The average company spends 15% of its total time in meetings, even though two-thirds of executives consider such meetings unproductive. Even so, such meetings are still very necessary, they are an ideal place to brainstorm and work as a team. Something that just can’t be achieved with email, messaging or video conferencing.
To minimize unproductivity in these meetings and to maintain focus, it is very important to formulate an effective meeting agenda.
Keep reading to learn what belongs on every meeting agenda so you can have more productive meetings.
The Goal for the Meeting
First, think about what you want the meeting to accomplish. Are you brainstorming new product ideas? Are you planning a networking event? Is it a routine team update meeting?
You can title the meeting after its purpose, just to make sure everyone understands why the meeting is important. Next, you'll build the rest of your meeting agenda with this goal in mind.
List the Discussion Items
From there, you can break the goal down into smaller discussion points or specific decisions to make. For example, if you're planning a networking event, one item could be venues. The team could brainstorm some ideas and then decide on 2-3 locations to call for more information.
It's also helpful to include a time suggestion next to each item, like 5 minutes or 15 minutes. That way everyone will understand how in-depth you want to get on each item. It will also maintain the pace of the meeting.
You should also be as specific as possible for each discussion item. Provide enough information so your attendees will be able to prepare some ideas in advance. Many corporate workers feel that vague action points in meetings just leave them feeling more confused.
List the Attendees
You'll also need to decide who needs to come to your meeting. Is it the entire department, just your team, or only the managers?
If you use a meeting room reservation software, make sure you're booking a room that's large enough to hold everyone and has the right equipment. A good system will give you all this information for each room before you book it. After that, you can use this system to invite everyone to the event.
The Location, Date, and Time
At the top of your agenda make sure to note where and when the meeting is. Even if you invited everyone through a meeting room management tool, your attendees might get confused if they have a lot of meetings to go to.
The easiest way to make sure everyone shows up on time is to include the meeting location on the agenda as well.
It's also considerate to include when the meeting will end. That way everyone will be able to plan the rest of their day, so they can quickly get back on task after the meeting.
Book a Conference Room with Our Meeting Room Management System
Creating a meeting agenda is important because it tells your attendees what to expect from your meeting. The attendee’s will also be able to prepare their thoughts ahead of time and plan their day. After that, the final step is to book a conference room.
That's where Meetio’s Room Booking System comes in handy. Especially their convenient room booking app, with which you can quickly reserve a room from anywhere, using your smartphone.
Get a free product demo and see how Meetio’s meeting room management system could help streamline your organization’s meetings.
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