The ‘secret’ to a great meeting is having a clear purpose, intention and goal – and the secret to that is having a good meeting agenda. A well-structure meeting agenda is essential to stay on track, address issues productively, and leave with clear and actionable next steps.
Read on to discover how to write an agenda for a meeting, so you – and all the attendees – can always come prepared. Use our meeting agenda example to get started on creating your own.
A meeting agenda is a document that outlines the topics, items and issues to be addressed during a meeting. It serves as a roadmap for the meeting, helping participants stay focused and ensuring that important matters are covered within the allocated time. The agenda is usually sent out to participants before the meeting, to provide them with an overview of what to expect and to allow them to prepare appropriately.
A thorough meeting agenda can help save time, increase productivity and achieve desired results. A typical meeting agenda includes the following elements:
Making the effort to put together a meeting agenda ultimately saves you time – not just in your meetings, but afterwards too. With everyone on the same page, you’re able to collaborate effectively as you all work towards a common goal.
Here are a few steps you can follow to help you write an effective meeting agenda.
The first step in creating a meeting agenda is understanding the purpose of the meeting. From here, you should set out agenda items for your meeting that align with the overall purpose. It’s essential to make sure the overarching purpose and any individual meeting items are clear and achievable.
Once you’ve stated the purpose and objectives for your meeting, it’s time to move on to the attendees. The purpose of your meeting should determine whom you need to invite to it. You want to have the right people in the room to maximise efficiency and enhance the likelihood of achieving your primary meeting purpose. You don’t want to invite someone who isn’t essential.
While you’re at it, consider the roles and responsibilities of the meeting participants. For example, it can be worth allocating tasks to attendees for the meeting, like meeting leader and minute-taker.
Next, start working on a rough structure for your agenda. Brainstorm and list the main topics to address during the meeting. Estimate the time needed for each agenda item so the meeting stays on schedule. Generally, it’s best to allocate more time to critical or complex topics and less time to routine updates.
Arrange the agenda items in a logical order that makes sense for the flow of the meeting. As a general rule, you should place important or urgent items near the beginning of the agenda, when participants are most attentive.
If there are documents, reports or other supporting materials associated with agenda items, provide links or attachments, for attendees to review the information in advance. Reviewing the supporting documents during the meeting will eat into your meeting time, so it’s better to provide this information ahead of time and encourage the attendees to come prepared.
Once you’ve created your meeting agenda, it’s essential to send your agenda ahead of time to allow the participants to prepare. It’s important to select the appropriate communication channels. This usually comes down to your company’s standard operating procedures. For example, sending the agenda around via email might be the norm, whereas other organisations use project management tools to schedule meetings and share the agenda.
By sending your agenda ahead of time, the participants can review the agenda and prepare accordingly. It also encourages the attendees to provide input and feedback, like submitting agenda items or suggestions if they feel there are specific topics that should be discussed.
Before writing your own meeting agenda, it can help to review some samples first. Here are some realistic agenda examples for meetings you can use to help you create your own.
The main purpose of a team meeting is to create space for regular communication, collaboration and coordination among team members, to achieve common goals and objectives. Team meetings often serve several important functions within an organisation; they can contribute to team building and information sharing while providing an opportunity for collective problem solving and decision-making. Here’s a team meeting agenda example you can use to create your own team meeting agenda.
Date: Monday 4th March
Time: 10.10 am – 11.00 am
Location: Room 2
Welcome (5 min): short catch up and meeting overview
Review of previous meeting (5 min): minutes from February 14th, 2024
Old items (10 min)
New items (10 min)
Project updates and reports (10 min)
Discussion items (10 min)
Action items (3 min)
Closing (5 min)
Board meetings provide a structured forum for the governing body of an organisation to come together to discuss, deliberate and make decisions on key matters related to the organisation's governance, strategy and overall well-being. A comprehensive board meeting agenda is essential for covering important business items and ensuring decisions are made.
Date: Monday 12 March, 2024
Time: 14:00 – 16:00
Location: Zoom [meeting link]
Call to order (5 min)
Approval of minutes (10 min)
Reports (30 min)
Old items (20 min)
New items (40 min)
Upcoming events and announcements (10 min)
Next meeting and closing (5 min)
Project meetings are scheduled catch-ups held at regular intervals throughout a project’s timeline. The main purpose of a project meeting is to make sure everyone understands their roles in the project and is meeting milestones to achieve the final goal. It’s a good idea to schedule a project kick-off meeting before a new project starts, to bring together cross-functional teams to cover the entire project scope, objectives and expectations.
Here’s an example of a project meeting agenda.
Date: Thursday 14 March 2024
Time: 9.05–10.00am
Location: Meeting room 1; [Teams meeting link]
Welcome and opening (5 min)
Greet attendees and establish a positive tone for the meeting.
Review of previous meeting’s minutes (10 min)
Project status update (15 min)
Discussion of any new issues (10 min)
Task and responsibility assignments (5 min)
Next steps and action items (5 min)
Project timeline and milestones (2 min)
Closing and next meeting preview (3 min)
Here are a few sample meeting agenda templates you can follow to create your own meeting agenda.
Meeting date: [Insert date]
Meeting time: [Insert start and end times]
Meeting location: [Insert location and/or link to meeting]
Welcome and opening (x min)
Greet attendees and establish a welcoming atmosphere
Approval of previous meeting minutes (x min)
Updates and reports (x min)
Discussion of key topics (x min)
Action items and task assignments (x min)
Any other business (AOB) (x min)
Next meeting and closing (x min)
Meeting date: [Insert date]
Meeting time: [Insert time – regular team meetings are usually around 60 min]
Meeting location: [Insert location and/or meeting link]
Welcome and updates (x min)
Greet team members and set a positive tone
Action item review (x min)
Team progress and challenges (x min)
New business and quick discussions (x min)
Action items and next steps (x min)
Closing and next meeting reminder (x min)
Meeting date: [Insert date]
Meeting time: [Insert start and end times – usually 30–34 min]
Meeting location: [Insert location or meeting link]
Check-in (10 min)
Team member’s updates (10 min)
Manager’s updates (10 min)
Meeting date: [Insert date]
Meeting time: [Insert time]
Meeting location: [Insert location or virtual platform]
Call to order (5 min)
Approval of minutes (10 min)
President’s report (15 min)
Overview of organisational achievements and challenges
Key updates on strategic initiatives
Financial report (10 min)
Old items (15 min)
New items (15 min)
Upcoming events and announcements (10 min)
Next meeting and closing (5 min)
Meeting date: [Insert date]
Meeting time: [Insert start and end times – 30–60 minutes is typical for a regular project meeting]
Meeting location: [Insert location or virtual platform]
Welcome and project overview (5 min)
Status updates (10 min)
Discussion of key issues (15 min)
Task assignments and responsibilities (5 min)
Next steps and action items (5 min)
Closing and reminder (5 min)
Writing a meeting agenda is essential to a productive and efficient meeting. It helps define the meeting objectives and identify key participants so everyone is on the same page. Creating a good agenda is a fairly straightforward process, but it can make a world of difference to your next meeting. With these templates and tips ready to go, you have everything you need to run successful meetings that keep everyone on track.
It’s always worth sharing the meeting agenda in advance of the meeting so the attendees have sufficient time to prepare. At minimum, the agenda should be sent a day or two ahead of time, but earlier is better.
Appointing a facilitator or moderator for a meeting is a great way to ensure all agenda items are addressed during the meeting. You can use a clock or timer to help keep the meeting on track.
There may be times when an urgent topic is raised in a meeting that hasn’t been listed on the agenda. In this instance, it can be worth working in a 10-minute buffer or even including time for general discussion where these types of topics can be raised. Depending on the extent of the issue, you may have to organise another meeting to discuss it further.
You can adapt agendas for remote and virtual meetings by including the relevant conferencing links. The main difference is you’ll need to set up a virtual meeting first, on Teams, Zoom or Google Meet, and include the invitation link on the meeting agenda. No matter what platform you use, a separate meeting invitation should be sent to attendees for them to accept or decline.
If your meeting is running over time, you may have to prioritise the remaining items to be discussed. In some cases, you might have to organise a follow-up meeting to cover the outstanding items or delegate action items to individual team members to resolve.