Who Needs a Meeting Agenda?
Every successful conference call starts with a meeting agenda.
- Before the call, the agenda informs participants what they need to prepare
- During the call, the agenda keeps discussions on-topic and on-time
- After the call, the agenda is a reference, documenting outcomes and assignments
A functional agenda does more than just list items—it drives effective action. But one size doesn’t fit all. Meetings are called for various reasons. An effective agenda is structured to help accomplish the team’s needs. Whether that is to assess work status, prep for a project, address urgent problems, or review completed accomplishments. The right meeting agenda will not only keep your conference call or online meeting on time and organized, but can help facilitate project success.
Here are some of the best agenda templates we’ve found to meet a variety of your conference call needs.
Meeting Agenda For Conference Calls That Require Preparation
This template accompanies a smart tutorial on effective meetings by organizational psychologist Roger Schwartz. His agenda template contains three simple columns—topic, preparation needed, and proposed process. Fore each topic, include which team member is responsible, why the topic is included, and the time allotted. [Harvard Business Review]
Meeting Agenda for Conference Calls About Urgent Problems
When you need to problem solve on the spot, discussion and action must happen together. Use this template. Items included are a situation report, a solution constraints discussion, brainstorming, and next steps. This template is from Lucid Meetings, a consulting firm that helps companies have better meetings. [Lucid Meetings]
Meeting Agenda for Conference Calls with Many Action Items
This template is the one marketing expert Daniel Burstein uses. Along with agenda items, it dedicates space to action items—including who is responsible and the due date. This serves as both an agenda and documentation. [MarketingSherpa]
Meeting Agenda For Conference Calls That Require Robust Documentation
An extensive, three-page agenda. Page one covers the details and planned topics of the meeting. Page two is for noting items that should be covered at the next meeting. Page three is a place to document the meeting’s minutes. [4Good]
Meeting Agenda For Conference Calls By Project or Product Manager
This combination agenda and minutes template is designed for project or product managers. It includes dedicated areas for both opportunities and risks. [TechWhirl] This agenda works well during a video conference where engaging debate will be had and should be documented.
Meeting Agenda For All-Hands Company Conference Calls
Company meetings are a unique case—they must be heavily stage-managed to keep the entire agency interested without omitting important information. This agenda template organizes meeting sections by business area. It should work for most companies. Read the accompanying article with tips for CEOs on how to run these meetings. [Geckoboard]
General Conference Call Meeting Agenda Templates
These agenda templates aren’t designed for a specific type of meeting or topic. If none of the categories above fit your conference call type, or if you want something simple, choose one of these.
Classic Meeting Agenda: A basic outline that feels simple and casual. [Microsoft Office].
Business Meeting Agenda: This formal agenda has a column for the beginning and end times of agenda items, to help keep the meeting on track. [Microsoft Office]
Meeting Minutes: This template serves as both a formal agenda and a recap document. [Microsoft Office]
Modern Meeting Agenda: This template is set up as a conference agenda, but can be altered for any meeting. Of the Microsoft templates, this has the most modern, clean look. [Microsoft Office]
Branded Meeting Agenda: This template is organized in outline form. It has space to include a company logo. [Smartsheet]
Conference Call Meeting Agenda: This template includes an area for details specific to conference calls. [Smartsheet]
Action Item Checklist Template: A basic agenda with a line for each item, with how long that item’s supposed to be talked about and who is responsible for it. If you use Evernote you can save this to the program. [Evernote]
Designing Your Meeting Template
Your meeting agenda also sends important signals about how you want the conference call or video conference to feel. If you want a more free-flowing conversation, keep the agenda light. If you have a lot to get through, you’ll want a more detailed and air-tight agenda.
The design of your agenda should match the meeting’s tone. A get-to-know-you meeting or a simple check-in might have a casual, even whimsical agenda design. But consequential calls like performance reviews or audit report presentations require more formal agendas.
Choose the agenda template that fits your conference call or online meeting and drive success from the very start.
