Content

• To step
• Part 1 of 2: Writing an agenda
• Create an agenda from scratch
• Using a calendar template
• Part 2 of 2: Best practices for using a calendar
• Tips

An orderly meeting requires a well-written agenda. Don't let your meeting get as tedious and efficient as many meetings seem to be. By adhering to a detailed yet flexible agenda, you can keep your meeting streamlined and focused so that you achieve all of your meeting goals in the shortest possible time. Whether you want to write your own calendar, use a template, or make the most of a calendar you already have, see Step 1 below to get started!

To step

Part 1 of 2: Writing an agenda

Create an agenda from scratch

1. Start by giving your calendar a title. From the finest literature to the driest spreadsheet, almost every important document needs a title, and meeting agendas are no exception. Your title should tell the reader two things: First, that he or she is reading an agenda, and second, the topic the meeting is about. When you've made up your mind, put your title at the top of your blank document. The title doesn't have to be flowery or complicated - in a business context, simple and direct titles are usually best.
   • Resist the urge to use separate or large fonts for your title. In most cases, you'll want to use a simple, dignified font like Times New Roman or Calibri, and make your title the same size as the rest of the letters on the document (or just a little bigger). Remember, the purpose of your title is to inform readers what they are looking at, not necessarily to entertain or distract them.
2. Add "Who?’, ’true?" and "when?"data to the header. After the title, meeting agendas usually have a header that can vary in detail depending on how formal your workplace is. This header is usually about a line below the title. Usually, in the header, you briefly list factual information about the meeting that has nothing to do with the topic being discussed. This is so that people who are not present will know when and where it took place, and who was present. Below are a few things you can add; regardless of the data you choose, make sure you clearly identify each piece of information (making the label text bold works well here):
   • Date and time. These can be grouped together or in their own separate sections.
   • Location. If your business has multiple locations, you can write down the address, but if there is only one location, you can name the room you're meeting in (eg, Meeting Room # 3).
   • Attendees. Job titles are usually optional but not required.
   • Special persons attending. These can be special guests, speakers, or conference leaders.
3. Write a short statement with goals. Meetings that don't have a clearly defined purpose run the risk of wasting valuable time as attendees decide what to talk about. Skip a line after your header and use bold or underlined text to designate your goals section with a title like "Goal" or "Goal" followed by a colon or a newline. Then you describe, in a few concise and sharp sentences, the points to be discussed for the meeting. Make it your goal to write about 1-4 sentences here.
   • For example, if we want to write a statement of objectives for a budget meeting, we can use these: "Objective: List key budget targets for the 2014-2015 financial year and discuss long-term cost savings measures. In addition, R&D Director Marcus Feldman will present the results of a recent competition survey. "
   • If you've ever written in a scientific context, think of the statement of objectives as the summary of the meeting. You are basically saying, broadly, what needs to be discussed at the meeting, without going into detail.
4. Write a schedule for the main points of the meeting. Schedules help combat the tendency for business meetings to go on for far too long. Skip a line after your statement of goals, give your schedule a bold or underlined title, and start creating times (to match key discussion points) in your schedule. To keep it easy to read, give each time period its own line.
   • Indicate each time period with either the planned start and end time, or the amount of time you want each part to take. Choose one system or the other and be consistent - mixing things up looks unprofessional.
   • In other words, you want to mark each time period with either the start and end time for that topic of conversation, or just write down how long you want it to last. For example, an example line could be "14:00 - 14:05: Introductions and presentation " or ’5 min: Introductions and Presence. ”However, you should avoid switching between the two systems.
5. Set time aside in the schedule for any special guests. If guests come to your meeting to discuss important topics, you'll want to set aside time in the meeting for these people. Give each guest their own time slot, even if they have more than one topic of conversation. In this way everyone can organize his or her own topics as desired.
   • To avoid embarrassing scheduling issues, contact guests in advance to find out how much time each of them will need on their topic of conversation.
6. Leave extra time at the end of the meeting for any other business. During this time, people may ask for explanations about confusing topics of conversation, express their own opinions, suggest topics for future meetings, and make other comments. You can make this survey explicit by including it as the last item in your schedule, or you can bring it up yourself after the last point of the meeting.
   • If you reach the end of your meeting and no one has additional questions or comments, you can always end the meeting early. Many of your attendees will probably thank you for this!
7. You can also provide an overview of the topics of conversation. Usually, the schedule is the lion's share of the meeting agenda - the part that people look to to guide the discussion. However, while it is not essential to put in this extra effort, providing an extra overview of key points can be very helpful to distracted attendees. An outline reminds attendees of the arrangement of ideas presented at the meeting and helps those who have a hard time keeping up with each topic mentioned. Below is an example of the type of summary you probably want to use:

   • I. High priority budget items

     • A. Employee travel budget

       B. Dealers' rates

       • i. Negotiating a better deal?

       C. Costs of lobbying

     II. Measures to improve turnover

     • A. Alternative Service Agreements

       • i. Present options to customers

         ii. Get feedback

       B. Reinvestment in mobile technology

     ...and so on.

8. Check the calendar for errors before handing them out. Since some attendees can rely heavily on the meeting agenda, it is a very good idea to check it for errors before handing it out. Doing this is not just a favor to those in attendance - it also reflects positively on your attention to detail and the value you have for your position.
   • Moreover, checking that there are no errors in your diary can help you time and save you face Spending time explaining an agenda full of mistakes can confuse your meeting and be embarrassing to you, especially when important people are present.

Using a calendar template

1. Use a template included with your word processor. Many word processing programs, such as Microsoft Office, Pages for Mac, and so on, have standard templates for all kinds of personal and professional documents, including meeting agendas. With these templates you can create a professional looking document surprisingly quickly and easily. Usually these types of templates are organized into logical sections with an aesthetically pleasing layout - just type the relevant data in the corresponding spaces and you're good to go!
   • While each word processor is slightly different, most with the template option will let you navigate to the templates from the menu bar at the top of the program window.
   • If your word processor can use templates, but doesn't have appropriate meeting agenda templates, you can download one from the program maker's website. Templates for Microsoft Word, for example, are available at office.microsoft.com, while templates for Pages for Mac can be found in the Apple App store.
2. You can also download a template from an external source. If your word processor doesn't come with calendar templates by default and you can't get them on the official site, don't worry - there are plenty of free templates available online. A simple search on your preferred search engine for, say, "meeting agenda template" will give you dozens of relevant results. However, because not all of these results come from official, trustworthy sources, it's important to make a distinction when choosing which templates to use. Below are a few external sites you may want to visit:
   • Save Word Templates - This professional site offers many quality templates for Microsoft Word.
   • Word Templates Online - Another great resource for Word templates. However, this page offers only a few choices.
   • iWorkCommunity - a good calendar template for Pages. However, this template is for older versions of Pages (before 2009).
   • The App Store also has tons of templates for Pages. Unfortunately, not all of these are available for free.
3. Fill in the fields in your template. Once you have found a suitable template in your word processor, or downloaded one that you like, all you have to do is fill in the template with the necessary information. Most templates will have clearly marked areas for you to type in names, times, topics of conversation, section titles, and so on. Fill in all the relevant fields to complete your agenda, and check your work for errors afterwards. As useful as calendar templates can be, they don't protect you from spelling, grammar, and factual errors.
   • Do not leave any fields empty. Nothing looks more amateurish than, say, a line in a schedule that only says "Type Here". If for some reason there are parts of the template that you don't want to fill out, delete them instead of leaving them empty.
4. Make minor changes to adapt your calendar to your needs. Meeting agenda templates can be very useful, but there is no reason why you should stick to the default calendar style and layout exactly. Feel free to make changes to the content and style of the template as you see fit to make sure your calendar meets the standards that your company has set for you and that you have set for the meeting.
   • For example, if you think a particular template looks very good, but its header is so long that it is distracting, feel free to delete any unnecessary sections of the header as you see fit, as long as you do so in such a way that the layout of the document is not ruined, or the agenda looks ugly.

Part 2 of 2: Best practices for using a calendar

1. First select the most important topics. When scheduling meetings, it is usually good policy to put the most important topic at the front of the schedule. With this you achieve two things. First, it allows everyone to discuss these important topics when they are on their edge and not yet fatigued at the start of the meeting. Second, in case the meeting ends prematurely or certain attendees have to leave before the end, it ensures that the important topics have already been discussed.
   • Meetings don't always go as planned. If small, unimportant topics are dropped at the end of a meeting, you may be able to resolve them yourself or schedule another meeting later. However, if you are unable to cover the main topics of conversation, your meeting failed to achieve part of the objective, which can be both frustrating and embarrassing for you. Putting the most important topics at the top of your schedule prevents mostly this problem.
2. Stick to your calendar schedule, but be flexible. When planning and conducting a meeting, one of the biggest dangers is that it takes longer than planned. Employees usually have one dislike meetings that are too long, and rightly so, as they can be incredibly boring and prevent people from doing real work instead. To keep your meeting on schedule, keep an eye on the clock, and if you get the chance, politely proceed by saying something like, "We really need to move on to the next topic if we want to get out of here on time. "
   • However, meetings often don't go according to plan, so you should be prepared to compensate if any part of your meeting takes longer than you'd like. Be flexible in discussing as much as possible in the limited time you have for your meeting. For example, if part of your meeting is overdue, you can trim the discussion for other parts of your meeting, or omit relatively unimportant parts of the meeting altogether to make sure it ends on time.
3. Start writing your agenda well before the meeting. While calendars are not necessarily as important as other types of business documents (such as reports, spreadsheets of data, presentation slides, etc.), you still want your calendar to look as professional and slick as possible, especially if you share it with your colleagues during the meeting. meeting. To make sure you have enough time to produce a quality document, start writing your diary as early as possible.
   • Starting early also gives you the advantage of getting feedback on your meeting agenda. Sharing a preliminary version of your calendar with colleagues or supervisors, and asking for their input, can help you fix flaws and add missing details that weren't there before. If you wait until the last second to write your calendar, you may not have time to ask for this feedback.
   • While you can get away with writing agendas for regular everyday meeting the day before the meeting, it can take weeks to prepare for important meeting.
4. Share the agenda with the meeting attendees. To ensure that everyone comes to the meeting with full knowledge of the topic to be discussed, you will want to share the agenda with everyone in advance. Depending on the corporate culture where you work, this could mean printing several copies and handing them out personally, or simply emailing the calendar as an attachment. However you distribute your calendar, make sure it is free of technical errors before sending it.
   • Depending on the importance of the meeting, you probably want to give attendees the agenda at least an hour or two before the meeting. For large, important meetings, it may be necessary to send the agenda a day or more in advance.
   • Since people are often busy or forgetful, it's a smart idea to bring some extra copies of the agenda to the meeting in case someone forgets theirs.

Tips

• If someone cannot attend the meeting, consider creating an "Announced Absent" section at the top of the agenda, or leave space for this and simply announce it during the meeting.
• An excellent resource for one productive meeting is using "DARV": Goals, Agenda, Roles & Responsibilities. First of all, your meeting should have one objective to have. If you're just holding a meeting to give information, don't waste people's time with a meeting. Send them a newsletter. The goal should have an active component and if possible a product to display: "Set the quarterly goals for the team". The agenda is a list of topics you will tackle to achieve that goal, with a time limit to keep you on track. For example, "1. Check the status of last quarter's goals (15 minutes), 2. Any other business suggestions for goals (20 minutes), 3. Select top 5 goals (10 minutes), etc." For Roles and Responsibilities, you determine who leads the meeting, who takes notes, and who assigns action items that result from the meeting.
• If your company has a special form for calendars, use this form as a template. For some places, sticking to the formula is essential.
• Depending on what your colleagues prefer, it can be useful to have a deadline for people to propose ideas for the agenda. State a closing date and time and stick to it. Make room for additions where they improve the calendar, or when events replace your original calendar.