Meeting agendas are a great way to provide your team or department with an overview of what is to come. But creating a good one can actually be quite tricky. What should you include? How much detail do you need to go into? An effective meeting agenda provides clarity, helps everyone prepare, and will help streamline your team meeting.
What is a meeting agenda?
A meeting agenda is an important document that outlines what exactly is going to be discussed during a meeting, including the meeting goal, objectives, and action items. The point of the board meeting is to serve as a roadmap for the meeting, ensuring that everyone is on the same page and that the discussion stays relevant and on track.
By using a meeting agenda, everyone can prep for the meeting in advance and arrive at the team meeting, board meeting, or whatever, ready to jump in and contribute to the discussion. Agendas also help to prioritize items, allocate time effectively, and ensure that you will address and touch on all vital issues without accidentally overlooking something important.
In essence, a well-planned meeting agenda is essential for making any type of meeting productive efficient, and effective. First thing first, be sure to ask yourself what the purpose of the meeting is. Once you do that, then you can and should jump in and create an effective team meeting agenda.
Looking for something more board meeting-focused? Well, you are in luck.
How to create an effective team meeting agenda
1. Start with a clear objective
Before creating an agenda, determine the purpose of the meeting. Identify what you want to achieve through the meeting and what topics you need to cover to accomplish the objective.
2. Prioritize topics
Once you've identified all the topics you need to cover, prioritize them based on their importance and urgency. Start with the most important and urgent topics to ensure they get adequate time and attention. This will help you list a comprehensive series of agenda topics or agenda items.
3. Make time for each topic
Assign a time limit for each topic on the agenda. This will help you stay on track and ensure you cover everything you need to in the allotted time.
4. Invite relevant participants
Make sure you invite all the relevant team members to the meeting and only those who need to be there. This will help keep the meeting focused and avoid wasting people's time.
5. Be specific
Make sure the agenda items are specific and clearly worded. Avoid vague or ambiguous language that could lead to confusion or misunderstandings.
6. Include a brief overview
Think about answering the questions ‘Why are we having this meeting?’ and ‘What do we hope to achieve by the time it is over?’. Doing this will help keep everyone focused and help everyone understand why exactly they are there.
7. Leave time for questions and discussion
Don't forget to leave time for questions and discussion at the end of the meeting. This will allow participants to ask clarifying questions and provide feedback. If you are a remote team be sure to make the Q&A section as seamless as possible (why not consider using a tool perfect for remote meetings?).
8. Share the agenda in advance
Share the agenda with all participants well in advance of the meeting. This will give them time to prepare and ensure everyone is on the same page.
By following these tips, you can create an effective team meeting agenda that will help you achieve your objectives and ensure everyone is engaged and productive.
Team meeting agenda example
The agenda for effective team meetings has to have a good structure with a series of relevant points included. Now, this does not mean that you have to include every minute detail in the agenda, not at all in fact. Just a highlight of what is to come in the actual meeting is enough so long as it provides enough context and background for meeting participants.
You want to provide team members with everything they need to know without unnecessarily overloading them with bullet points and details.
- Date:
- Time:
- Location:
- Agenda Items:
1. Introduction
Introduce new team members if anyone has joined since your last team meeting.
Recap your previous meeting's action items and see did you actually do what you set out to do.
Run a check-in by going around the room and seeing how everyone is doing - are they stressed, are they on track to meeting their goals, etc?
2. Old Business
Review any open action items from previous meetings and talk through what steps have been taken.
Check the status update on ongoing projects and see if anyone needs any extra assistance or added resources. This is the perfect time to gauge how projects are progressing and if something extra needs to be done to help avoid roadblocks or hurdles.
Discussion of any unfinished business from previous meetings. You may not have had enough time to wrap up certain topics so best to clarify any issues or get to them now right at the start of this meeting. The last thing you want is for something to constantly remain unfinished or unsaid.
3. New Business
Present any new project proposals or any new projects that are currently being worked on. Let those who are in charge give a brief overview as to the goals and objectives and what they hope to achieve.
Discuss and prioritize upcoming projects so people have the chance to offer feedback and potentially brainstorm ideas. This is a great way to improve transparency and ensure everyone is aligned.
4. Team Building
Take a moment to recognize what your team has achieved and take some time to highlight whatever wins you have had since the last meeting. This is a great way to improve morale and underline just how valuable everyone’s contributions are to the team’s work.
Discuss opportunities for team-building activities or training sessions. Team building exercises help to create or maintain and high-performing team, so carving out some time to discuss what can be done is an important thing to consider.
5. Department or team-specific updates
Now you can include some discussion points that cover your team and your department. Here we have listed something that a team in a marketing department may include.
- Campaign Updates (15 minutes)
- Sales Feedback (10 minutes)
- Website Update (15 minutes)
- Social Media Plan (15 minutes)
6. Other Business (5 minutes)
Open the floor for any other topics or concerns so that everyone can have their say and voice their opinions on any ongoing matter.
7. Action Items and Next Steps (5 minutes)
Review all action items from the meeting and assign responsible parties. Now you can also agree on deadlines and the next steps for each item. It is also a good idea to keep and share meeting notes or meeting minutes after you wrap things up.
8. Conclusion (5 minutes)
Recap the meeting's key takeaways and be sure to note down the action points. It is a good idea to note these down in a shared document and send them on to the team immediately after the meeting (so you don’t forget).
Set the date and time for the next meeting and be sure to send out the calendar invite.
Free meeting agenda template
Now you have all of the tips needed to make a great hybrid meeting template. But we thought that actions speak louder than words so we've decided to be generous and offer you a template you can download, customize, and use right away.
Included you even have an agenda that you can also change to meet your needs!
And if you are looking for any other meeting tips then we also have exactly what you are looking for.
Make your meetings more efficient, engaging, and effective!
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