Board meeting agenda: format, example and template

What is a board meeting agenda?

A board meeting agenda is the running order for a meeting of the directors or trustees, and the cover page of the board pack that goes out before it. It does the same job as any meeting agenda, with higher stakes: the board's decisions bind the organisation, and its minutes will follow the agenda item by item.

A board agenda is rarely written from scratch. Most boards keep a calendar for the year, saying which meeting signs off the accounts and which approves the budget, and the company secretary drafts each agenda from it with the chair and the chief executive. What is left to decide is the order, and what can go in the pack instead of taking meeting time.

What order does a board meeting agenda follow?

Most boards take their business in this order:

1. Welcome, apologies and quorum
2. Declarations of interest
3. Minutes of the last meeting, and matters arising
4. Routine approvals taken together, if the board uses a consent agenda
5. Items for decision, including committee recommendations
6. Reports for noting, with questions only
7. Any other business
8. Date of the next meeting
9. Closed session, without staff, where the board holds one

Boards that follow Robert's Rules use different headings in a similar order, from the call to order to adjournment, and our agenda guide sets them out alongside the UK order. Either way, the board's minutes use the same item numbers, so a decision can be traced from the agenda to the paper to the resolution.

One common exception to "decisions first" is the chief executive's report. If the decisions that follow depend on it, such as a budget when income is behind forecast, the report goes first, kept short.

What goes in the board pack?

The board pack is the agenda and every paper for the meeting, sent together. A director should be able to prepare from the pack alone.

A cover sheet on each paper. A short box at the top saying who wrote it and what the board is asked to do with it: decide, discuss or note. Directors read the cover first, so a paper that asks for a decision should say so in its first line, with the decision written out.

Numbered to the agenda. Paper 2 belongs to item 2, and its appendices are 2a and 2b. Nobody should have to search the pack for the paper an item refers to.

On time. Set a deadline for papers, often ten days before the meeting, so the pack can go out about a week ahead. A paper that misses it waits for the next meeting, or comes for discussion rather than decision.

Short. A decision paper rarely needs more than a few pages before its appendices. A long paper moves the work of summarising from its author to every director who reads it.

Committee minutes go in the pack too, even when they are still drafts, because the board's decisions on committee recommendations rest on them. Our guide to committee meeting minutes covers how those reach the board.

How do you leave time for the board's decisions?

Send reports as papers. Updates that need no decision go in the pack for noting, so the meeting spends its time on questions rather than presentations.

Approve routine items together. Items such as the last minutes, or a policy review with no changes, can be approved in a single vote as a consent agenda. Any director can ask for an item to be taken out and dealt with on its own.

Let committees bring recommendations, not their whole discussion. The committee chair presents what the committee recommends and why; the committee's minutes are in the pack for anyone who wants the detail.

Give every item a time. The times should add up to a little less than the meeting. If they don't fit, move a report into the pack, or an item to the next meeting, before cutting short a decision.

End with a short closed session. Many boards finish every meeting with time for directors alone, without the chief executive or staff. Holding it every time means calling one never signals a problem.

Board meeting agenda example

The agenda for the board meeting whose minutes are the worked example in our board minutes guide.

The chief executive's report comes first and short, because the budget decision depends on the income figures in it. The items take 65 minutes of a 90-minute meeting, which leaves room for the opening business and the questions on paper 1. The closed session is last, so the two staff members leave once.

Board meeting agenda template

The template follows the board's order, with the closed session last. Download the Word file, free and with no sign-up, or copy it as text into your own document, and delete any heading you don't use.

The board minutes template follows the same order, so the minutes can reuse the agenda's item numbers. If you'd rather not write them by hand, Sorinai fills in your own Word template while the meeting runs: see how template filling works.

Board meeting agenda FAQ

Who sets the board meeting agenda?

The chair, usually with the chief executive and the company secretary, who drafts it from the board's calendar and any items directors ask for. Under Robert's Rules the agenda is a proposal until the board adopts it at the start of the meeting, which is when a director can move to add or reorder an item.

What is a board calendar?

A plan for the year saying which meeting takes each piece of recurring business, such as signing off the accounts or the chief executive's appraisal. The company secretary keeps it, and each agenda starts from it, so nothing the board has to do each year depends on someone remembering.

What is an executive session in a board meeting?

A part of the meeting held without management, so directors can talk freely about the chief executive's performance or pay. Many boards hold a short one at the end of every meeting. It is minuted separately, and the main minutes record only that it took place.

How long should a board meeting be?

Long enough for its decisions and not much more. Many boards meet for two to three hours, and a small charity board for an hour or two. If the agenda doesn't fit, move reports into the pack before shortening a decision.