Smart city consultants: booking expert office hours online

Offer regular office hours that local authority officers, utilities and partners book online: short expert slots on a set day each week where they can test an idea, ask about a technology or check a tender approach before committing. Keep a separate discovery call for new projects, say in each description what the slot covers and what to send first, and turn the conversations that need more into scoped work. Officers get quick access to expertise without a procurement process, and you meet the people who shape future projects.

Public sector staff may need a quick expert view before they can justify a larger study: is this sensor network realistic, how have other cities handled data sharing, what should a tender ask for. A fixed weekly window makes you easy to reach and keeps those conversations from scattering across your week. On Book, each service has a name, a price and an optional description shown on your public page, and each slot belongs to one service, sits within one day and has its own capacity.

Durations and prices are examples: set your own. Say in each description what is free and what becomes paid work.

Choose one half-day a week, such as Thursday afternoon, and open short slots in it. Slots repeat each week on the weekdays you choose until an end date. When a slot is booked, it leaves your page. If you're on site or travelling for a project, end the series earlier and say in the description when office hours resume.

The booking form takes first name, last name, email and phone, plus an optional note that reaches you in the new booking email and appears in the booker's calendar file. Ask in the description for:

Since the note appears in the calendar file, ask bookers not to include confidential tender details there.

Public bodies have rules about how they engage consultants. Say in the description that office hours are informal advice, and that any larger piece of work follows their usual procurement. If you might bid on a tender later, be clear about what you can and can't advise on, so nobody's position is compromised.

Sometimes an elected official or a whole project team wants to join. The booking is in one name, so ask the booker to forward the calendar invitation from the confirmation to colleagues, and say in the description how many people a slot suits. For a larger group, offer a longer advisory session instead of squeezing everyone into thirty minutes.

Add the link to your newsletter, conference talks, your email signature and the profile pages of networks of cities and public innovation groups you belong to. Officers who met you at an event can then book a follow-up straight away.

Officers may be anywhere in the region. Book doesn't create video links: put your meeting link in the description, or send it by email after booking. If you also hold in-person office hours at an innovation hub or event, create a separate service with that location.

After a useful session, send a short summary with resources and possible next steps. When the client wants to go further, book the discovery call or a paid advisory session yourself from your calendar; first and last name are required, email and phone optional, and the booker receives a confirmation with a calendar file if you enter their email. Book doesn't send reminders, so that date keeps the conversation moving.

Bookers can't move bookings online: they contact you, and you move the session from your bookings list and confirm it yourself, since Book doesn't email clients about changes. Book doesn't take payments, so say how paid sessions are invoiced. Your bookings sync with Google, iPhone or Mac calendars. Book costs €5/month, everything included: unlimited services and bookings, no commission, no contract.