Every meeting needs a defined purpose so that attendees know exactly what they are there to achieve. The first, and possibly most important part of any meeting agenda, is the key objective. If a group discussion is not necessary or expected, consider whether the meeting needs to happen in the first place. These tend to have one person speaking or presenting to a group, and can often be equally, if not more effective as an email, Slack discussion, or shared Google Doc. Many meetings have as a purpose to share information or insights. Is there a better way to achieve your goal? Think about the number of attendees you’re expecting, and the collective hours of work the meeting will take up. When you prepare the agenda ahead of time, you might also occasionally find that the meeting isn’t necessary at all. This ensures that there is enough time to circulate the agenda beforehand, so that attendees can come prepared with questions and their own relevant contributions. If you know you have to schedule a meeting for a week from today, it’s best to get started on creating the agenda as soon as possible. The first thing you need to consider when creating your meeting agenda? Timing.
How to build an effective meeting agenda Step 1: Get started ahead of time We’ve also included some easy-to-use templates that will have all attendees enthusiastically clicking that ‘Attending’ button. To help you make sure you’re running efficient, purposeful meetings, we’ve put together a how-to guide for creating effective meeting agendas. With the average worker spending an estimated 22 years of their 45-year career in meetings, a simple meeting agenda can significantly improve the quality and output of these meetings - or even cut down on the number and length of meetings overall. Unproductive meetings waste everybody’s time, monopolizing resources that could be better spent elsewhere. If you’ve ever sat through a multi-hour meeting with no agenda, no direction, and no end in sight, you can understand why.
According to online scheduling software Doodle, poorly organized meetings cost the North American economy approximately $399.01 billion USD per year.
Are meeting agendas widely-used where you work? If so, you’re one of the lucky ones.