How to Write a Business Meeting Agenda

As a VC, here is exactly what I emailed every portfolio CEO before we joined their board: “Most BOD meetings create a huge burden on the CEO and are unproductive. You don’t have to make pretty slides (unless you’re visually inclined). A written memo format works too. Just make sure to send out any BOD materials at least 3 days ahead. Assume everyone has read it in advance so you can focus on the big picture. Think of the BOD meeting as a chance to get free advice on 1-3 strategic topics where you think other BOD members can help you. Aim for less than 20% of the time to be focused on metrics and at least 80% on the strategic topics of your choice. It all starts with how you structure the agenda. Don’t give too much time to the financials & metrics (as long as you sent them out in advance). Here’s an example of a format that can work well: 5m: CEO update 5m: Financial update 5m: Metrics update 5m: Industry updates 20m: Strategic Topic 1 20m: Strategic Topic 2 20m: Strategic Topic 3 10m: CEO & BOD members only discussion An example of some strategic topics to discuss might include: - We have 9 months of cash left, how should we manage burn - Our customer base is too concentrated. Let's chat about diversification. - Privacy policy changes in the industry and our reaction? - Can we get input on next year's proposed annual plan? - Should I promote this internal candidate or go external? - Our team and I are feeling burned out, what are we doing wrong? - I want to pivot the business, let's walk through my plans. Feel free to bring in other executives or fractional leaders if it helps sets context but make sure there’s enough time for just you & the BOD (e.g. the executive session).” No one gave me any of this advice and just expected me to know what to do. I wasted so much time putting together slides and then felt obliged to explain every single metric. It was also so boring for everyone involved. When you focus on strategic topics, you can put your BOD members to work for you and help you think through things that are important to you. It took years and years of making these mistakes until I finally figured out how to use this time wisely… so I truly hope this helps other Founders.

I helped a COO cut delivery delays by 92% with one focused, 30 minute review a week. But it didn’t start that way. When I first met him, the teams were spending hours a week talking about priorities and alignment. They didn’t need that much time, They just didn’t know any different. Before I begin, a few terms I want you to be familiar with: Big Rocks - These are the most important goals of the week. We specify them, give a good definition of done, go over any questions, and then delegate them. Blockers - Anything that makes our big rocks impossible. These must be cleared ASAP. Openings - Optimizations that come up during our review, and are worth pursuing at this time. If they’re good ideas, but not worth pursuing now, we can still list them without an owner. With those out of the way, here is my condensed agenda for the most important meeting of the week: 1. Review last week Go over each Big Rock with the owner, as well as its status. If it’s still in progress, the owner should have an estimated completion date. If it’s too big to estimate, it’s too big of a rock. Chip it down. If it’s blocked, a fix needs to be identified and assigned with a deadline (more on that later). 2. Decide this week’s big rocks These are high leverage activities that will make everything else you do easier. They should be needle movers, not just busy work. As each is decided, discuss them in enough depth that everyone knows what the ideal outcome is, and how they can help deliver it. Clearly assign one owner to each rock. Confirm that they understand the outcome, and that all their questions have been answered. Document a clear first step so everyone knows how the ball is going to get rolling. 3. Blockers As you’re discussing past and future rocks, blockers will surface. These MUST be documented and assigned with clear deadlines. They should be assigned to the person who can clear them and 80% of the time that should NOT be you. If you’re having blockers assigned to you often, have someone shadow you on them a few times so you can eventually delegate to them. 4. Openings Throughout the discussions, opportunities for optimizations will also come up. These should only be pursued if 1) an attendee (not you) volunteers to take them on, and has the bandwidth to do so, or 2) they clearly tie back to a bigger objective that is already present. These are stretch goals unless they specifically become big rocks. Once they’re agreed on, assign an owner to them along with a clear next step so there’s a push to get the ball rolling. It may take a few times before ownership reviews like this become natural, but they are the single highest leverage activity you can do in only 30 minutes. I’ve even seen good reviews even start to replace the need for some of the other weekly meetings! 📌 Comment “Review” and I’ll send you my complete guide so you can start saving time too!

Bad meetings cause you to bleed profits. Having no meetings also bleeds profits. The real difference between teams that scale profitably and teams that stall? The teams that GSD know how to run meetings and keep them on track. Those meetings become result sessions that lead to faster results, lower costs, higher customer/client retention, rainbows and unicorns... all the good things. But all the project management literature glosses over and dances around one key aspect. I learned it the hard way: running meetings can be like sparring in martial arts. Drop your guard for a second, and you could catch a sucker-punch. I’ve seen meetings bleed away time, money, and opportunity from the business just as fast as a beat down sparring match. Over the years and 10,000 hours of projects, I noticed that the difference between well-run meetings and the rest were also similar to martial arts in one way - prepare for disruption. How do you stop these characters from wrecking your meeting? Like in martial arts, it starts with your stance. In business that means a specific type of proven agenda: 1/ Quick review of scorecards/metrics 2/ Red/green on goals and success criteria 3/ Progress on commitments since last meeting 4/ Issues and blockers that need decisions (most of your time here) 5/ Clear commitment and ownership of results for next time Then, you need to practice dealing with some of the attackers: - The Agenda Saboteur – Hijacks the meeting with off-topic distractions. - The Stress-scalator – Amplifies tension, making everything feel like a crisis. - The Bot Gangster – Overloads the team with AI tools and data with no clear action. - The Endless Loop Lover – Circles the same issue without ever deciding. - The Status Vomiter – Drowns the room in irrelevant status updates. - The Numbers Phobiac – Avoids data, flying blind on key decisions. - The Accountability Avoider – Shifts blame and dodges ownership. - The Checked-Out Challenger – Disengaged but ready to argue when called on. If you’re prepared and relentless, you won’t just survive these meetings—you’ll leave feeling in control, proud of your team, and on track to win faster than ever before. And if these are for your clients, you'll see stronger client retention and growth. To see some real world tactics in action check out this week’s ResultMaps YT drop, with the help of Marnie Stockman of Lead It Like Lasso, Work in Progmess, Clare Price, CEPA of Octain , Dana Lee of Trellis, and Max Traylor of Beers with Max. Watch the video now to protect customer retention, stakeholder trust, and profitable growth.

One change that’s sparked remarkable improvements at Launch Potato: A new action-oriented meeting agenda. Here’s the breakdown of our EOS-inspired framework: 1. Ice Breaker (5 min) Starting with an ice breaker sets the tone for the meeting. It helps to shake up nerves and get the energy flowing between team members. Change it up every week to keep things fresh. 2. Quote of the Week Incorporate a motivational quote to inspire the team. We recently pulled this one from the famous football coach Vince Lombardi: "It's not whether you get knocked down. It's whether you get up." 3. Scorecard/Metrics (5 min) Review key metrics. If something’s off track, note the issues to be addressed. 4. Customer Headlines (5 min) Share customer stories, both positive and negative. Drop the negatives into the issues list for discussion later in the meeting. 5. Review Action Items from Last Week Quickly go through the previous week’s action items. If something isn’t yet completed, add it to the issues list. 6. Issues / Opportunities (60 min) This is where the magic happens. Spend the bulk of the meeting solving the biggest problems and sizing up opportunities that will move the business forward. Why This Agenda Works • Clarity and Leadership Everyone knows the agenda and their role in it. Clear leadership ensures issues are resolved quickly. • Action-Oriented Problems are identified, discussed, and solved promptly. No more long-winded discussions that go nowhere. • Productivity and Satisfaction We have seen a significant increase in revenue and team happiness since implementing this structure. The team feels more productive and less stressed. Outcomes - Enhanced productivity - Less stress - Quick resolution of issues - Continuous forward momentum Implement this structure in your meetings, whether remote or in-person, and watch your team’s efficiency and morale take off. Ready to transform your meetings?

Most meetings are painful, which means you can instantly set yourself apart by running one well. It got easier for me when I realized that a meeting only answers 4 questions. It's so much easier to organize an agenda and decide what topics should be in or out: 1. What should we do? Examples:  - Nurse's Week is coming up, how will we celebrate? - The supplier increased its prices. Do we change suppliers? Raise our prices? 2. What are our commitments and how are we doing on them? Examples: - The team goal was to increase sales by 10% this quarter. What's the progress? - We wanted to increase uptime to 99.999%. What did last month look like? - - Did we complete our plans? 3. What story are we a part of? Examples:  - The quarterly financials show us what trends are happening. - A review of social media mentions reveals what buzz our brand is generating. 4. What are the rules? Examples: - We've changed our travel and expense policy, and here's what you need to know. - New safety regulations have come into effect. Here’s what we must do differently starting immediately. --- Pro tip: spend the entire meeting on one of those questions. If the topic is so short that you can add another question, at least structure your agenda so that you focus on one question at a time. You can increase clarity, team satisfaction, and productivity when you do "the little thing" of preparing meetings well. Bonus tip: Never let your meetings go long. Treat attendees like their time is valuable, and they will express unending gratitude.

Don’t throw away your opportunity to influence in that big meeting coming up. Most people sabotage themselves by skipping this simple step. You have that big one-on-one meeting coming up. It's with someone important: your boss's boss, a future mentor, prospective customer, or key partner. You’ve spent 20 hours tweaking the presentation, battling formatting, and stressing about how to make the slides shine. But you forgot a key step that only takes 10 minutes. Most people fail to send a short agenda note 24 hrs before the meeting. That's a miss. Send that note! It tells them you’re organized, on top of it, and can communicate your message in a short email. In your note, include: 1️⃣ The goal of the meeting 2️⃣ A rough agenda about how you want to spend the time (i.e. 5 min intros, 15 min ideas, 10 min decision making) 3️⃣ Any pre-read slides for them to review If you set expectations and goals before the meeting, you are more likely to get what you want during the meeting. Thirty minutes goes by fast — especially if you are nervous. Give yourself a leg up on getting what you want out of the half hour. You’ll also notice this decreases the chances the meeting gets moved, shortened, or canceled by the other person. They will see how intentional you are about your time with them, and they'll want to keep it. Pick an important meeting you have next week — you know, the kind that matters for your career — and send a short note 24 hrs before the meeting. If this was helpful, consider resharing ♻️ with your network, and follow me Jenny Wood for more actionable tips to thrive professionally.

“I hate our team meetings.” That’s what a marketing leader told me last week. They were at 8:30 am on Mondays. 🫠 People listed off long task lists. No one said much. No one left energized. People said they were a waste of time. She knew they weren’t useful—but didn’t know what to do instead—and she’d inherited the meeting from someone else. She was spinning with ideas, overwhelmed, and had zero time to rebuild from scratch. She also worried—𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲? So I shared the meeting structure I used with my own team during one of our busiest seasons—when the business had tripled in size. She loved it. She’s planning to implement it. And she left our meeting feeling excited, re-inspired, and *heard.* Here’s the agenda I shared – “trash or treasure” as you see fit! ***** 👥 Rotating Roles: Each week, someone new leads the meeting + takes notes 🔁 Quick Check-In (4 min) Each person shares 1 personal + 1 professional update (You can add 1–10 ratings for energy or clarity) 📌 Forward Planning (10 min) → Quick update from the team lead (strategy-level insight & any changes) → Top 2–3 priorities from each team member (not a laundry list) ❓Questions for team lead (10 min) → Space for the team to get clarity, or ask for support → Could be about a project, working with another team, or professional development 🎯 Key Focus Area (12 min) → 1-2 pre-chosen topics to dig into together (e.g., brainstorm, challenge, idea) 🧱 Challenges & Roadblocks (7 min) → What’s in the way—and what might help? → Team was expected to come with initial ideas to solve said problem/roadblock, too 🎉 Wins & Gratitude (2 min) → One work win + one thing you’re grateful for ✅ End with Action Items → Recap who’s doing what by when ********** Team meetings don’t have to drain you. They can fuel your week. And you can cancel them if you don’t need them on a particular week! 💭 Want more team rituals that support real work and real humans? This is the kind of human-centered leadership work I love helping people with. ⚡ PS – I'm building something for leaders who want clearer, smarter, more human ways to lead (and robust lives outside of work!). If you want first dibs when it drops, comment “early list” or DM me and I’ll make sure you’re in.

Product marketers - why do most GTM meetings fall flat? Because there isn't a clear plan in place. Take it from someone who's been there (me!): It's incredibly challenging to lead a call where only a handful of people are actually paying attention and contributing. So, here's how I've learned to make GTM meetings genuinely more effective: 1) Reset on the basics to make sure: → No one is bored or annoyed. → Everyone is on the same page. → You achieve actual results. 2) Map out your plan: > Ensure mutual benefit: The meeting should add value for both you and the GTM team, not just be a session for assigning tasks. > Define clear objectives: Set specific and meaningful goals for each meeting. Merely checking in isn't enough. Most status updates fall into the "could have been an email or Slack" box. > Align with attendees: Match the meeting goals with the attendees' roles and responsibilities, ensuring key decision-makers are involved for crucial topics. No one likes being in meetings just because, so be ruthless with who is needed, optional, and not included (RACI and other frameworks can really clarify this). 3) Set a clear agenda: > Keep it concise: To maintain focus and keep everyone engaged, use brief titles for agenda items instead of lengthy descriptions. > Combine smaller topics: Avoid clutter by grouping related points, helping attendees digest the information better. > Mind the timing: Allocate specific times for each agenda item, including time for introductions, discussions, and wrapping up with actionable next steps. It is super simple in theory….but not often practiced IRL. There are so many moving parts in most of what product marketing owns. Clarifying that product marketing is the quarterback and knows the who, what, when, and where will get you a seat at the table. Not clarifying this will have folks chirping with "i dOn'T kNoW WhAt pRoDucT mArKeTiNg eVeN dOeS"...and no one has time for that. #ProductMarketing #GTM