat in 3 steps

Every coffee chat starts as a request. You choose a time that suits you both, tell the shepherd what you'd like to talk about, and they accept or decline (some shepherds confirm straight away). It takes about two minutes.

Each shepherd chooses how long their chats are (20, 30 or 45 minutes): you see it as Duration on their profile and while you book, and your chat is booked at that length.

Before you start

Find a shepherd on Coffee Chats and press Book chat ☕ on their card. You can also open their profile and press Book a coffee chat ☕, or use the link to their booking page if they've shared one with you.

• Each request uses 1 KoffeePoint and counts towards your plan's coffee chats: 2 in total on Free, 4 a month on Plus and 8 a month on Pro. How many chats you can book
• You can have one open request with each shepherd at a time. If you already have one, the booking window shows it instead of the calendar.

Step 1: Pick a day and a time

1. 1Step 1: Choose a day on the calendar. You can pick any day that has free times.
2. 2Step 2: Choose a time. Times are shown in your time zone; if that's wrong, change it in Time zone under the calendar.
3. 3Step 3: Press Continue.

Step 2: Say what you'd like to discuss

1. 1Step 1: Under Select main topic, choose the topic that fits best. If nothing fits, choose Other.
2. 2Step 2: Under Your top questions for the session, write what you'd like to get out of the chat. Until there's enough for the shepherd to prepare, the button tells you how many more characters to add.
3. 3Step 3: Press Continue.

Specific questions get better chats. "How did you move from audit into product?" gives a shepherd more to work with than "Tell me about your job". Writing a request shepherds say yes to

Step 3: Share some context

Tick anything you'd like the shepherd to see before you meet: your CV, Growth Plan, Career Ladder or LinkedIn. It's optional, but it helps them prepare. If something isn't added yet, you can add it and come straight back to your booking.

Booking without an account? You create your free account at this step, and nothing is sent until you press the button. Booking from a shepherd's page

When you're ready, press Request coffee chat.

After you send

• We email you a confirmation and let the shepherd know.
• Your request appears under Your coffee chats on Coffee Chats as Requested until the shepherd answers.
• If the shepherd has Instant confirmation, it's confirmed straight away: you'll see You're booked in, and the email has the meeting details and a calendar invite.
• When they accept, we email you again with a calendar invite and the meeting details. If they decline, we let you know, and the request doesn't count towards your plan's coffee chats.

Booking from a shepherd's invite

When a shepherd invites you for a coffee, press Book a time on the invite in the bell or in the invite email. If you're signed out, sign in first and you'll come straight back to it.

• You see the topic the shepherd chose and their message.
• There are two steps instead of three: pick a time, then choose what to share. You don't write a topic or questions, because the invite's topic is your chat's topic.
• An invite can be booked from for 30 days. After that, or if the invite isn't on your account, you can still book the shepherd the usual way.