There are, in general, five or six broad areas to be covered in an agenda:

Logistics

This includes date, time and place of meeting, its title, and a list of invited attendees.

Objective

The purpose of the meeting, and any background information such as whether this is the first in a series of meetings.

Housekeeping

This should include welcome and introductions and any apologies for absence. It should also cover approval of previous minutes, and any matters arising from them that are not dealt with elsewhere in the agenda.

In a formal meeting, housekeeping will also cover any amendments that are necessary to the last set of minutes, which should be formally documented in the minutes of this meeting.

Items

This is the ‘meat’ of the agenda. Each item should have a number, a title, and a presenter/lead. It should also have a suggested time limit on the discussion.

Timing can be hard to ascertain without previous experience of the meeting. The secretary may need to ask the presenter/lead how long they think an item will take, and then discuss it with the chair. The final allocation should be based on the item’s importance to the objective of the meeting, and its level of controversy. A very controversial item that is incidental to the objective of the meeting should be postponed for discussion elsewhere.

Beware!

In some formal settings, certain groups or individuals may have the power to ask for items to be included on the agenda. This will need to be accommodated, either by doing so or by careful negotiation of another opportunity for discussion if the agenda is already too full.

Any Other Business (AOB)

Many agendas end with an item on ‘Any Other Business’ or ‘AOB’. While this can be an opportunity for attendees to flag up something for inclusion in a future agenda, it can also be very disruptive to the smooth flow of the meeting.

Attendees can use AOB to hijack a meeting for their own purposes and change the whole feeling of the meeting, often from a highly positive, action-focused discussion to a complaint. As AOB traditionally comes last, it is also the item that attendees are most likely to remember, especially if it was negative in tone.

A well-run meeting, with a well-prepared agenda, should mean that nobody wishes to raise any other business.

It is therefore strongly recommended that you either:

• Do not include AOB as an agenda item at all; or
• If you do include AOB on the agenda, you agree that it will only be as a way of raising issues for discussion at a future meeting, or elsewhere.

Bad feeling from excluding AOB can be avoided by offering attendees the opportunity to suggest items for inclusion on the agenda ahead of time.

It is, however, the chairperson’s final decision about which items should be included, taken in conjunction with the secretary, in his or her role as guardian of the process.

Close

This should include the chair’s summary of the meeting, the date and time of the next meeting, and any actions agreed and who is responsible.

Top Tip!

Agendas should generally be short documents, ideally no more than one page.

A brief explanatory note of every item, including what is likely to be discussed and what is out of scope, will help attendees to prepare better and support the chair in controlling the meeting.