example meeting agenda

Circulating Your Agenda
The best way to ensure that those attending a meeting are clear about its purpose is to send them an agenda well in advance. The agenda should state which issues will be discussed and in what order. It suggests the outline for the meeting minutes and to some extent predicts the results of the meeting. An agenda should be short, simple and clear.

The meeting agenda has three distinct purposes. Firstly, it acts as a reference against which to prepare for a meeting. Secondly, it is a script for the meeting itself a mechanism for control and order. Finally, it represents a standard by which the meeting can be judged a success or failure. It is often said that the person who controls the agenda controls the meeting. It is often treated with almost legal reverence by those attending the meeting. When you are leading a meeting you owe it to yourself and your meeting partners to have prepared and circulated one. If you are asked to attend a meeting expect, or even request, an agenda. Attending a meeting with an unseen agenda could leave you vulnerable to an issue for which you are not prepared.

Designing Your Agenda
It should be headed with date, time and location of the meeting.
The overall time should be shown. In this example, the duration is indicated at the top; an alternative to this is to place a start time against each item. It is important that it displays the overall duration - as this enables participants to plan their day in advance. Furthermore it enables the chairperson to keep control of the meeting with reference to the time-frame.
It is usual to number each item and to formally introduce each one.
The apologies for absence, involves naming those who were invited but unable to attend.
Minutes of last meeting, this is a formal process, normally involving agreement followed by the chairperson’s signature.
Specific headings are then given for each topic that needs to be addressed.
Any other business - Many organizations prefer to drop this item, restricting the meeting to specific items. The risk with including this option is that it can invite almost any point of discussion and meetings can drag on indefinitely.
Any relevant background information should be sent out with the agenda. Aim to make the agenda as informative as practical, it should encourage participants to turn up and play as full a role as possible. If the agenda is dull then the attendees are less likely to prepare well or they may even decide not to turn up at all.

Prioritizing Your Agenda
When compiling the agenda, try to order topics logically and group similar items together. This should avoid the risk of the meeting going over the same ground again and again. Whilst certain routine items should be placed at the start of the agenda, it is helpful to place the most important items early on, so that these are addressed when participants are most alert.

Once you have produced an agenda that you are happy with circulate it to all those due to attend the meeting. This should be done far enough ahead of the meeting to enable the participant’s time to prepare any information or documentation required. If it subsequently becomes necessary to alter it, the consent of the participants should be sought. It is not good practice to table a revised agenda at the meeting without prior consultation, although in some cases this may be unavoidable. Always take extra copies of the agenda to your meetings. It is always to your advantage to ensure each participant has sight of a copy in the meeting.

The Scheduling of Breaks
If a meeting needs to exceed 45 minutes, it is advisable to include breaks in the agenda. This will enable participants to return to the business in hand with a more positive and productive mind-set. There are also some less obvious benefits of including breaks in your agenda, for example:

Group Discussions
Breaks enable the participants to discuss issues in small groups, which may help to iron out any awkward differences.

Clarification
Breaks provide the chairperson with the opportunity to discuss any matters of contention with specific attendees in a less formal atmosphere.

Time Buffer
One further purpose of breaks is that they can provide the chair with useful buffer zones, that can be used to extend or shorten a meeting should circumstances require this.

Personal Agendas
It is often the case that some of the participants at a meeting are more interested in their own personal agenda than the meetings published agenda. Whilst personal agendas usually have a negative effect on a meeting, this is not always the case. They can at times be quite understandable. Picture yourself preparing for a meeting at which the divisional head of another business unit will be attending. For some time it has been your ambition to secure a promotion by moving to this unit. Consequently, you are well aware of the importance of creating a positive impression with the divisional head.

Now ask yourself what is this meeting about? Are you really able to answer from the perspective of the meetings agenda, or does your own come to the fore? It is likely that by wanting to impress one of the other participants you will prepare and make a more worthwhile contribution than you would otherwise have done. This example illustrates how some personal agendas can have quite a positive effect on the meeting as a whole.

TOP <PREVIOUS NEXT>