Meeting Agenda Template: Purpose, Items, Timings

A meeting agenda tells people why they are meeting, what will be covered in what order and for how long, and who leads each item, so they arrive prepared and leave with decisions. The best agendas put the purpose at the top, mark each item as decide, discuss or inform, and save five minutes at the end to read back the action items.

Get these right before you write

1Write the purpose as a decision: “agree the Q1 launch date”, not “discuss the launch”.

2Put the item that needs the most people first, before anyone has to leave.

3Give every item an owner and a number of minutes; the times should add up to less than the meeting.

4Send it a day ahead with the reading attached, or the first ten minutes become the reading.

Structure

The document opens with these headings and blanks.

[Meeting name]: agenda

When: [date, time, time zone]

Where: [room or link]

Attendees: [names; who chairs, who takes notes]

##Purpose

[The one decision or outcome this meeting is for.]

##Before the meeting

[what to read or prepare]

##Agenda

[10 min] | [...] | [...] | [decide / discuss / inform] |

##Close

[Recap decisions and action items, owners and dates.]

A complete example

Written by the AI from this brief, exactly as the workbench would write yours:

An agenda for a 45-minute online kickoff meeting on Tuesday 12 January 2027, 15:00 CET, for the redesign of a bakery chain’s mobile ordering app: attendees are Lena Fischer (product lead, chairs), Kwame Mensah (engineering), Sofia Marques (design) and Raj Patel (client, operations director), notes by Sofia; purpose is to agree scope and the launch date; items: goals and success measures, the three must-have features, the timeline and launch date, risks; reading: last year’s app review and the client brief.

Kickoff Agenda: Mobile Ordering App Redesign

Purpose and decision

This meeting opens the redesign of the bakery chain's mobile ordering app. By the end, the group must agree two things: the scope of the redesign (the three must-have features) and the launch date.

Logistics


Date	Tuesday 12 January 2027
Time	15:00–15:45 CET
Place	Online – [meeting link needed]
Chair	Lena Fischer
Notes	Sofia Marques

Attendees and roles

Lena Fischer – Product lead, chairs the meeting
Kwame Mensah – Engineering
Sofia Marques – Design, takes notes
Raj Patel – Client, operations director

Read before the meeting

Last year's app review – [link or file needed]
The client brief – [link or file needed]

Please come with any questions on both documents; there is no time set aside to summarise them.

Agenda

#	Item	Owner	Minutes
1	Welcome, purpose and the decisions to reach	Lena Fischer	3
2	Goals and success measures	Raj Patel	10
3	The three must-have features	Sofia Marques	12
4	Timeline and launch date	Kwame Mensah	12
5	Risks	Lena Fischer	5
6	Decisions, actions and close	Lena Fischer	3

Item notes

Goals and success measures – Raj sets out what the client needs from the redesign and how success will be measured; the group confirms a short list of measures.
Must-have features – Sofia proposes three features drawn from the app review and client brief; the group agrees the final three.
Timeline and launch date – Kwame outlines the engineering timeline; the group agrees a launch date or the conditions for setting one.
Risks – each attendee names the risk they see as largest; owners are assigned for follow-up.

How the meeting closes

Lena restates the two decisions (scope and launch date) and reads back the action list with owners and due dates. Sofia circulates the notes and actions to all attendees by [date needed]. Any item not resolved is given an owner and a date for resolution outside the meeting.

Names, figures and dates in the example are made up for illustration.

How it works

1Open the template: a document with the skeleton and the brief appears.

2Add one line about your case to the brief, or attach your notes as sources, and press First draft.

3Edit directly, or ask the AI to tighten, expand or translate any passage; every AI change is reviewed before it lands.

Questions

Can I use the example as it is?

The example shows the shape and tone; its names and figures are made up. Open the template and give the AI your own facts, and it writes yours in the same shape.

Does it work in English and Chinese?

Yes. The document is written in the language of your brief, and any passage can be translated afterwards.

Is it free?

Writing is billed by the tokens used, usually a few credits per draft; the template, the skeleton and the editor cost nothing.