by Mary Rose-Sellers

Created on: August 05, 2010   Last Updated: November 01, 2010

A meeting agenda is crucial in order to have a successful meeting.  How many times have we gone into a colleague’s or manager’s office and tried to discuss an issue that has come up?  Did we get out of the office with an answer?  In most cases no.  Even though the door was shut, there was always someone who needed to come to the office with just a minor question that had to be answered right away.  And we are left with thousands of questions on the issue that we originally entered the colleague’s or manager’s office. 

Calling a meeting and creating a meeting agenda is the only way issues can be discussed and come up with a solution to any topic that needs to be resolved.  When too many people are involved in a project, a meeting has to be called to address the issues.  When people meet, ideas are flowing, for either solving a problem, discussing how to bring more business into the company, or even setting priorities of who can team up and work on a specific project. 

When a manager or even a colleague calls a meeting he/she should be well prepared to include everything that needs to be discussed in that meeting. 

The organizer of the meeting should consult anyone who is involved on that specific project.  Those individuals can bring any issues or concerns into the meeting, thus becoming part of the agenda.  In return, the organizer should make an outline of all the subjects and what exactly needs to be discussed.  Depending on the subject, the organizer should allow appropriate time for the discussion and resolution of the problem.  Depending on how important the subject is, it will determine how much time should be allotted.  For example, if it’s a minor problem and only needs ten minutes to bring it up and come up with a solution, then the ten minutes should be allotted.  But if the subject needs more than ten minutes then longer time should be set. 

If the meeting is a full day event or even half a day, then there should be breaks and lunch times incorporated into the agenda.  Attendees can become restless if they don’t have any breaks.  The mind stops working after a while and a break is needed to refresh. 

As an organizer, let the attendees know of specific items they need to prepare on.  If there are copies to be distributed during the meeting, then note those as part of the agenda.  When everyone involved gets the meeting agenda prior to the meeting, they know what to bring with them and what to be prepared on.  By distributing the agenda early on to all the attendees, the organizer will be more than successful in running an effective meeting.  Thus having a rewarding and profitable meeting and worthwhile of everyone’s time. 

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