How to Make a Professional Agenda for a Business Meeting

Meeting agendas keep everyone on track.

Unproductive, unplanned meetings take precious time away from work projects. A carefully crafted, professional meeting agenda shows participants their time is valuable to you and the organization. Participants know what to expect and can prepare for discussion items and make decisions when necessary. Involving team members in the process promotes buy-in and facilitates good use of meeting time.

Instructions

1. Solicit agenda items. Contact meeting participants and ask them to contribute agenda items a week before the meeting. Send a draft agenda with items already set with your request. Participants with a stake in the meeting are more focused and engaged in discussion and making decisions.

2. Set a start and end time. Everyone is too busy to waste time waiting for latecomers. Always start on time, regardless of who is late. The boss should set a good example, and if she is late, she should not expect everyone to wait for her arrival. Most people have other commitments and can't hang around for a meeting that goes over schedule. Your reputation as a meeting planner rests on whether or not people can rely on you to keep your word. Meetings should last no more than 90 minutes with at least one break.

3. Assign agenda items. Each agenda item should be assigned to a meeting participant with a time limit, to ensure that he plans and is able to discuss the agenda item within the allotted period. Contact the person ahead of time to allow sufficient time and arrange for any audio-visual equipment needed. The participant should then be prepared to address the agenda item quickly and efficiently.

4. Distribute the agenda prior to the meeting. Once the agenda is set, distribute it to members at least two days ahead of time, as a reminder for the meeting itself and to those who are responsible for presentations. Send any attachments for review with the agenda with a reminder to review information before the meeting. Meeting time is best used for discussion and decision making, not for an initial review of pages of documents or spreadsheets.

5. Use the agenda to track meeting results. Even though participants bring laptops or have the agenda on their smart phone, hand out printed copies at the meeting. Agendas are great for taking notes next to agenda items or for recording decisions. You can make changes on the copies and add items if needed. At the end of the meeting, you will have a reliable set of notes with the original language of the agenda along with person responsible. If you send the agenda out in PDF format, be sure it can be edited electronically.