October 18, 2026 · 5 min read
How to write a meeting agenda (with template)
A meeting without an agenda runs long, drifts and ends without decisions. Preparing one takes ten minutes and often saves half an hour for every attendee. Here is how to do it, with a template to copy.
What it is and what it's for
The agenda is the list of items the meeting will cover, in the order it will cover them. It lets everyone know before joining what will be discussed, what is expected of them and when it ends.
It is also the base of the minutes: if the meeting follows the agenda, the summary almost writes itself, because every item has its decision or its task.
What to put in each item
A clear title, who presents it and how much time it gets. And above all, what you need by the end: to inform, to discuss or to decide. «Quarterly budget» says nothing; «Decide whether to approve the quarterly budget (10 min, Marta)» does.
Put the items that need a decision first, while attention is highest, and leave informational ones for the end. If there are documents to read, send them with the invitation and say so: nobody reads a PDF live.
Template to copy
Meeting: [name] · [date and time] · [length] · [place or link]. Goal: [what we want to have when we finish]. Attendees: [names].
1. [Item] — [inform / discuss / decide] — [owner] — [minutes]. 2. [Item] — [...]. 3. [Item] — [...].
Close (5 min): review decisions, action items with owner and date, and the date of the next meeting. Pre-reads: [links].
An example for a 45-minute team meeting
Goal: agree the month's priorities. 1. Last month's results — inform — Laura — 10 min. 2. This month's priorities — decide — Carlos — 20 min. 3. Blockers and questions — discuss — everyone — 10 min. 4. Close: action items and owners — 5 min.
Notice the last item isn't optional: it turns conversation into work. A meeting that ends without action items that have an owner and a date tends to be repeated the following week.
After the meeting
Compare what happened with what was planned and send a summary with the decisions and tasks to those who attended and those who didn't. If you record the meeting, with notice to participants, SwiftBOL can hand you the summary, the decisions, the action items with owners and a follow-up email within minutes. The Free plan includes 2 hours of audio and 1 hour of assistant a month, no card.
Try it with your own audio
SwiftBOL turns your meetings and calls into minutes with decisions and action items in minutes. The Free plan includes 120 minutes of audio a month, no credit card required.