Meeting Agenda Template (With Team, Staff and Board Examples)

The meeting agenda template

Copy this into Word, Google Docs, Notion, Outlook or the invite itself. The same layout works for a ten-minute huddle or a two-hour board meeting; only the items change.

MEETING:        [Name, e.g. Weekly team meeting]
DATE AND TIME:  [Day, date, start and finish time]
PLACE OR LINK:  [Room, or the video link]
CHAIR:          [One name]          NOTES: [One name, not the chair]
ATTENDEES:      [Names]             APOLOGIES: [Names]
OBJECTIVE:      [The one thing this meeting must produce]
PLEASE READ:    [Papers to read first, with links. Or "Nothing"]

TIME   ITEM                               LEAD       TYPE
00:00  Actions from last meeting          [Chair]    Inform
00:05  [Item that needs a decision]       [Name]     Decide
00:20  [Item to talk through]             [Name]     Discuss
00:35  [Update]                           [Name]     Inform
00:40  Any other business (brief points)  [Chair]    Inform
00:45  Read back decisions and actions    [Chair]    Close
00:50  Finish

Here's what each line is for.

The Decide, Discuss or Inform label does more work than it looks. An item marked Decide that ends without a decision is unfinished, and everyone can see it. An item marked Inform that turns into a debate can be stopped and moved, without anyone feeling cut off.

Pick an agenda for your meeting

Choose the meeting you're planning. The timings are our suggested starting points, so change them once you've run it a few times.

Agenda examples by meeting type

The picker gives you the outline. Here's what to watch for in each, with a filled-in team meeting agenda you can use as a model.

Team meeting agenda template

This is the agenda you'll use most. Its job is to agree the week's priorities and clear what's in the way, so blockers get the most time and updates get the least.

Here's a typical example, made up to show the shape.

Notice the decision comes early, while people are fresh, and the numbers are read out rather than discussed. If a number looks wrong, someone takes an action to look into it and the meeting moves on.

Staff meeting agenda template

A staff meeting brings the whole team together, so every minute costs more. The free meeting cost calculator shows how much. Keep it for what everyone needs to hear at the same time or decide together. Department updates that only matter to a couple of people belong in a written update, sent round before the meeting.

Leave real time for questions. A staff meeting where nobody asks anything is usually one where people have stopped expecting to be heard.

One-to-one meeting agenda

Let the other person put their items first. A one-to-one is the one regular slot where someone can raise a worry, so if you fill it with your project list, they'll stop bringing things to it. Keep a running page for each person, add to it between meetings and carry open actions forward.

Board meeting agenda template

A board meeting is the most formal meeting most small companies hold. The order above is a common one: housekeeping first (apologies, quorum, interests), then last time's minutes and actions, then reports, then decisions.

Send the agenda and the papers together. Each item for decision should have a short paper that says what's being asked, the options and the recommendation. If your company has articles of association, bylaws or a shareholder agreement, they may set notice periods, quorum and how decisions are recorded, so check them. This agenda is a starting point and doesn't replace them.

Weekly planning meeting agenda

Weekly planning is short and looks forward. It works best on a Monday, with a quick check on Friday to see what moved. If you already run a weekly team meeting, you can fold planning into it rather than adding another slot. Our guide to the weekly operating rhythm shows how the Monday plan and Friday check fit together.

Project kick-off agenda

A kick-off happens once, so it's easy to wing. Don't. Arguments later in a project often trace back to something nobody agreed at the start: what's in scope, what done looks like, who signs it off. If you're kicking off work for a client, use the client kick-off meeting agenda, which has an agenda for each kind of work.

How to write a meeting agenda in six steps

1. Write the objective first. One sentence on what the meeting must produce. If you can't write it, you may not need the meeting, and our post on meetings that move the business forward has a quick tool to check.
2. List only the items that serve it. Three to five items is plenty for a regular meeting. Everything else goes to a written update, a one-to-one or a later meeting.
3. Put decisions first. People are sharpest at the start, and a decision left to the end tends to get rushed or put off.
4. Give every item a time, a lead and a type. Check the times add up to less than the meeting, so there's room for the close.
5. Say what to read beforehand. Attach or link the papers and say so on the agenda.
6. Send it in good time. The day before is usually enough for a team meeting. Allow longer for anything with papers, and ask people to add items by a set time.

Then run the meeting to it. Start on time, move on when an item's time is up, and park anything that needs longer as an action with an owner.

Is your agenda ready?

Tick what's true of the agenda you're about to send.

Common agenda mistakes

Topics instead of outcomes. "Website" tells nobody what's needed. "Choose between the two website quotes" does.

Too many items. A long agenda feels thorough, but the last items get rushed or dropped. Cut it to what fits, and send the rest in writing.

No times. Without them, the first item takes as long as the loudest person wants.

An open-ended AOB. Any other business is fine for brief points. Anything bigger goes on the next agenda.

The same agenda for every meeting. A one-to-one and a board meeting need different shapes. Use the picker above to match the agenda to the job.

Skipping last time's actions. If nobody checks them, people soon learn that actions are optional.

After the meeting: minutes and actions

An agenda only gets you through the meeting. What happens afterwards depends on the record: what was decided, and who's doing what by when. Our meeting minutes template uses the same layout as this agenda, so the note-taker can fill it in as you go, with an example and a short action items list.

If you're working out which meetings to run in the first place, start with the best meeting templates for small teams, then fit them into a weekly operating rhythm.

SystemaFlow™ systems are done-for-you templates in Word and PDF, not software, so they sit alongside the calendar and task tools you already use. The free pack doesn't include this agenda, but it does give your meetings a week to sit in.