In this blog post, we’ll explain the most common mistakes made when it comes to agendas, and how to make your meetings run more efficiently – whether you’re a team leader, manager, project manager or HR professional.
Agendas are critical for running effective meetings. Not only does a meeting agenda ensure every attendee is clear on the topics to be discussed so they can show up prepared, but it keeps things on track and keeps the conversation productive. There’s less chance of the meeting running over, and it helps to promote accountability. Despite this, research has shown that only 37%* of organisers say they always use an agenda. There can also be a lack of understanding about what a meeting agenda should include, which can lead to time-wasting and disengaged attendees – neither of which is ideal!
In this blog post, we’ll explain the most common mistakes made when it comes to agendas, and how to make your meetings run more efficiently – whether you’re a team leader, manager, project manager or HR professional.
The number one thing to consider when planning a meeting is the intended outcome of the session. Without this, your meeting can quite easily fall to pieces – which is not the result anyone wants! A lack of defined objectives can not only lead to confusion about the purpose of the meeting, but can also waste a lot of time – and let’s face it, our time is more precious than ever.
The solution? Be concise, ensuring each discussion point is specific and easy to understand. Visual aids, like whiteboards, are an excellent way to present your agenda and clearly defined meeting goals. Not only is this paperless communication tool simple yet powerful, but there’s a huge range available for different types of office spaces, from large wall-mounted whiteboards or smaller portable options.
It's easy to become overwhelmed or fatigued when you have too many agenda items – our brains can only really focus on so much at once. Plus, you’re much more likely to run out of time if you’re trying to cover more topics than can reasonably fit into your meeting duration.
We suggest limiting your agenda to 3-5 key topics to help keep everyone on track, and to have the productive conversations you really need to be having within your business. If you have more to talk about, a follow-up meeting would be a better solution. This way, you can give your important topics space to be explored thoroughly, and keep everyone in the room engaged.
Constantly running out of time and racing through the last few points on your agenda? You’re not the only one. Time management is one of the most important factors when planning an agenda. Aside from the fact that it can delay the end of your meeting (which equals unhappy colleagues), but you run the risk of missing important information.
Our advice? Take a look at the topics you want to discuss during your meeting and have a think about how long you want to spend talking about each one. You don’t necessarily need to divide the time you have equally amongst the number of topics, but have a plan. Then, if conversations escalate, you can simply note it down and follow up after the meeting. Giving every agenda item time to shine means you and your team can be more thorough. Of course, staying flexible and adapting the agenda based on the flow of the discussion is also important, so you’ll need to strike a balance.
Without having visibility of the agenda before the meeting, your employees are likely to feel unprepared, and a lot less likely to get involved in discussions. You run the risk of missing out on valuable input, especially from staff members who perform better when they can plan ahead – remember, not everyone is skilled at thinking on their feet and that’s OK.
Sending your agenda ahead of time helps your attendees feel prepared with any facts, figures and updates they need, so they’re ready to participate and engage. And once it’s tied down, write it up somewhere everyone can see during the meeting, such as a large flipchart or whiteboard, to remind everyone what’s being covered from the second they enter the room. If your attendees know what to expect, they’re more likely to get involved in breakout discussions and brainstorming sessions. If these will be featuring in your meeting, don’t forget to come prepared with all the accessories you need for everyone to engage and participate efficiently.
Not assigning roles for your meeting can end in disaster. At the very least, wasted time, whilst you decide who’s going to be doing what during the start of the meeting. That’s one sure-fire way to disengage everybody from the very beginning.
It’s important to know who’ll be facilitating, note-taking, time-keeping, following up (and any other role that’s important to your meeting) in advance, as this isn’t something you want to be deciding at the beginning of your session. This gives everyone a clear purpose and understanding of who’s responsible for what – and they’ll feel far more organised and productive as a result. Top tip: whoever is in charge of note-taking would benefit from a good-quality flipchart pad, with plenty of space to write notes and large enough for everyone to see.
Ready to write up your agenda? Here are our key components for a successful meeting agenda. Cover all these points, and enjoy an efficient and productive meeting.
· Clear meeting name
· Date, time and location, whether that’s a physical or online location
· Overall objective or goal
· List of discussion points with time allocation for each
· Decide who is responsible for leading each point
· Attendees list
The key to a successful meeting is a thorough agenda. Not only does it help the meeting run smoothly and prevent it from running over, but it allows your attendees to prepare in advance and contribute effectively. Agenda set clear expectations so everyone knows not only what is being addressed, but what is expected of them, and it helps stop conversations from veering off-topic. You may even find your business will end up with less meetings as a result, because the meetings you do have will be far more efficient!
Try taking a look at the meetings you’ve got coming up over the next few weeks. Do they all have an agenda? If not, take this as your sign to get planning.