Work & meetings
Meeting preparation checklist
Run this checklist a day or two before you host a meeting. It starts by questioning whether the meeting should happen at all, then helps you build an agenda, brief attendees and avoid the last-minute scramble.
Decide whether to meet
Build the agenda
Invite and brief the right people
Sort the logistics
Why preparing a meeting pays off
The complaint is rarely that there are too few meetings; it is that meetings wander, start without a clear aim and could have been an email. Preparation is where that is fixed, because once people are in the room the structure is already set. Deciding the purpose first is the step most often skipped and the one that saves the most time: if you cannot write the outcome in a sentence, the meeting is not ready.
A written agenda sent in advance lets people arrive having thought about the topics rather than reacting on the spot, which shortens discussion and improves decisions. Keeping the invite list to people who genuinely need to be there respects everyone's time and keeps the conversation focused; others can be looped in through the notes. Surveys of office workers consistently rank poorly run meetings among the biggest drains on their week, and almost all of that waste is set in motion, or prevented, before anyone sits down.
A calculator that helps
Frequently asked questions
How far ahead should I send the agenda?
At least a day before for a routine meeting, and several days before if there is a pre-read or a significant decision. People need time to review material and gather their own input; an agenda that lands minutes before the start cannot do its job.
Who should I actually invite?
Only people who will make the decision, do the resulting work, or hold information nobody else has. Everyone who merely wants to stay informed can read the notes afterwards. Smaller meetings reach decisions faster and cost far less in combined time.
How do I keep a meeting from running long before it even starts?
Set a purpose you can state in one sentence, give each agenda item a time budget, and choose the shortest slot that fits. Most meetings expand to fill whatever length you book, so booking less is the simplest control.