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How to Create an Agenda for a Planning Meeting

A well-written meeting agenda organizes and outlines the meeting's required points of conversation. It highlights important information and helps attendees determine their roles and responsibilities within the meeting. For a planning meeting, the agenda is especially important as it helps to ensure that all planning aspects are addressed within the designated meeting time.


Define the planning meeting's logistics. Provide information on the meeting's time and location. Include special instructions, such as participation codes for conference calls and login information for online meetings.


List the planning meeting's attendees, along with the roles each attendee will serve in the meeting. Provide a list of items or information that the attendees will need to prepare for the planning, such as identified metrics, blueprints and completed research information.


Identify the information or project that the meeting attendee will plan. List the important aspects that need to be addressed in the order of importance. Apply time segments to each topic to ensure that each gets the appropriate amount of attention. Use an outline format to bullet-point the information for easy reading and reference. Feel free to provide more planning time for certain topics.


Send each attendee a copy of the planning meeting agenda at least a full day before the meeting. Send the agenda several days, or weeks, before the meeting if the attendees need to complete extensive research in order to prepare for the meeting.


Use the prepared agenda to lead the attendees through the actual planning meeting. Pay attention to the time-line provided in the agenda and direct the meeting according to the outline to ensure that all areas are addressed.