How to Create an Effective Meeting Agenda

Business Meeting

There are several websites and posts that have information on how to set an agenda for a meeting. However, as many meetings can be quickly use vast amounts of time in a busy work schedule, ensuring that meetings run on time and cover all the topics necessary is critical task. Research suggests that a the average manager will spend about 20% of his or her time each week stuck in time consuming tasks such as meetings. That is one full work day each week, stuck in mostly meetings. Here are some tips to create an effective agenda and get everyone back to work in a timely manner.

Things You'll Need

• A printed agenda
• List of tasks for meeting
• A clock or watch
• A place for the meeting

Instructions

1. 

   What is the purpose of the meeting? Is this a weekly meeting or a project meeting? These are some key questions that should be addressed in the agenda at the outset of the meeting. An agenda should be developed around the key purpose of the meeting. If it a weekly office meeting, then several to-do's, announcements, and weekly business topics will be addressed. Weekly meetings are generally less formal, and the agenda can be more of a lose, open format. However, Project meetings should have more structured meetings, with set times for each agenda item, who will present, and key points for discussion.

2. 

   What is the planned meeting date? Be clear about the date and location of the meeting. Set the date well enough in advance to ensure that participants are able to schedule the meeting and plan accordingly. You also want to advise presenters well in advance in order to prepare a presentation. Once you set the date, stick to it. If you make changes to the date, the purpose of the meeting will lose creditability.

3. 

   What is the planned start and end time for the meeting? Set a start time and end time, and stick to it! Keep a watch close by, and monitor the flow of the meeting. I have participated in 30 minute meetings that accomplished hours of work. I have also participated in 4 hour long sessions, in which nothing was accomplished. Remember participants have responsibilities outside of the meeting, so if you plan a time to end stick to it.

4. 

   What are your agenda items for this meeting? Determine your agenda items well in advance. Get input from presenters, colleges, team members, and participants of the meetings. Agendas are often first started by looking at the notes from the previous meetings. Plan a list of items to be covered, and look to eliminate items that can be addressed outside the meeting or have little relevance to the entire group. Also, if your meeting will have some discussion or "brainstorming," plan this in your agenda. Brainstorming sessions can be time consuming, and you don't want to skip critical items because a discussion session ran too long.

5. 

   How much time will be allocated to each agenda item? This is another critical point. If a meeting is scheduled to last one hour, it should conclude in one hour. Agenda items should be assigned a time limit, and these limits should be enforced. At times, it may be necessary to extend pre-determined time limits. However, this should be the exception rather than the rule. Again, you will be surprised how much can be compressed into a few minutes when a time limit is imposed.

6. 

   Who will be assigned as the leader (or presenter) for each agenda item? Assign the agenda items to team members for presentation. This will help individuals take ownership, and become more involved. It also help to build good rapport with your team, as members will take ownership if they view it as "their" meeting. In the past, I have spent sometimes 2-3 hours preparing for a 1 hour meetings. Spread out the work, and empower team members to be responsible for key content.

7. 

   What is the objective for each agenda item (to discuss, to decide or to share information)? Identify specific expectations for agenda items. Are you making announcements or do you need decisions made? Create goals for your agenda, and look to reach the goals as the discussion items are completed.

8. 

   Distribute your agenda in advance! Send out your agenda and ask the participants to review it before the meeting. This will allow them to prepare some thoughts for the agenda items. Participants can also note thoughts for discussions items, and they will be clear about whom is presenting what. Printed agenda also allow participants to hold themselves accountable to the time of the meeting, which will ensure productivity.

Tips & Warnings

• Identify the puprose and expected outcome of the meeting.

• Send out your agenda 24 to 48 hours in dvance of the meeting.

• Keep time with a watch to ensure the meeting is complete on time.

• Keep notes of the meeting items and send the minutes to participants at the conclusion.

• Avoid running overtime with unplanned discussion items.

Resources

• Meeting Agenda Template