Go to exercises and answers

The Meeting Agenda

Agenda - the agenda is document (see examples on page 1) which is circulated in advance to all prospective meeting participants and which serves the following purposes:

Notice of meeting

The agenda serves as a notice of meeting if it is sent out to meeting participants in advance.

Sample agenda
For a meeting of a less formal nature

Sample agenda

For a formal monthly Committee Meeting

List of items/topics

The agenda is a list of topics that will be discussed. The agenda enables participants to prepare in advance for the topics so that they can make a more valuable contribution.

Prioritise meeting discussion

Topics that are of greatest importance should be placed first on the agenda. In this way the agenda prioritise meeting discussion time.

Briefs meeting participants

If the agenda includes items with which are unfamiliar to the meeting’s participants, the agenda item should be followed by some brief information as to what the item is about.

Limits discussion

The agenda helps the meeting chairperson to make best use of the time available. The agenda may have an amount of time stated for each item. Otherwise some topics may receive too much time and others too little.