How to Make Agendas

Creating Better Agendas

An agenda is central to a productive and efficient meeting that includes all the right stakeholders. An agenda should detail discussion topics, the discussion leader and the time allotment for each segment.

Things You'll Need

• Computer with email capability

Instructions

1. Send an email to all stakeholders of the meeting. The goals of the meeting as well as any administrative details (such as time and place) should be announced in this email.

2. Request an accept or decline notice from all meeting participants. Make it clear that once meeting participants have accepted the invitation, they will be expected to attend.

3. Solicit agenda items from meeting attendees. Place a deadline on this request: All requested additions to the agenda should be submitted no later than three days before the meeting. The request should include the amount of time that should be reserved for the presentation and the format for the presentation.

4. Organize and summarize all agenda requests and make sure they're directly related to the goal of the meeting. Use a heading to describe each agenda item, and include a presenter name and time. It is OK to recommend that an item be discussed at another meeting.

5. Send the agenda to all meeting participants one day before the meeting date. This should include a recap of the email sent in Step 1. It should remind participants about meeting goals, location, duration and time. Offer a final opportunity for presenters to change the order of the presentation or the time allotment.

6. Follow the agenda. This may seem obvious, but as the coordinator it is your job to be the timekeeper or to assign this role to one of the meeting participants not presenting.

References

• Creating An Actionable Agenda
• Creating A Meeting Agenda

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Meeting Guru: Sample Agenda