Agenda Template

Download our free agenda template for board meetings to help you prepare for your meeting.

Meetings can feel like a waste of time if all in the room are not clear on why they are there in the first place, and what you wish to achieve. That's why you should always have a robust agenda.

If you're looking for something that will make putting the agenda together for your next meeting, access our free and customisable agenda template for board meetings.

What makes a good agenda?

  1. A good agenda is designed and structured to reflect the particular aims of this particular meeting, rather than being identical to all previous agendas.
  2. Each item requiring a separate decision is listed separately. A one-paragraph summary is provided to ensure everyone attending is well briefed about what's going to be decided. Each item requiring a decision is backed up by a written motion. And each written motion is supported by background paperwork.
  3. The agenda is well-spaced and easy to read and navigate. The text is big enough for people with weak eyesight to read.
  4. The agenda is pithy. It provides enough information about each item to give a good overview of the issue without being cluttered with irrelevant details.
  5. Urgent items and those requiring energy and fresh ideas are placed towards the top of the agenda, leaving scope for less important items to be deferred if time runs out.
  6. Complicated issues, or those that require more detailed attention than an ordinary meeting can allow, are saved for a special meeting or sent off to a subcommittee.
  7. Each item is marked clearly as for decision, for discussion, for information, or for action.
  8. A recommendation (or several available options) is provided for each agenda item that requires a decision.
    These recommendations are expressed clearly and are free of ambiguity.
  9. Supporting materials (budget sheets, reports, etc.) are clearly numbered (e.g. attachment 1), with the number noted in the corresponding agenda item.
  10. A suggested time allotment is noted for each agenda item, with more time allotted for the more important issues. This way, people have some idea of (a) how important the item is and (b) how long they'll have to speak. If you're running ahead of time (it's theoretically possible, if rare) you can expand the time limits. If you can't get through the agenda in the allotted time, it's a prompt to examine your procedures and see what you're doing wrong.

Top tips for agenda building

The top tip for agenda building is to start as early as possible. That means right after the previous meeting. Drawing up the agenda for the next meeting involves:

  • identifying matters arising from the last meeting
  • consulting with the chairs of any ad hoc or standing committees to see if there are any matters they want to come before the board for decision
  • packaging the organisation's responses to the new threats and opportunities that have ambushed it since the last meeting
  • fitting in any seasonal business (budgeting for the new year, arranging for the AGM, etc).
  • finding time for long-term development of the organisation.

You're not going to be able to set the next agenda immediately following a meeting, because many of these items won't be available yet, but you should certainly start drafting one that you can add to.

Set up a timetable to establish when you need the other items, allowing time for the next meeting's papers to be distributed on time (two weeks before the next meeting; that's long enough for people to read them, not so long that they lose them). Enter the dates into your diary and your computer and your phone so you get reminders about your reminders.

The agenda and supporting documents (reports, minutes of previous meeting, etc.) are distributed at least a week before the meeting - by email, unless there are good reasons why any board member can't use it. If you can't get the papers out in time, postpone the meeting unless something on the agenda is unusually urgent. If you have to hand out papers at the meeting, apologise for it.

Who sets the agenda?

The chair is responsible for running the meeting, and correspondingly the chair gets the biggest say on what's discussed in it. (Strictly speaking, this means the chair should write the agenda, but no chair lasts long unless they learn to delegate, and generally that involves passing the preparation of the agenda over to the secretary.)

Ahead of the meeting, if you possibly can, mark out a chunk of time for you (the secretary) and the chair to get together and discuss what's coming up. The secretary isn't supposed to manipulate the board, or to steer it too obviously - but the organisation's business must be carried on, and there are a lot of people out there who don't understand that no decision is generally the worst possible decision of all. Chat with the chair before the meeting to work out how the agenda is going to be handled and what needs to come out of it - not plotting, just looking for potential obstacles that can be smoothed over before anyone brings them forward as a reason for further delay.

If any other board member wants to put an item on the agenda, it's customary to let them (if only because they could move it anyway, under Any Other Business), unless it's libellous or covered somewhere else.

What goes on the agenda?

And just as importantly, what doesn't go on the agenda? The agenda is valuable real estate. No item should have a guaranteed place at every meeting, and you should fight to keep off the list anything that isn't a genuine priority. Work out, together with the chair (and perhaps in collaboration with the CEO or staff), a priority order for the business of the meeting:

  • matters requiring board decisions (and circulated papers)
  • matters requiring board discussion (and circulated papers)
  • time-wasting matters that shouldn't be on the agenda at allf
  • matters the board needs to be told about (in circulated papers) but that don't justify taking up discussion time.

Put the D-level items on the agenda with a star, meaning that unless anybody specifically asks for them to be discussed they'll be adopted as a package. After the meeting, a starred item is recorded in the minutes as having been considered, and any motion contained in those papers is recorded as having been adopted.

Sub-committee reports generally fall into the third category (they shouldn't be on the agenda) unless they refer decisions upward to the board.
The treasurer's report may need to be approved or reviewed by the board, but it should be held tightly to a time limit.

As much as possible of the business of the meeting should be knocked off before the meeting opens, so that only the decision-making stage needs to be thrashed out in public. Ideally, the arguments for and against a motion should have been written down in advance and circulated to board members before the meeting.

As a general rule, anything that's important enough to be up in front of the meeting for decision is important enough to have some supporting materials attached, even if it's only a page of dot points. Having the arguments down on paper makes it much easier to keep the discussion to time. Make sure the supporting material is clearly labeled and linked to the relevant agenda item.

If questions arise afterward, keeping a paper trail demonstrates that the board was doing its job and had all the necessary information in hand.

If a matter comes up without any documentation, and it's not absolutely urgent, i's probably a good idea to put it off until the next meeting and get something on paper in the meantime.

A good secretary - backed by a good chair - lets it be known that the board is supposed to do its reading, or else. There are few things more depressing for a secretary than turning to the agenda item that deals with a 30-page report and hearing the speaker almost drowned out by the furtive flicker of pages as every single member of the board stealthily tries to work out what it actually says.

A good secretary keeps an eye on issues that are important, or even urgent, but not yet ready for the board because other parties need to be consulted or costs need to be checked.

Where at all possible, include the wording of motions in the circulated agenda so that people can work out where they stand. Remember, debates at board level are not philosophical discussions or academic explorations. They are simply the way to reach decisions. Most people have great difficulty extracting decisions from discussions. It's better to lay the decisions out in advance, in the form of motions, and have people vote on them.

In other words, you don't want to debate "What do we do now?" You want to debate "Do we adopt proposal one, proposal two, or proposal three?" All board business should be kept as concrete as possible. Even theoretical discussions should be based on specific alternative formulations.

More meetings tips and tools by ICDA
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If you're looking for more tools and tips about board meetings, including how to write minutes for not-for-profit board meetings, what happens in board meetings and how to build an agenda for not-for-profit board meetings, then you'll want to look at our board meetings hub. Highlights can be found below.

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