It’s been brought to our attention that the various time-zone differences can be confusing for people not living in EST (that’s short for North America Eastern Standard Time). Since we are doing an increasing amount of live webinars, we thought that this simple post showing how to calculate time zone differences would be helpful.

First and foremost, while we are well aware of GMT, we are also painfully aware that not everyone else understands the concept of GMT. GMT, also known as UT, is the “Universal Time”. Every time zone in the world is based off its relation to GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). So for example, if I was in Ahmedabad, India, I would be GMT + 5:30 (five and a half hours ahead of GMT); if I was in Chicago, USA I would be GMT - 6:00 (six hours behind GMT). While UT (Universal Time) is the more politically and scientifically correct way to designate the time, many people still say GMT or disregard GMT/UT altogether.

For the record, we are in the North American Eastern Standard Time zone (EST) and North American Eastern Daylight Time zone (EDT). We are EST during the autumn and winter, so during these seasons we are GMT - 5:00 (five hours behind GMT). The reason we have two time zone names is because Daylight Savings time changes our relation to GMT and in the spring and summer we become only four hours behind GMT (GMT - 4:00).

If you want to just figure out the time differences between our time zone and your time zone, there is an easy website to use called The World Clock Time Zone Converter. This is handy because it also takes into account Daylight Savings Time (not everywhere follows this) and calculates day differences (ex: it may be Thursday the 4^th in our time zone but Friday the 5^th in another).

Once you click on the website, you will see a little form you can fill out. Please enter the correct information for the Month, Day, Year and Hour.

Time Zone Converter

Next, you are going to fill in OUR time zone. You can do this two ways:

1.) Find a location near to us - although we are not based there, choosing the “U.S.A North Carolina - Raleigh” is a good option.

Our "location" method

2.) Or you can click on the tab that says “Time Zone”

Time Zones Method

If you click on the “Time Zone” tab, find the option that says “EST - Eastern Standard Time (North America)” if it’s during our autumn or winter. Then click on “New York (winter)”. If it is during our spring or summer, find “EDT - Eastern Daylight Time (North America)”.

The field will fill in automatically:

Time Zones Method - EST or EDT New York

Next, fill in YOUR time zone by selecting a city that is near your location. For this example, I’ll pretend that I live in Auckland, New Zealand.

Your Time Zone/Location

Once everything is filled in I will hit the bottom button that says “Convert Time”.

I will then see a screen that tells me what time 7:00 pm in Raleigh (or New York time, depending on which above method you used) is in Auckland, New Zealand. I now know that if there was a webinar starting at Wednesday 7:00 pm EST I would have to be at my computer by Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 1:00 pm to listen to it in its entirety.

Time Zone Conversion Complete

Time zones are tricky measurements, but with this website you’ll always be able to convert times accurately and quickly!