The requirement to schedule a meeting always makes it necessary for companies to have an agenda. Inviting a group of people without providing an agenda will not serve any purpose. Companies that decide to invest a little time to create a professional agenda for the meeting in most cases end up on the successful side because they manage to create interest among the invitees making them feel compelled to attend.
Companies may have set dates for a meeting every month or even decide to schedule one unexpectedly. Regardless of how much or how little time the company has before the scheduled meeting it is extremely important for them to have a professional agenda created.
Companies need to understand that attendees value their time just as the companies do and the best method to evince interest among the attendees would be to have a professional agenda sent to them before the meeting.
Companies functioning in different industries may have some subjects to discuss when they schedule a meeting which requires the attendance of other members. The agenda will provide information on why the meeting has been scheduled by ensuring that the attendees have information about the discussion which they have been invited to participate in.
It is also a method to keep other members of the company informed about the subjects which will be discussed. Most importantly a professional agenda will ensure the timely commencement and conclusion of the meeting.
Companies always need to display a professional attitude regardless of who they are dealing with and for whatever reason. When matters relate to sending out agendas for meetings they are usually designated for the individuals who are required to participate in the meeting and also offer suggestions or raise objections to any matters being discussed for the benefit of the company. Companies cannot expect attendees to walk in and walk out of a scheduled meeting without an agenda.
A professional agenda for a meeting must be written by an experienced employee of the company who may have written the agenda earlier. They must consider the information they need to provide to the attendees while ensuring that the meeting does not extend beyond the scheduled hours.
They certainly have the liberty to exercise a degree of flexibility because unexpected discussions or objections are often known to scramble schedules without warning. The writer, however, needs to include the most common points of the meeting in the agenda before sending it out.
Points to consider while drafting Professional Agendas
- The date, time and location of the meeting should be mentioned at the start of the agenda.
- The name of the individual who has scheduled the meeting should also be mentioned.
- Preparing the agenda without providing the reasons for or the subject of the meeting will not serve its purpose, and therefore this information is crucial for the agenda.
- The attendees need to be given information about how long the meeting is expected to last.
- Information about any arrangements which have been made to care for the attendees also proves beneficial.
The writer should also make it known that the organizer of the meeting is prepared for a question-and-answer session if necessary because it will prepare the attendees for any delay which may occur.
Example of Professional Agenda 1
4-H Club Business Meeting Agenda
[Date, Venue And Time of the Meeting]
- Agenda.
- Call meeting to order.
- Call out the names or pass around a sign-in sheet to confirm the attendance of members.
- Introduction of the guests by the secretary of the club.
- Reading of the minutes by [name of the individual].
- Treasurers report provided by [treasurer].
- Correspondence report, 4H Council report, committee reports, project reports & other officers reports presented by individuals representing the respective departments.
- Pending business.
- Fresh business.
- Announcements.
Adjournment.
Example of Professional Agenda 2
[Date:]
Vendor Registration And Reception.
6 PM To 9 PM — Conference Reception – Join all conference attendees and guests for a casual evening of socializing and pure networking. Vendors are also welcome.
[Date:]
7:30 AM to 8:30 AM — check-in and breakfast.
8:30 AM to 8:45 AM — kickoff presented by [name of the individual] to welcome attendees and to go over the logistics of the conference, the agenda, and any items which need special mention.
8:45 AM to 9:45 AM — insider threats – mistakes, malice and mountain lions. Protecting against insider threats regardless of whether they are malicious or accidental is a difficult task especially when 71% of the employees confirm they have access to information which they shouldn’t be getting. Join us for a live presentation on how you can learn six tactics for preventing insider threats.
9:45 AM to 10:15 AM — break
10:15 AM to 11:15 AM — IBM – how the cloud is transforming the state government through operational innovation, ecosystem innovation, revenue model innovation or others.
11:15 AM to 12: 15 p.m. — level III – protecting the largest attack surface of the world. This presentation offers a deep view of an insider of managing and protecting the network by one of the largest Internet service providers the world that operates in over 60 countries.
12:15 PM to 1:15 PM — lunch
1:15 PM to 2:15 PM — structured goodbye for the aging phone system and hello to fresh business communication. Users presently need sharp tools which cannot be provided by VoIP systems. We will be discussing the options available and provide guidance on the criteria to be chosen when does anyone a new communications platform.
2:15 PM to 3:15 PM — VMware – software-defined data center. In this session, you will be given information about how to extend virtual computing to increase agility, speed, efficiency while lowering costs and automating IT operations to redeploy the resources for innovation with the state-of-the-art software-defined data center.
3:15 PM to 4:30 PM — break.
4:30 PM to 5 PM — both prize raffle.
6 PM to 7 PM — reception – members and vendors mingled together for casual socializing before dinner.
7 PM to 9 PM — dinner – registered guests and vendors are both welcome to attend.
9:30 PM to 10 PM — closing conference and attendee gift giveaway.
Having a professional agenda is a must for any meeting regardless of whether it is between just two people or 200. The professional agenda will determine how the meeting will progress and mean the difference between success or failure of the meeting for the company.