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Scheduling International Conf Calls this time of year

When the clocks change for Daylight Saving it is enough trouble to remember ourselves and to reset the clocks around our homes and offices to the new time with the hour offset forward or back.

One more thing to remember though, that we learned from last year, is that the clocks change in different places around the world on different dates for Daylight Saving. Generally, countries that are geographically close often change on the same date but this can vary from country to country and within a country.

For 2016 the main dates to note are:

Sunday 13th March:  Daylight saving (DST) starts in North America and Canada

Sunday 27th March :  Daylight Saving starts in most of Europe

Sunday 30th October:  Daylight Saving ends in most of Europe

Sunday 6th November:  Daylight Saving ends in USA and Canada

The Southern Hemisphere is different as you'd expect from the seasonal reversal:

Sunday 16th October: DST starts in Brazil

Sunday 21st February: DST ends in Brazil

Remember too that some countries (Japan etc.) do not have DST at all which is an issue if you do in yours!

... and some are more complex again - for example Greenland changes on Saturday 26th March for most of the country and back again on the Sunday 30th October unless you are in the region of Ittoqqortoormiit which starts on Sunday 27th March and ends on Sunday 30th October or on Thule Air Base which follows the US dates of 13th March and ending Sunday 6 November!

If you are scheduling conference calls on the telephone or Skype / Skype for Business / Webex / Lync / GotoMeeting / Powwownow etc. then be mindful and careful especially as there is the two week gap between the clocks changing in Europe and USA. 

You can find full details of when the clocks change in different countries at http://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst/2016.html .

Hopefully this blog entry will save you or some of your meeting attendees from missed schedules and maintain your productivity.