Make a meeting agenda

Having a meeting agenda is very important. A meeting agenda should be well-planned and thought-out. A good meeting agenda keeps people focused and makes it easier to write an outline for meetings notes or minutes.

1. Establish your objective

You must be able to finish the sentence, “At the end of this meeting, I want the group to…”.

Some possible endings include:

• make a decision
• have generated three problem-solving ideas
• have provided status reports on their projects
• understand this information I need to tell them
• help me make a plan to accomplish a specific goal
• provide feedback on something

Example: I want us to begin to discuss a communications strategy around flu shots for the beginning of flu season. “At the end of this meeting, I want the group to help me make a plan to discuss a specific goal”.

2. Gather requirements

Evaluate meeting’s requirements in these seven areas:

• Priorities; things that must be covered
• Results; things that must be accomplished
• Attendees; people needed for its success
• Participants; people who present on each topic
• Sequence; the order to cover the topics
• Duration; the amount of time for each topic
• Date and time; when the meeting will take place

3. Write the agenda

A meeting agenda can be formal or informal. All meeting agendas generally have the following elements:

• Purpose of the meeting
• Date and time
• Location of the meeting
• Who called the meeting
• Invitees
• Agenda items in a brief list

Agenda items can include additional information:

• Who will lead that part of the meeting
• A time frame for discussing the topic
• Whether it is an update, discussion, or decision-making item

Additional agenda items may also be included:

• “Any other business” (AOB) — This item allows a participant to raise another point for discussion
• Arrange or announce the details of the next meeting
• Bringing the meeting to a close

Example

See Example for the corresponding meeting notes.

Purpose: Prom pre-planning meeting Date of meeting: Thursday, April 5 Time of meeting: 4:30-5:30pm Location of meeting: Faculty Conference room A Called by Pat Schellhardt at the request of Steve Jordan Invited: Pat Goudy, Maria Sharapova, Tessa Snyder, Sameer Prakesh Agenda items:

1. Chaperones (discussion, decision needed: 15 minutes)
2. After-prom activity (discussion, decision needed: 15 minutes)
3. Student committee update (update by Tessa, 5 minutes)
4. Letters to parents (discussion, decision needed, action required: 15 minutes) 
5. Any other business (discussion, 10 minutes)

4. Share the agenda

Share the agenda at least a day in advance, so that people have the opportunity to prepare and ask for changes beforehand rather than during the meeting. Send the agenda through email, slack, or include it in the calendar invite.