Meeting Agenda Template

About the Meeting Agenda Template

An agenda can help you stay on schedule in a meeting and keep it productive. Using a template to create that agenda helps ensure you have all the information you need to make your meetings a success. Here’s how our Meeting Agenda Template can help your team.

What is a Meeting Agenda Template?

A typical Meeting Agenda Template structures your team meetings. It generally includes the following information: 

• Planning details like the date, time, location, and who needs to attend.

• Name of the person (or people) that will lead the meeting.

• The topics and agenda items.

• The goal or objective.

• Action items and tasks to complete when the meeting is over. 

Using the Meeting Agenda Template can also help you collaborate effectively with your team. With an agenda in place, you can make it clear when people can share information and when it’s best to listen and take it all in. 

What is a meeting agenda? 

Everyone has been in a meeting that veered off-track and felt like a waste of time. Employees spend 31 hours in unproductive meetings every month. 

To increase your chances of hosting a productive meeting, you need to create a meeting agenda. 

A meeting agenda sets expectations for what should occur before, during, and after a meeting. It gives you a timeframe to work toward and outlines the specific details of what the meeting will include. It also helps you to make informed decisions, align your priorities, and move in the same direction as a team. 

How do you write an agenda for a meeting? 

Creating an effective meeting agenda is easy with Miro. Our collaborative workspace is the perfect canvas to create and share the agenda for your upcoming meetings. Start by selecting the Meeting Agenda Template, then take the following steps to make one of your own.

1. Outline the type of meeting. There are different types of meetings, so prepare your team by letting them know what kind of meeting to expect. Will your meeting be asynchronous or synchronous? A retrospective? A workshop? Define the parameters so participants can prepare effectively. 

2. Do the minutes. Define the amount of time you’ll be spending on different parts of the meeting. This will make sure everyone knows what’s happening in the meeting and how long it’ll take. It’ll also help you keep your meeting on track as things progress. 

3. Strategic alignment. Identify who’s leading the meeting and add their name(s) into the template. This will ensure you have the right people leading the meeting and keep things moving on schedule.  

4. Create the meeting agenda. Use the meeting agenda to document talking points and assign discussion topics to attendees within the allotted time slots. Set clear goals and add any relevant documentation to the meeting. If you’re using Miro’s Meeting Agenda Template, you can add files and documents directly to the board. 

5. Document the meeting. When the meeting starts, it’s helpful for someone to take notes and record the meeting minutes. With Miro, you can integrate your Google Workspace, so it’s easy to take meeting notes and share documentation. It’s also helpful to use a countdown timer when the meeting starts to keep things on schedule. 

6. Assign the next steps. When the meeting ends, assign the next steps to each team member. This will give each team member the responsibility to take ownership of specific tasks beyond the meeting. Prioritize tasks that will lead to the highest impact and return on investment. 

Pro tip: Recap and act on the next steps. Aim to end on a positive note with clear action items and takeaways. This approach will give each team member something to accomplish and follow up on until the next meeting.

What should an agenda include?

It’s hard to say what agenda items you should include. It varies from business to business and from meeting to meeting. However, some common elements will often crop up: 

• Timeframes. When the meeting will start, finish, and everything in between.

• Participants. Everyone that needs to attend the meeting. 

• Speakers. The people that’ll lead the meeting and keep things on track. 

• Agenda topics. The talking points and discussion items for the meeting. 

• The overall goal/meeting objective. The purpose of the meeting. 

• Outcome and deliverables. The result of the meeting and the next steps. 

• Actions. The tasks that need to happen when the meeting is over. 

When creating your agenda, it’s worth noting that it pays off to check in with your team before the meeting starts. Give participants a chance to provide feedback on the most relevant talking points. Ask what they’d like to talk about, their current project statuses, or if there’s anything they’d like to share to ensure everyone feels heard and acknowledged.

When to use a meeting agenda 

Using a meeting agenda is good practice ahead of any meeting, but here are a couple of specific scenarios where an agenda would be beneficial: 

• You have to stick to a timeframe. If you’re working to a tight deadline or your participants are incredibly busy, an agenda will give you a timeframe to follow. It’ll give you the structure you need to get through the meeting within the allotted meeting time.

• You need participants to prepare for the meeting beforehand. Agendas are a great way to keep meeting participants in the loop about what you want to discuss. This gives them the chance to prepare beforehand and boost productivity during the meeting. 

• You want to encourage participation. Increase participant engagement by offering them an agenda. They can prepare beforehand and come to the meeting ready to contribute. 

As a best practice, create your meeting agenda ahead of the meeting. Aim to send it out to your team at least a day before the meeting. That way, you give your teammates time to review the agenda before you meet.