Running a meeting: checklist
Most of what makes a meeting worthwhile happens before it starts and after it ends. The hour itself just needs a clear purpose and someone keeping time.
17 items
Makes your own editable copy. No account needed.
The items
- A single purpose the meeting exists for, written in the inviteIf it can't be said in one sentence, it's probably two meetings, or an email.
- Only the people who need to decide or need to knowEveryone else can read the notes. Including them out of politeness costs them an hour to save you an email.
- An agenda sent the day before, not read out for the first time live
- A time allotted per topic, and someone keeping half an eye on it
- Pre-reading sent early enough to actually be readAttaching a document ten minutes before start time is the same as not sending it.
- The room or the call tested: screen, cables, linkThe first five minutes lost to a cable are five minutes nobody gets back, multiplied across everyone in the room.
- Started on time, regardless of who isn't there yetWaiting for latecomers teaches everyone that time doesn't matter, and they learn it fast.
- One person taking notes, decided before it starts, not scrambled for after
- Quieter voices deliberately brought inThe loudest person in the room is rarely the one with the best idea, just the most comfortable speaking first.
- Decisions stated out loud as decisions"I think we're saying..." said aloud stops three people leaving with three different memories of what was agreed.
- Actions captured with a name and a date attached to each
- Never "the team" as an owner
- A date, not "soon"
- Ended on time, even unfinishedAn unfinished agenda is a reason for a follow-up, not a reason to run over into whatever's next for everyone in the room.
- Notes sent within a day, while the meaning is still obviousA week later, "agreed to revisit" could mean agreement or a shelved argument, and nobody remembers which.
- Actions checked at the start of the next oneA meeting whose actions are never followed up trains people to stop doing them.
- A standing invite reviewed occasionally for whether it still needs to existThe meeting that made sense months ago under a different team often just keeps running on its own momentum.
Makes your own editable copy. No account needed.
Questions people ask
- How long should a meeting be?
- As long as the agenda genuinely needs, timed per topic in advance. Meetings default to an hour because that's the calendar default, not because the topic needs one.
- What's the single biggest waste in most meetings?
- No decision stated out loud. Without it, three people leave with three different memories of what was agreed, and it resurfaces as an argument later.