To be considered organized, a meeting requires a well-written agenda. A structured schedule prevents the meeting from turning into a boring and useless experience (and this is known to happen very often). By sticking to a detailed yet flexible agenda, you can keep the meeting straightforward and focused, and make sure you meet all program goals in the shortest time possible. Whether you need to write your own agenda, use a pre-built template, or improve a ready-made schedule, read on to find out more.
Steps
Part 1 of 2: Writing an Agenda
Write an Agenda from Scratch
Step 1. Start with a title
From the most compelling book to the most boring spreadsheet there is, every important document, or nearly so, needs a title. Agenda for meetings are no exception to the rule. The title should say two things to the reader: first, that he is reading an agenda; second, he must know what the document is about. Once you've made up your mind, write the title on the top of the paper before moving on. It doesn't have to be elaborate or complicated. In a business context, simple and straightforward titles are usually best.
Resist the temptation to use elaborate or large fonts for the title. In most cases, you have to use a simple and formal font, such as Times New Roman or Calibrì; also, it must be the same size as the rest of the text in the document (or only slightly larger). Remember, the purpose of the title is to inform readers about what they will find in the document, not necessarily to amuse or distract them
Step 2. Include information such as "Who", "Where?
"and" When? "in the header. After entering the title, agendas for meetings usually have a header that can vary largely depending on the level of formality encouraged by the company. This header is usually found about one line below the title. Normally, you have to include short, factual information about the meeting, which does not necessarily have to do with the topic being discussed. This way, people who do not show up to the meeting can know when and where it took place and who attended. Here are some of the details you may include; regardless of the data you choose, be sure to clearly state any information (it is best to use bold type to highlight it):
- Date and time. You can group them or put them in separate sections.
- Place. If your company has multiple branches, you should write the address, while, if it has only one location, you should write the name of the room where the meeting will be held (example: Conference Room Number 3).
- Participants. Professional titles are usually not mandatory.
- Special attendees. They could be guests, speakers, or meeting leaders who aren't usually there.
Step 3. Write a short sentence explaining the goal (s) of the meeting
Meetings that do not have a clearly defined purpose run the risk of wasting precious time, as the participants decide what to talk about. Leave a blank line after the header and use bold or underlined text to introduce this section with a title such as "Goal" or "Purpose", followed by a colon or a line break. Then, in a couple of concise and straight to the point sentences, describe the topics that will be discussed in the meeting. Try to put one to four sentences in this part.
- For example, if you want to indicate that the purpose of the meeting is to cut the budget, you could use this sentence: Scope: definition of key budget objectives for the 2014-2015 fiscal year and discussion of long-term measures to reduce costs. Furthermore, the Research and Development Director, Marco Bianchi, will present the results of a recent study on the company's competitiveness.
- If you've ever written scientific text, think of the goal definition as an abstract or executive summary of the topics that will be discussed in a meeting. Basically and broadly, you need to state what you intend to talk about at the meeting without going into detail.
Step 4. Write the program summarizing the main elements of the meeting
The agenda helps fight a common problem: Business meetings often last long, far too long. Skip a line after the sentence that defines the goal (s). Introduce the agenda with a bold or underlined title, then start listing the items corresponding to the main topics of discussion in the schedule. To make it easier to read, start writing each point on a single line.
Label each point indicating when you intend to start talking about it and when you want to finish, or define the amount of time you want to allocate to each topic. Choose one of these two systems and use them consistently; mixing or switching methods seems unprofessional
Step 5. In the schedule, allocate time to any special guests
If during the meeting you have guests who will discuss important topics, you must dedicate a part of the meeting to these people. Plan to give each guest a single point, even if they have more than one topic to discuss. In this way, everyone will be able to structure their intervention as they see fit.
It would be best to get in touch with guests in advance to figure out how long they will need for the topic they want to talk about. This allows you to avoid embarrassing organizational conflicts
Step 6. Allow extra time at the end of the meeting for attendee questions
At this time, people can ask for clarification on confusing discussion topics, offer additional opinions, suggest topics for future meetings, and make other comments. You can explicitly predict this moment by including it as the final point of the agenda, otherwise you can simply introduce it verbally after talking about the last topic of the program.
If at the end of the meeting no one has any further questions to ask or comments to make, you can always close the meeting first. Many of the attendees will probably be grateful to you
Step 7. If you wish, and this is optional, provide a thematic outline of the discussion topics
Generally, the program is the "heart" of the agenda, the section that participants will consider to guide the discussion. However, while it is not necessary to make this extra effort, offering a thematic outline of the key points can be of great help to those present. A summary gives them a reminder of the organization of the ideas presented at the meeting; it helps to refresh everyone's memory on the specific issues dealt with. Below, you will find a sample of the thematic scheme organization you should use (read this article to find out more):
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I. Budget changes (high priority)
- A. Employee travel budget
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B. Dealer Rates
the. Negotiate a better offer?
- C. Intervention of pressure groups
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II. Salary increase measures
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A. Alternative Service Agreements
- the. Presentation of options for customers
- ii. Request for feedback
- B. Reinvestment in mobile technology
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- Various and possible
Step 8. Before distributing the agenda, review it to correct errors
Since some participants probably place a lot of importance on the content of the program, it is wise to remedy the typos and make sure it is complete before submitting it. This step is not only an act of courtesy for the attendees, it also positively reflects your attention to detail and the respect you have for those present.
Also, making sure there are no mistakes on the agenda saves you time and protects your credibility
Use an Agenda Template
Step 1. Use a template that you can find in word processing software
Many of these programs, such as Microsoft Office, Mac Pages, and so on, have templates for a variety of personal and business documents, including meeting agendas. These templates greatly speed up and facilitate the creation of a professional document. Generally, they are documents organized into logical sections in an aesthetically pleasing way. All you have to do is type the relevant information into the appropriate fields and that's it.
- While each word processor is slightly different, most of them have the ability to navigate between the different templates via the menu bar, located at the top of the software window.
- If your word processor offers templates, but doesn't have templates suitable for a meeting agenda, you may be able to download them from the software creator's website. For example, Microsoft Word has templates available on the office.microsoft.com website, while those for Mac Pages can be found in the Apple App Store.
Step 2. Alternatively, download a template from a third-party source
If your word processor doesn't have any agenda template and it's impossible to download it from the official site, don't worry. There are a myriad of free templates available online. Just use your favorite search engine by typing "agenda template" or "meeting agenda template" (you will find templates in English, but in the word processor you can modify them to your liking). Dozens of relevant results will appear. However, given that not all of these sites come from official and reliable sources, it is important to be selective when choosing the template you want to use. Below, you will find some third-party sites that you may visit:
- Save Word Templates. It is a professional site that offers many quality templates for Microsoft Word.
- Word Templates Online. Another good source of templates for Word. However, this page offers only a few options.
- iWorkCommunity. You can find a useful agenda template for Pages. However, it is a template suitable for older (pre-2009) versions of the program.
- The App Store also has numerous templates for Pages. Unfortunately, not all of them are available for free.
Step 3. Complete all fields in the template
Once you have found the suitable template, all you have to do is fill in the template with the necessary information. Most templates have clearly marked parts for typing in names, times, discussion topics, section titles, and so on. Fill in all relevant fields to finalize the agenda. Then, when you're done, correct it carefully to fix the mistakes. Agenda templates are useful, but they don't protect you from spelling, grammar, and content errors.
Do not leave any fields blank. For example, nothing looks less professional than a program that says "Type Here". If for any reason there are parts of the document that you don't intend to fill out, be sure to delete them instead of leaving them blank
Step 4. Make minor changes to make the agenda fit your needs
The templates are sure to be practical, but there's no reason you should stick to exactly the expected style and format. Feel free to make changes to the content and style of the template to ensure that the program meets the standards predetermined by your business and your professional preferences.
For example, if you really like the style of a certain template, but the header section is long and can be distracting, it is undoubtedly possible to delete areas that seem superfluous to you. The important thing is to do this without ruining the document format or having a negative impact on the program
Part 2 of 2: Preferred Habits for Good Use of the Program
Step 1. First, organize the main topics
When planning a meeting, it is usually best to include the most important topics in the first part of the document. This guarantees two fundamental results. First, it ensures that everyone is able to talk about these important topics at the beginning of the meeting, when they are fresher and less fatigued. Secondly, if the meeting ends early or certain attendees leave before it's over, you'll be sure you've covered the main topics.
Meetings don't always go as planned. If minor, less important topics can be left out of a meeting, but then you can take care of them on your own or postpone them to a later meeting. However, if you fail to cover the main topics of discussion, the meeting will be useless because you will not be able to accomplish its most important purpose. And this can be considered a failure. Establishing priority topics on the agenda usually prevents this problem
Step 2. Stick to the agenda, but be flexible
When planning and conducting a meeting, one of the biggest dangers to guard against is overstepping. Generally, employees hate excessively long meetings, and with good reason. They can be incredibly boring. In addition, they can waste time for the participants, who therefore do not have the opportunity to dedicate themselves to urgent projects. Make sure the meeting stays on schedule by keeping an eye on the clock, and when you have the opportunity, politely advance the discussion by saying, for example, "We should move on to the next topic if we want to leave at the scheduled time."
However, meetings often don't go as planned, so you need to be prepared to adapt if a part of the meeting lasts longer than you would have liked. Be flexible as you try your best to cover topics within the limited time allotted for the meeting. For example, if a part of the meeting lasts longer than it should, it might be time to shorten the discussion of other topics or eliminate the relatively unimportant ones altogether to ensure a timely conclusion (you could strategically include optional elements to mitigate time limits)
Step 3. Start writing your meeting agenda well in advance
Programs of this type are critical. They project a certain professionalism, and make participants understand that you value their time and contribution to the organization. Consequently, make sure you have enough time to produce a quality document by starting writing it as soon as possible, within reason.
- Starting early also gives you the benefit of being able to have some feedback on the agenda before the meeting. That way, you can correct it. Sharing a draft of the program with co-workers or supervisors and asking for their input can help you remedy mistakes and add details that you have overlooked. If you wait until the last moment to draw up the agenda, you will not have time to request opinions and integrate them.
- While you can get away with writing a schedule of common and routine matters the day before a meeting, an important meeting could take weeks to prepare.
Step 4. Share the agenda with attendees before the meeting
This ensures that everyone present knows what the topic (or topics) will be discussed. Depending on the corporate culture, this can mean printing numerous copies and delivering them in person, or sharing them electronically (for example by sending an email with the agenda attached). In any case, make sure that the document is free from technical errors before distribution.
- Depending on the importance of the meeting, you may want to deliver the program to the participants at least an hour or two before the meeting. For large and important meetings, sending it at least a day in advance is definitely preferable.
- Since people are often busy and have a lot on their minds, it is ideal to make several extra copies of the agenda. Bring them with you to the meeting - someone may have forgotten theirs.
Advice
- For a productive meeting, you will find it useful to use the acronym OPRR: Goals, Program, Roles and Responsibilities. First, the meeting should have a goal. If you want to organize a meeting to impart information, don't waste other people's time this way. Better to send a newsletter. The purpose should have an active component and, if possible, a concrete result, such as "Determine the team's quarterly goals". The program is a list of topics that you will cover to talk about the goal, with a time limit to stay on track. For example, "1. Review last quarter goal status (15 minutes), 2. Ask everyone in attendance for suggestions about goals (20 minutes), 3. Choose 5 main goals (10 minutes), and so on. As for roles and responsibilities, determine who will manage the meeting, who will take notes and who will assign actions and to-dos according to the agreements made.
- Considering the preferences of colleagues, it is worth setting a deadline for receiving suggestions to add to the agenda. Determine a date and a time: this will be the limit point, and must be respected. Allow corrections to be made only if they are aimed at improving the program or it is simply about issues that for emergency reasons take precedence over those that were foreseen.
- If a person cannot show up for the meeting, consider creating a special section on the top of the agenda so that they can announce it in advance and apologize for their absence. Alternatively, leave some space about it and simply say it during the meeting.
- If your business has a special agenda form, use it as a template. In some jobs, it is essential to stick to this document.
