How to write a meeting agenda: format, example and template

7 min readUpdated September 2026By Thomas Hung

What goes on a meeting agenda, the order team, board and AGM agendas follow, how to write each item, a worked example, and a free Word template.

What is a meeting agenda?

A meeting agenda is the list of items a meeting will deal with, in the order it will take them, sent to everyone before it starts. The word is Latin for "things to be done". A good one means people arrive having read the papers, the meeting knows what it has to decide and when it ends, and whoever takes the minutes has a heading ready for every item.

Seen from above, four colleagues sit side by side at a pale table in a glass-walled meeting room, with folders, a notebook and mugs in front of them. The woman second from left is talking and the other three listen.
A team meeting working through its agenda, one item at a time. Photo: Theo Decker, Pexels.

The agenda and the minutes are two halves of one record. The agenda is written before the meeting and says what it will settle. The minutes are written after it and record what it did settle, in the agenda's order and under its item numbers.

What should be on a meeting agenda?

Most agendas carry the same fields, in this order:

  • The date, start time and finish time, and the place or video link
  • Who chairs
  • Who is expected, anyone joining for one item only, and any apologies already received
  • The objective: one sentence on what the meeting must settle
  • The items, numbered, each with what it must settle, who brings it, how long it gets, whether it is for decision, discussion or noting, and any paper to read first
  • Any other business and the date of the next meeting, as the last two lines

A board or committee also puts declarations of interest, the minutes of the last meeting and matters arising near the top, in a set order. The template below has these fields in this order.

What is the standard meeting agenda format?

The standard format is a heading with the date, time, place and chair, then numbered items in the order the meeting will take them. A team can order its items however its objective needs. Boards, committees and AGMs use a set order, so members know where each kind of business comes.

Team and staff meeting agendas

A team or staff meeting agenda usually runs:

  1. Follow-ups from the last meeting
  2. Items for decision
  3. Other items, with anything for noting sent round as a paper
  4. Any other business
  5. Date of the next meeting

The objective goes above the list. "Staff meeting" is the more common American name for the same thing.

Board meeting agendas (and committees)

A board or committee takes its business in a set order: apologies and the quorum, declarations of interest, the minutes of the last meeting and matters arising, then the decisions, then reports for information, any other business and the date of the next meeting. Practice varies. Some bodies take reports before the business, and many take routine reports as starred items, which go through without discussion unless a member asks.

A trustee board’s agenda in the usual order, with a clock time for every item and a paper for everything the board must read first.

Boards that follow Robert's Rules use different headings in a similar order: call to order, approval of the minutes, reports, unfinished business, new business and adjournment. The minutes guide sets out the full list. Many boards approve the agenda as their first business, which is the moment to add or move an item. The board meeting minutes template follows the same order as this agenda, so the minutes can reuse its item numbers.

AGM agendas

The annual general meeting of a charity, club or members' association usually runs:

  1. Welcome, apologies, proxies and quorum
  2. Notice of the meeting
  3. Minutes of the last AGM
  4. Chair's report
  5. Treasurer's report and the accounts, with the trustees' annual report for a charity
  6. Resolutions and elections: the accounts received, officers or trustees elected, and the auditor or independent examiner appointed where your constitution gives members that choice
  7. Any other business, if your constitution allows it
  8. Close
People of mixed ages sit in a row of white chairs in a bright hall, listening towards the front, with more people sitting and standing behind them. A folded sheet, a pen and a phone lie on an empty chair in the foreground.
Members listening from the floor. The AGM is where they hear how the year went and vote on who runs the next one. Photo: Viktoria Danielová, Pexels.

Your constitution sets what an AGM must cover and how much notice it needs, so check it first. A private company must give its members at least 14 clear days' notice of a general meeting under the Companies Act 2006. A charity whose rules are silent should give at least three weeks, according to the Charity Commission. The AGM minutes template follows this order.

How do you write a meeting agenda, step by step?

Write the objective first. One sentence on what the meeting must settle: "Choose the Q4 campaign concept, and decide whether paid search stays paused." If the only honest objective is "updates", an email may do instead. The objective also decides what stays off.

Collect the items. Ask members for items by a set date, any other business included. Standing items go on every time: the last minutes, matters arising, open actions and anything parked last time. An item that needs a paper and hasn't got one waits for the next meeting.

Write each item as what it must settle. Start with the verb: approve, choose, agree, decide whether, note. "Website" becomes "Choose the new website supplier". Name one person who brings it, never "all". An item that can't be written this way is usually an update, so mark it for noting or send it as a paper.

Items 4 to 7 as drafted, then rewritten in pen. Items 4 to 6 now say what they must settle, who brings them, how long they get and any paper to read first.

Mark each item for decision, discussion or noting. For decision: the meeting must reach one, and the minutes will record it as agreed or resolved. For discussion: views are wanted, and the decision comes later. For noting: nothing to decide, questions only. Many bodies say "for information" instead of "for noting", and some American boards mark decision items "action".

Order the items and give each a time. Put decisions early, while people are fresh and, for a formal body, still quorate. Send items for noting as papers, so they take little or no meeting time: questions only. The times should add up to a few minutes less than the slot. If they don't fit, move a whole item to the next meeting rather than shaving every one. Use clock times for a formal meeting and for anyone joining for one item. If the meeting runs over, the chair parks what is left rather than rushing a decision.

An older woman in a grey blazer and silk scarf points to a page in an open blue folder held by an older man in a dark sweater, as they stand reading it together by a tall window.
Going over the papers before the agenda goes out. In a board or committee, the secretary usually drafts it with the chair. Photo: RDNE Stock project, Pexels.

Send it with the papers. The pack is the agenda, the draft minutes of the last meeting, and each paper numbered to its item. If members haven't had a paper in time, take that item for discussion, not decision. How far ahead depends on the meeting.

Meeting agenda example

The agenda for the marketing team meeting whose minutes are the worked example in the minutes guide, filled into the template below.

Meeting agenda and minutes
Date & time

Tuesday 1 September 2026, 10:00

Meeting detailsfinish time · place · chair

Finish: 10:40 · Video call · Chair: AK

Attendanceexpected · for one item only · apologies

Expected: AK, JP, RM, SO · Apologies: LD

Objectivewhat this meeting must settle

Choose the Q4 campaign concept, and decide whether paid search stays paused

Agendaitem · who brings it · time · for decision, discussion or noting · papers

1. Follow-ups from last meeting — AK — 5 min — for noting

2. Choose the Q4 campaign concept: video-led or static — JP — 15 min — for decision — both concept decks attached

3. Decide whether paid search stays paused — RM — 5 min — for decision

4. Q3 spend to date against budget — AK — paper only — for noting — spend report to 31 August

5. What the pricing page's first week means for Q4 — SO — 5 min — for discussion — sign-up figures

6. Any other business — 5 min

7. Date of the next meeting: Tuesday 8 September, 10:00

The two decisions come straight after the follow-ups, the spend report goes round as a paper so it takes no meeting time, and the items take 35 minutes of a 40-minute slot.

Meeting agenda and minutes template

One Word file, free, with no sign-up. The agenda comes first and goes out before the meeting. In Word, the minutes follow on the next page, under the same item numbers. Or copy it as text into your own document.

Meeting agenda and minutes
Date & time

[date], [start time]

Meeting detailsfinish time · place · chair

Finish: [time] · [venue or video link] · Chair: [name]

Attendanceexpected · for one item only · apologies

Expected: [names] · For item [n] only: [name, role, time to join] · Apologies: [names]

Objectivewhat this meeting must settle

[One sentence: what this meeting must settle]

Agendaitem · who brings it · time · for decision, discussion or noting · papers

[n]. [What the item must settle] — [who brings it] — [minutes or clock time] — [for decision / discussion / noting] — [papers]

Discussion

[n]. [What was covered, with any figure quoted]

Decisions

[n]. [What was decided]

Actionswho · what · when

[owner] — [task] — by [date]

Any other business

[item], or "None"

Parkedfor another meeting

[item] — [the meeting it goes to]

Next meeting

[date, time, place]

Download the Word file.docx · opens in Word and Google Docs · no sign-up

For taking the minutes on the second page, the minutes guide has a step-by-step. 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. All twelve free Word templates are on the templates page.

Meeting agenda FAQ

What does AOB mean in a meeting?

Any other business: a short slot near the end for matters that aren't on the agenda. Ask people to tell the chair about them beforehand. Anything that needs a decision or a paper should usually go on the next agenda instead, unless it is urgent and the chair agrees, because members who aren't there had no notice of it. Robert's Rules has no such heading; American agendas take these items under new business.

A block of routine items, such as the last minutes and reports for noting, approved together without debate, usually by general consent. The papers go out in advance, and any one member can ask for an item to be taken out and dealt with on its own. It is also called a consent calendar and is common on American boards; a body that follows Robert's Rules adopts a special rule of order before using one. UK committees do the same with starred items.

What is matters arising?

A standing item straight after the minutes of the last meeting, for brief updates on points in those minutes that have no item of their own, usually the actions. It is not a place to reopen a decision: anything that needs one gets its own numbered item.

Who prepares the agenda for a meeting?

The chair usually settles it. In a board or committee, the secretary or clerk drafts it with the chair and sends it out, and members ask for items by a set date. Under Robert's Rules the agenda is only a proposal until the meeting adopts it, and any member can move to add an item then. In a team, whoever called the meeting writes it.

How far in advance should an agenda be sent out?

Far enough ahead for people to read the papers: a day or two for a team, and about a week for a board or committee, unless your constitution, bylaws or standing orders say longer. In England and Wales, if a charity's governing document sets no notice period, the Charity Commission says to give at least three weeks' notice of trustee and general meetings.

How long should a meeting agenda be?

Add up the item times: if they don't fit the slot with a few minutes to spare, the agenda is too long. Most fit on one page. An hour holds one real decision and four or five short items; send the noting items as papers, or park one for next time.