12 Professional Meeting Agenda Templates For All Departments

Poorly structured meetings are a total productivity killer. Your team can lose focus and tune out when they don't know what the goal of the meeting is, or what's expected of them.

But a well-crafted, professional meeting agenda will help you make the most out of your team and keep conversations on track. So, how do you write a super-focused meeting agenda?

To get you started, we’ve got 10 meeting agenda templates for all departments and occasions and tips for writing a meeting agenda that actually works.

10 Meeting agenda templates to inspire you

Whether you're running an all-hands meeting, one-to-one performance review, or stand-up meeting, we've got the meeting agenda template for you.

1. One-on-one meeting agenda template

One-on-one meetings are regular check-ins between a manager and their direct report. These meetings allow employees to give feedback, ask questions, and raise concerns. Even though a 1-1 might be more informal than other staff meetings, remember it’s still meeting best practice to share an agenda ahead of time.

One-on-one meeting agenda template

Here's a one-on-one meeting agenda template created by Joanne Mika Hayashi, President and Co-Found at Breast Cancer Hawaii.

Attendees: [Employee name], [Line manager name]

Date: [Time and date]

Duration: 30 minutes

Checking in [5 minutes]

What’s new in your world?

Recent wins [5 minutes]

I’m feeling good about…

Current obstacles [5 minutes]

I’m stuck on…

Other topics [5 minutes]

Any additional discussion items?

Next 2 weeks [5 minutes]

I’m committing to…

2. All-hands meeting

An all-hands is a company-wide meeting where everyone comes together to hear updates and announcements. They’re typically held once a month or once a quarter.

Sometimes, all-hands meetings also include Q&A sections, team building, or brainstorming. If your team is remote, the best virtual meeting platforms make this easy with lots of built-in engagement features, like Livestorm’s Q&A tab, breakout rooms, and emoji reactions.

All-hands meeting agenda template

Attendees: All

Date: [Time and date]

Duration: 1 hour

Meeting goal

To share company announcements and celebrate wins.

Who we are [10 minutes]

• Company values
• Audience and core value proposition
• Current goals and objectives

General announcements [15 minutes]

• Company updates
• New team members and role changes

Departmental updates [15 minutes]

• Operations and HR
• Marketing
• [Department 1]
• [Department 2]

Wins [5 minutes]

• [Employee name 1]
• [Employee name 2]
• [Employee name 3]

Nominate your team members for shoutouts by emailing [insert email address] by [insert date].

Any other business [10 minutes]

• [Agenda point 1]
• [Agenda point 2]
• [Agenda point 3]

Add your agenda points by emailing [insert email address] by [insert date].

3. Project kick-off meeting

These meetings make sure everyone involved in a new project understands the goals, scope, and timeline. It should be a quick meeting to get buy-in, establish roles and responsibilities, and show participants where to find further resources to support their work.

In project kick-off meetings, visual aids like presentation slides can help your team get a complete understanding of what’s expected of them. For virtual meetings, make sure your online meeting software has media sharing enabled.

Project kick-off meeting agenda template

Attendees: [Insert names and roles]

Date: [Time and date]

Duration: 30 minutes

Meeting goal

To establish project timelines, workflows, and next steps.

Introductions [5 mins]

• Project background/context
• Current challenges and objectives

Project management [10 mins]

• Teams, roles and responsibilities
• Resources and workspaces
• Meeting frequency

Timeline [5 mins]

• Deadline for completion: [Date]
• Project phases and workflows

Wrap-up [5 mins]

• Next steps
• Date of next meeting: [Time and date]

4. Brainstorming meeting

Brainstorming sessions are meant to be creative, open-ended discussions. The goal is to generate new ideas, so it's important to come prepared with prompts and some structure while leaving room for blue-sky thinking. Share the agenda in advance to get your team thinking about the topic and doing any research required.

Brainstorming meeting agenda template

This brainstorming session agenda is based on a template by Courtney Symons, Lead Writer at Shopify.

Attendees: [Insert names and roles]

Date: [Time and date]

Duration: 1 hour

Icebreaker [10 minutes]

• Tell me a story about…

Session rules [5 minutes]

• No idea is stupid
• Postpone criticism. Feel free to ask clarification questions, but wait until the team decides whether to dig into that particular idea to provide any constructive feedback
• Don't focus on the solution in the early stages of the brainstorm — just focus on the problem
• You don’t need to raise your hand to speak, but make sure you’re not cutting anyone off
• No phones or laptops

Brainstorming [20 minutes]

1. How can we get people to perform X specific actions?
2. How can we overcome X challenge?
3. How can we achieve X result?

Voting [10 minutes]

Vote for preferred ideas.

Prioritization [10 minutes]

• Task ownership
• Completion deadlines

Pro tip: remote brainstorming sessions can be just as effective as in-person ones. With Livestorm as your meeting software, you can use interactive whiteboards (like Miro) to capture ideas and live polling to vote on the best ones.

5. Stand-up meeting

Stand-up meetings (or “scrums”) are a type of daily meeting that's common in Agile workflows. They’re used to quickly review progress updates and identify any obstacles so the team can tackle them asynchronously (i.e. after the meeting). They should always be quick meetings, focused on giving updates rather than problem-solving.

Daily stand-up meeting agenda template

Attendees: [Insert names and roles]

Date: [Time and date]

Duration: 20 minutes

Meeting goal

To provide and receive work updates and flag any project blockers.

Project updates [5 mins per question]

• What was completed yesterday (or since the last standup)?
• What will be completed today (or until the next standup)?
• What blockers are you encountering?

6. Sales meeting

Sales teams need to meet regularly to review numbers, set goals, and strategize. The best sales meetings are more than update sessions: they boost productivity and empower the sales team with defined action steps. Most sales team meetings happen weekly.

Sales meeting agenda template

Here’s a template inspired by the meeting agenda experts at Hugo.

Attendees: [Insert names and roles]

Date: [Time and date]

Duration: 1 hour

Meeting goal

To share updates, wins, and blockers. There will also be time to problem-solve and confirm action steps.

General review [5 minutes]

• [Team lead name] to share updates on overall progress, key metrics, and anecdotes.

Individual reports [10 minutes]

Each team member provides a quick update of deal statuses, outreach progress, and other endeavors since the last sales meeting.

• [Sales rep name]
• [Sales rep name]
• [Sales rep name]

Positive highlights [5 minutes]

• Acknowledge big wins and milestones
• What valuable lessons were learned?

Roadblocks and concerns [10 minutes]

• Have any issues or challenges come up since the last team catch-up?
• How can we help solve them?

New information and resources [10 minutes]

• Industry news
• New metrics, trends, customer feedback, and market influences
• New team resources or training updates

Main takeaways [5 minutes]

What were the main insights from this sales meeting? Summarize:

• Key decisions made
• Progress reports
• Opportunities and issues

Action points [5 minutes]

• Which tasks need to happen next?
• Who is responsible?
• What are the deadlines?

Follow-up [5 minutes]

• How will we keep in touch and stay up-to-date about progress?
• Next meeting: [Time and date]

Pro tip: if you’re using Livestorm to host a virtual sales meeting, you can use the Handouts plugin to quickly share resources as you go. You can also use screensharing to show your analytics dashboard and talk through important metrics.

7. Performance review meeting

Performance reviews are an opportunity for team members to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses. They also allow managers to take stock of an employee’s performance, provide feedback, and offer support.

Often, HR teams will encourage line managers to follow a specific format for review meetings, which may involve scoring aspects of the employee’s performance. Typically, they’re held every 6 months.

Performance review meeting agenda template

Employee: [Name and role]

Line manager: [Name and role]

Date: [Time and date]

Duration: 1 hour

Reflection [10 minutes]

[Employee name] to reflect on everything that has happened since the last assessment:

• What went well?

What did you achieve? What elements of your role do you enjoy the most?

• What didn’t go well?

Did you encounter any issues or obstacles? Have any elements of your role caused stress or anxiety?

Company feedback [5 minutes]

[Employee name] to share any feedback on:

• Processes and workflows
• Company culture
• Leadership

Performance review [15 minutes]

[Manager name] to provide feedback on each aspect of [employee name]’s performance, according to their specific role and responsibilities:

• [Responsibility 1]
• [Responsibility 2]
• [Responsibility 3]
• [Responsibility 4]

Behaviour review [10 minutes]

[Manager name] to provide feedback on each aspect of [employee name]’s behavior, according to the company values and communication guidelines:

• Time management
• Communication
• Teamwork

Goals and measurables [10 minutes]

• [Employee name] to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals
• [Manager name] to confirm measurables to complete before the next assessment

Follow-up [5 minutes]

• Do we need regular check-ins to ensure goals and measurables are being met?
• Next assessment: [Time and date]

8. Retrospective meeting

Looking back over a project and identifying what worked and what went wrong is a vital step towards improving your processes. Retrospective meetings (a.k.a “retros”) are a chance for the team to reflect, generate ideas, and give feedback on workflows.

On longer projects, you have retros at regular intervals throughout. For short-term projects, you could wait until completion before reviewing it as a whole.

Retrospective meeting agenda template

This template is based on a team meeting agenda designed by Hugo. It works best for long-term projects with regular retros.

Attendees: [Names and roles]

Date: [Time and date]

Duration: 1 hour

Meeting goal

To record lessons learned and define opportunities and improvements.

Quick review [5 minutes]

• What’s happened since the last retrospective?
• Have all deliverables been completed on time?

Positive highlights [5 minutes]

• What went well?
• Were any special milestones accomplished?

Reflect on roadblocks [10 minutes]

• What issues or obstacles did we encounter?
• What specifically caused them?

Room for improvement [10 minutes]

• What lessons have we learned from the above?
• How do we solve or avoid these issues next time?

Other important feedback [5 minutes]

• Any other valuable insights

Main takeaways [5 minutes]

• What are the key takeaways from the meeting?
• What information needs to be shared with the wider team?

Take action [10 minutes]

• What are the next steps?
• Who is responsible for completing them and when?

Follow up [5 minutes]

• How will we keep in touch and stay up-to-date about progress?
• Next meeting: [Insert date and time]

9. Leadership team meeting

Leadership teams usually have regular meetings to discuss company-wide initiatives like strategy, culture, and goal-setting. You can also use this time to discuss notable successes and areas of concern among your direct reports.

Leadership team meeting agenda template

This agenda is inspired by a leadership team meeting agenda template created by David Cancel, CEO at Drift.

Attendees: [Insert names and roles]

Date: [Time and date]

Duration: 30 minutes

Meeting goal

For leadership to identify opportunities, raise issues, and share wins.

Engine dashboard overview [10 minutes]

Managers to provide team overviews (include prior goals, wins, losses, opportunities, concerns, and current focus areas).

• [Manager - team name]
• [Manager - team name]
• [Manager - team name]

Observations and learnings [10 minutes]

• Industry updates
• Team anecdotes
• Feedback
• Other

‍Calls to action (CTAs) [10 minutes]

• What does each functional team need from the rest of the leadership team?
• Next steps (who’s responsible? What’s the deadline?)

10. Board meeting agenda template

Regular board meetings ensure the company is moving in the right direction by reviewing its financials, discussing any legal issues, and setting strategies. There are usually a number of documents for board members to create and review prior to each meeting. It’s best practice to collate and share these documents one week in advance. For remote board meetings, it’s helpful to host all the required documents using cloud storage, e.g. Google Drive.

Board meeting agenda template

This board meeting agenda template is based on one created by Tomasz Tunguz, Partner at Redpoint Ventures.

Attendees: [Insert names and roles]

Date: [insert time and date of the meeting]

Duration: 1 hour

Call to order

A [meeting type] meeting of [organization name] was held on [date] at [location]. It began at [time] and was presided over by [chairperson’s name], with [secretary’s name] as secretary.

Attendance

• Voting members: [insert names]
• Guests [insert names]
• Not in attendance: [insert names]

Approval of minutes

‍A motion to approve the minutes of the previous [date] meeting was made by [name] and seconded by [name].

Matters up for decision

• Major strategic decisions
• Routine decisions

CEO report

• Current pressing issues
• Matters for approval
• Update on strategic plan implementation/rollout
• Critical Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
• Risk and compliance update
• Review financial statements and key reports

Committee minutes

• Audit and risk committee
• Governance committee

Other matters for discussion

• [Insert discussion points submitted by board members]

Meeting finalization

• Actions to be taken
• Items for public disclosure
• Next meeting: [insert date and time]
• Meeting close

Pro tip: when you host virtual meetings on Livestorm, you can customize your meeting invites to include links to relevant documents and send automatic email reminders to make sure no one misses the memo.

How to write a meeting agenda

A team meeting agenda should clearly outline the goals and objectives of the meeting and the order in which topics will be discussed. Here’s how to write an effective meeting agenda:

1. Define the purpose of the meeting

Knowing what type of meeting you need and why you need it will help you set achievable goals (and avoid hosting meetings that could have been an email). For example, you can host a brainstorming session (what) to come up with ideas for a new product line extension (why). Communicate both the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ to meeting participants in advance to set their expectations.

2. Assign a meeting facilitator

The meeting facilitator ensures that the meeting stays on track and that all attendees can voice their opinion. The facilitator might be the meeting organizer or someone familiar with the agenda. For example, if you're discussing a new product, the product manager would be an ideal facilitator. If you’re hosting a virtual meeting, the facilitator can use features like the chat tab or Q&A tab to keep an eye out for additional discussion points.

3. Be detailed (but not too detailed)

It’s far too easy to forget what needs to be discussed if your meeting agenda points are vague. For example, instead of simply adding “product launch” to the agenda, you could write

"product launch: discuss timeline, budget, and KPIs for the upcoming product launch." That extra bit of detail will also help meeting participants come prepared with updates and questions.

4. Estimate the time needed for each topic

It’s much easier to keep meetings focused if you set time estimates in advance and record them on your agenda. Your team will feel heard (and your meetings will be more productive) if you make sure everything can be discussed without getting derailed.

5. Put time aside for brainstorming

Team collaboration leads to boosted morale and better solutions. But brainstorming has a tendency to take over, so set a time limit and use a few tools to manage the discussion.

For example, if you host virtual meetings, you could use Livestorm’s Q&A tab and question upvoting to prioritize brainstorming topics. The automatic recording feature can also come in handy for making sure no interesting ideas get missed.

6. Clear expectations and responsibilities

Defining action points and assigning responsibility for each will ensure the meeting's goals are met. Be specific about what needs to be done, by who, and when. For example, "Joe to follow up with the vendor on the new product samples by Friday" is more actionable than "Follow up on the new product samples."

7. End each meeting with team feedback

Ask your team what they liked and didn't like about the meeting. You can do this after the meeting or during it. For example, Livestorm has engagement features like emoji reactions and live polling, which can be used to quickly gauge team feedback in real time. That'll help you continuously improve the way you run meetings based on your team’s experience.

A team meeting agenda example to try out this week

This team meeting agenda example is for a weekly check-in with team leads. The objective is to ensure everyone is on the same page, address any blockers, and help the team stay aligned with the company's objectives.

Weekly Team Meeting

Date: 2pm on Monday, June 17th

Meeting Length: 30 minutes

Facilitator: Deepti (Vice President)

Attendees: Imani (Sales), Amanda (Product), Keith (HR), Malik (Marketing).

Meeting goals [5 minutes]

• Agree on the timeline for phase one of the Website Revamp Project Plan
• Review hiring needs for Q3
• Approve marketing budget for Q3

Deminar revamp [Imani - 5 minutes]

• Design support needed for slides and video assets
• Registration pages to be updated

Q3 Hiring plan [Keith - 5 minutes]

• Sales team has grown by 120% over 12 months
• Not hiring in Q3

Marketing budget request [Malik - 5 minutes]

• Need to increase ad spend by 20% to hit quarterly targets
• Ideas we like for Q3: trade show sponsorship, gift cards, new Facebook campaign

Actions Item [5 minutes]

• Submit deminar asset briefs by next meeting on June 24th [Imani]
• Request new team member profiles by June 20th [Keith]
• Test Facebook ad campaign with $500 budget and report back on results July 1st [Malik]

Help your team stay on track with our meeting agenda templates

A good meeting starts with a well-designed agenda. By outlining the purpose and structure of your meeting in advance, you can give attendees a chance to prepare and make sure the meeting doesn’t get derailed. Remember to set time estimates and name the person speaking to each agenda item.

If you manage a remote team, a video engagement platform like Livestorm will support your agenda-writing efforts by integrating with your team’s calendar, sending automatic meeting invites, and keeping everyone engaged during the call. With Livestorm's automatic meeting recording feature, you can also capture the key points of your discussion and share them with team members who couldn't attend.

Frequently asked questions about meeting agenda templates

What is the purpose of an agenda?

The purpose of an agenda is to give structure to a meeting by outlining the topics to be discussed, issues people are facing, and the decisions to be made.

What's included in a meeting agenda?

A meeting agenda typically includes a meeting objective, brainstorming session, discussion of previous meeting action items, and expectations and responsibilities.

What are the steps to writing an agenda?

The steps to writing an agenda are to first determine the purpose of the meeting, list the topics that need to be discussed, brainstorm questions that need to be answered, estimate the time needed for each topic, assign a facilitator, and set expectations and responsibilities.

How do you run a meeting effectively?

You can run a meeting effectively by setting a meeting agenda in advance. Be sure to set time estimates for each discussion point to keep your team on topic. If you have remote colleagues, use a video conferencing platform with engagement features like live chat, polls, and Q&As. With Livestorm, you can invite participants to use interactive features and track their engagement in your analytics dashboard.