Tip #1 for less wasteful meetings: plan ahead with agendas

Imagine you’re on a roadtrip with a car full of people. The group hasn’t agreed on a route (or even a destination!) but you’re driving anyways. How does it feel to be the driver (facilitator) in this situation? How does it feel to be a passenger (attendee)?

via GIPHY

Image of a man in a car saying “It’s about the journey, not the destination.” Note: actually, for meetings it really is about the destination.

Meetings without agendas can feel like the above scenario. Without a plan and desired outcome for the meeting, you may experience some of the below outcomes:

What are we meeting about?

• Attendees aren’t prepared and may not bring their best ideas.

• Attendees resent the meeting. Without seeing value in it, attendees may become disengaged and resist participating.

Let’s avoid eye contact with the elephant in the room

• Conversation may linger on easier topics, and never get to the critical topic.

It’s groundhog day in this Zoom meeting

• Because the group never reaches a decision, many meetings are held about the same topic.

For most meetings, drafting an agenda takes 5-15 minutes. The value of that agenda extends far beyond that investment of time. Here are a few of my favorite tools for managing agendas and meeting notes:

• Microsoft OneNote

• Trello or Microsoft Planner

• Word or Google Docs

If you’d like our free agenda template, subscribe to our newsletter to get it sent to your inbox. And if you’re struggling to prepare for an upcoming meeting or event, reach out to us! We’d be happy to work through it with you.