Team

Meeting Templates

The ultimate pack of customer success meeting agenda templates

Team
Kick-Off Meeting
Template by
Hugo
at
Hugo
Introducing/Icebreakers

Introductions/Icebreakers

  • Ensure everyone knows one another
  • Set the tone with a light icebreaker

Background Information

  • Explain what created a need for this project
  • Share historical information that provides important context
  • Provide any other relevant information about clients, previous projects, etc.

Project Goals

  • Review or decide on high-level goals and project scope
  • Define how success will be measured

Major Tasks and Timeline

  • How long should the project take, including major milestones?
  • Identify which people and teams will be responsible for what tasks
  • Ensure everyone understands their roles and deliverables

Logistics

  • Clearly explain how communication about the project will happen
  • Exchange contact information between everyone involved
  • Provide any needed explanations on the project tracking system to be used
  • Agree on reporting methods

Potential Challenges & Assets

  • What hurdles may we encounter?
  • How can we overcome them?

Q&A

  • Open the floor to questions

Next Steps

  • Who is doing what to get the project started?
Team
Contributed
Executive
Senior Leadership Team Meeting
Template by
Drift
David Cancel
CEO
at
Drift
David Cancel
Engine Dashboard Overview

Engine Dashboard Overview

Have each functional team (sales, marketing, product, etc.) prepare and give an overview of how they're running.

Include:

  • Goal’s and how they're tracking
  • Update on sub-processes
  • Key wins, losses, opportunities, concerns
  • What we're focused on

Observations and Learnings

  • Customer anecdotes 
  • Feedback
  • Other

CTAs / Asks

  • What does each functional team need from the rest of the leadership team
  • Follow-ups and actions (all actions need a directly responsible team member and a due date)
Remote
Team
Remote Team Meeting
Template by
Hugo
at
Hugo
Purpose

Purpose

Review top-level metrics, coordinate projects, and discuss pressing topics.

--

Agenda

Celebrate wins

Data to review

Updates Roundtable

  1. Name
  2. Name
  3. Name

Discussion Topics

--

Action Items


Team
Lunch Meeting
Template by
Hugo
at
Hugo
Lunch Meeting Agenda

An ideal lunch meeting agenda template should have the following sections.

1. Housekeeping

This section handles the 'first things first' of the meeting. It includes sharing quick bits of information before getting to the main agenda. You may also share decorum tips like asking participants to switch off their phones, turn on devices for presentations, etc.

It also covers any introductions and apologies for absence and approving previous minutes and issues that may arise from them.

If you're meeting a high-profile guest for the first time, housekeeping involves warm introductions and small talk as you wait for the food. It's essential to do your homework on the guest to have discrete non-intrusive conversations on neutral topics –technology, travel, and trends in your business space.

2. Recap of the Meeting's Purpose

This part seeks to get everyone in the meeting on the same page. Reiterate why you arranged the meeting and what the meeting hopes to achieve.

Hosts explain the purpose in a brief narration or in points. And if it's a meeting between you and a client, recapping previous conversations and the issues the client wants to solve is paramount at this point.

Sharing a pitch deck may also be necessary for meetings that require pitching ideas.

3.  Discussion Outline

The primary purpose shared on the second agenda item always comes with subtopics that support that purpose.

Set each topic as a question to provoke thought and initiate a conversation. If more than two people are attending the meeting, assign ownership to each topic for accountability and order and set a timer on the responses.

Assigning ownership is also vital to help keep time because the longest lunch meeting you can have is only about an hour long.

4. Action Items

After back and forth deliberations, make time for everyone to write down the action items. This part also includes writing down the decisions, conclusions, and key takeaways they picked up from the meeting.

The bottom line is to organize the meeting's findings and enable the participants to have a good idea of the actions they need to take.

5. Off–Topic Discussion: Any Other Business

It's common for off-topic issues to arise during the meeting. They can quickly set the meeting off track and derail your efforts at achieving the meeting's main purpose. This section is where you place those off-topic discussions to help keep the meeting on track, obey the clock, and still have time to address the subtopics.

6. Wrap Up

The wrap-up section in the lunch meeting agenda is the same as the adjournment bit in regular business meetings. But because it's a lunch meeting, it's advisable to have a warmer wrap-up than a flat, formal ending.

Write down comments that you believe will crown the meeting on a high note and tweak them appropriately during the session. Include a pleasant statement to thank the guests and decide at what point everyone leaves the table.

Team
Featured
Contributed
18-min Meeting
Template by
Calendly
Tope Awotona
CEO and Founder
at
Calendly
Tope Awotona
Introductions and chit chat (2 mins)

Introductions and chit chat (2 mins)

Quick opportunity for the team to build rapport and break the ice.

Expectations and purpose (2 mins)

  • What are you looking to achieve in this meeting?
  • What is required from attendees?

Discussion points (10 mins)

  • Attendees to add any applicable discussion points here before the meeting.

Action items (3 min)

Each item should have a clear deliverable, date and person responsible. Which stakeholders will be affected and how will they be informed?

Required resources (1 mins)

  • Include a plan to get these resources in place too.

Add these meeting notes to your project management or meeting notes software and include in follow-up communications

Team
Product
Contributed
Project Management Team Meeting
Template by
Lenny's Newsletter
Lenny Rachitsky
at
Lenny's Newsletter
Lenny Rachitsky
Lighten the mood

Lighten the mood

Say hello and add a bit of joy to the meeting. Get everyone to share something fun they did recently, the best thing they ate over the weekend, etc. 

What problem are you trying to solve? 

Write this out. 

There are three main types of meeting goals:

  1. Understanding: Make sure everyone feels like they know what’s going on, inside, and outside the team
  2. Alignment: Make sure everyone on the team is aligned
  3. Connection: Tighten the bonds between everyone on your team

Manager shares useful information

What’s important for the team to know about what’s happening inside and outside of the team?

  • Upcoming changes to the team
  • Updates on planning timelines etc 

Team members useful information

  • Upcoming launches
  • Process changes
  • Learnings, etc

Next Steps 

  • Highlight the main insights from the meeting and the upcoming priorities
  • Clarify who's in charge of completing the next steps and expected completion dates
Remote
Team
Remote Weekly Meeting
Template by
Hugo
at
Hugo
Team Review

Team Review

Share updates on overall progress, key metrics, and anecdotes to give your team an up-to-date understanding of current initiatives.

Individual Updates

Allow each team member to briefly share what they've been working on. This includes progress, obstacles, achievements, and any other information that would be valuable for the team.

Positive Highlights

Acknowledge big wins and milestones accomplished since the last weekly meeting. What valuable lessons were learned?

Roadblocks & Concerns

Have any issues or challenges come up since the last weekly meeting? Are there any particular problems a team member is stuck on? How can we help solve them?

New Information

Are there any new metrics, trends, customer feedback, or market influences we should be aware of? What about company announcements or industry news? Share any resources that would help the team understand these concepts better.

Other Important Notes

Summarize any other valuable information that was shared. It does not have to be directly related to the weekly meeting agenda.

Upcoming Priorities

What are the main priorities we should focus on for next week? How are we planning to approach these? What does success look like?

Main Takeaways

What were the main insights from this weekly meeting? Include key decisions made, progress reports, and any opportunities, issues, or concerns that should be shared with colleagues.

Share

List all key stakeholders not present and other departments that this information should be shared with.

Take Action

Clarify next steps for the entire team as well as each individual. Note who's completing them, and when they should be done by. You can assign these tasks from this template.

Team
Formal Meeting Minutes
Template by
Hugo
at
Hugo
Call to Order

Call to Order

A [meeting type] meeting of [organization name] was held on [date] at [location]. It began at [time] and was presided over by [chairperson’s name], with [secretary’s name] as secretary.

Attendance 

Voting members


Guests


Members not in attendance


Approval of minutes

A motion to approve the minutes of the previous [date] meeting was made by [name] and seconded by [name].

Officer’s Reports


Other Reports


Main Motions

  • Motion by [name] and seconded by [name] that [state the motion here]. The motion [carried or failed] with [#] in favor and [#] against.

Announcements


Adjournment

Team
First Team Meeting
Template by
Hugo
at
Hugo
Icebreaker

Icebreaker

Share a story, or tell the group something no one knows about you


About Your Manager

Give a brief overview of your professional experience, communication preferences, and values


Team Expectations

Describe team values and communication channels/cadence


(Optional) Feedback/Open Discussion

Solicit ideas from the team that would help the team work better together


Action Items

  • Next steps go here
Team
Human Resources
Job Interview
Template by
Hugo
at
Hugo
General Information

General Information

Background about position and candidate.

Role Details

What key responsibilities, requirements, and skills do you want to verify during this job interview?

Relevant Experience

What previous roles, achievements, or anecdotes make this job candidate qualified for this role?

Relevant Qualifications / Training

What relevant degrees, diplomas, certifications, or training does the job applicant have?

Level of Preparation

How prepared was the applicant for the job interview? This is a great indicator of their interest level in the role.

Career Goals

Where does the job candidate see themselves in a few years? How does this role support their vision?

Attitude / Motivation

What did you think of the candidate's attitude towards the role? Is it conducive to succeeding in this position?

Communication / Listening Skills

How were the candidate's written and verbal communication skills? Did they listen? What percentage of time did they speak vs listen?

General Interest in Company / Role

From 1-5, rate the job candidate's interest in the company and role. Are they excited by the opportunity? Does it align with their career goals?

Cultural Fit

How would the candidate fit in with our culture? Are they someone our team would enjoy working with?

General Screening Questions

Include other general questions you'd like to ask as well as candidate responses here.

Recommendation

Do you recommend we proceed with this candidate?

Team
Product
Contributed
Agile
Team Post-Mortem
Template by
FYI
Hiten Shah
Co-founder & CEO
at
FYI
Hiten Shah
Purpose

Purpose

Capture learnings from [initiative] and identify what went wrong so we can get better

The Situation

Put all the details of what happened here. Only the facts. Make sure you answer who what where when why. Customer feedback is good to include if we have it. Include any and all mistakes and what went well. Break up into sections, like “research” “engineering” “customer feedback” “the feature” “marketing efforts” etc.

The results

What happened as a result of the situation? This could include how an initiative performed, what happened as a result of a bug, how a feature fared, etc. Support this section with data

What went wrong

All the details of what went wrong. Opinions are welcome here. Be fair to other people who were involved and let them add to the postmortem or give you context as needed. In the case of bugs, what we could have done better to prevent a problem can be included here as well.

What we can do better next time

Whatever we learned that will affect how we do things next go around, it goes here. This is the synthesis of everything we’ve figured out from doing the postmortem.

Action items

Any action items we have, and who owns each of them, plus dates if possible

Team
Human Resources
Employee Onboarding
Template by
Hugo
at
Hugo
Prior to the First Day

Prior to the First Day

Are all relevant resources and materials prepared for the new hire's first day? This includes employee onboarding paperwork, tools they will need access to, and their workstation. Share any resources the new hire should consult before starting.

Company General Information

Share important company information with the new hire. This includes company values, culture, special achievements, and roadmaps for main objectives.

Company Life

Walk the newcomer through a typical week here. Share your insights into office life. Include information such as typical operating hours, where they can park, how they will access the building, and what the company dress code is.

Tour of the Office

Take the new employee on a tour around the office. Let them know where all the important and common areas (e.g., their workspace, bathroom, kitchen, etc.).

Role Responsibilities

Review the new hire's role and responsibilities. Explain expectations, long-term goals, and how they fit into the company's vision. Note everything here to share with them later for easy reference.

Paperwork Review

Review all relevant paperwork like benefits packages. Share this information here so the employee can easily reference it.

Team Introduction

Introduce the new employee to key stakeholders in their role. Assign them a mentor who can assist them in getting up to speed.

Tools & Resources

Share all tools and accounts relevant to the new employee's role. List them here for easy reference.

Reading & Training Material

Is there any training material or required reading? List them here for easy reference. You can share this prior to the first day if appropriate.

Other Discussion Points

Did the new hire raise any interesting questions or noteworthy topics during the employee onboarding process? Note them here.

Main Takeaways

Create a list of takeaways for both the new hire and your team to help get them acclimated.

Next Steps

What's next? Clarify the agenda for the next few weeks as well as the first project for the new employee. Note this information here to share and make actionable.

Follow-Up

Should we schedule a follow-up meeting to check over paperwork and check in on progress?

Feedback

Plan to review the onboarding process over the next 60 days. Regularly check in with the new employee for their opinion. Note opportunities to improve it and make plans to implement them.

Team
Agile
Product
Weekly Sprint Meeting
Template by
Brute Strength Training
Rob Muise
COO
at
Brute Strength Training
Rob Muise
Last sprint

Last sprint

Celebrate what you achieved and discuss what wasn't completed.

Backlog

The list of things we want to accomplish in this sprint.

Sprint goal for the week

Why are we implementing these backlog items?

Assign backlog items

What items/tickets is each person focusing on during this sprint?

Notepad

Anything else to write down?

Links and Attachments

Documents and such that are referenced on the call.

Executive
Team
Quarterly Budget Planning Meeting
Template by
Hugo
at
Hugo
Budget Planning: Quick Review

Quick Review

Summarize all notable events since the last retrospective. Share updates on initiatives, key metrics, and anecdotes. Compare the current timeline and deliverables with what was originally planned.

Positive Highlights

What went well? Were any special milestones accomplished? Let each team member contribute.

Reflect on Roadblocks

What went wrong? Did any unforeseen obstacles arise? Identify the root cause of each one. Allow each team member to contribute. And remember, this isn't a blame game—focus on continuous improvement.

Room for Improvement

What were the main lessons from the roadblocks discussed? How can we solve each issue and improve?

Other Important Feedback

Summarize any other valuable discussion points. It does not have to be directly related to the retrospective's main topic.

Main Takeaways

What were the main insights from this retrospective meeting? Include critical decisions, plans, and any opportunities or concerns that should be shared with key stakeholders.

Team
Contributed
Executive
Weekly Manager Meeting
Template by
Rising Tide Brewing Company
Kailey Partin
Director of Branding & Hospitality
at
Rising Tide Brewing Company
Kailey Partin
Hi all!

Hi All!

How is everyone doing this week? What is everyone's headspace?

  • Manager #1
  • Manager #2
  • Manager #3

Last week's highs

Share some highlights from last week that lifted your spirits:

  • Manager #1
  • Manager #2
  • Manager #3

Last week's lows

Share some moments from last week that were tough:

  • Manager #1
  • Manager #2
  • Manager #3

General update

Report on any general updates within your teams. 


Last week’s goals

How did you perform against last week’s goals?


This week’s goals

Set some goals for this upcoming week.


Last week’s tasks

How did you and your team progress on outstanding tasks and projects?


This weeks’ tasks

What’s on your list this week?


Anything else to note or share?

Include any other items to discuss here.


Reminders

Include reminders to come back to in future meetings.


Team
Agile
Quick Stand-Up Meeting
Template by
Hugo
at
Hugo
Name

Name

  • What did you do yesterday?
  • What will you do today?
  • Where are you blocked?
  • Comfort Level — How close are we to hitting our goals?

Name

  • What did you do yesterday?
  • What will you do today?
  • Where are you blocked?
  • Comfort Level — How close are we to hitting our goals?
Team
Basic Meeting Minutes
Template by
Hugo
at
Hugo
Agenda

Agenda

  • Item one
  • Item two
  • Item three


Next Steps

  •  @name task by Due-Date

Team
Community Meeting
Template by
Hugo
at
Hugo
Community Meeting Introductions

Introductions and chit chat

Provide a quick opportunity for the team to build rapport and break the ice.

Expectations and Purpose

  • What do you need to achieve in this meeting?
  • What is required/expected from attendees?

Discussion Points

  • Attendees to add any applicable discussion points here before the meeting.

Action Items

Each item should have a clear deliverable, date and person responsible. Which stakeholders will be affected and how will they be informed?

Required Resources

  • Include a plan to get these resources in place too.
Team
Featured
Weekly Meeting
Template by
Hugo
at
Hugo
Team Review

Team Review

Share updates on overall progress, key metrics, and anecdotes to give your team an up-to-date understanding of current initiatives.

Individual Updates

Allow each team member to briefly share what they've been working on. This includes progress, obstacles, achievements, and any other information that would be valuable for the team.

Positive Highlights

Acknowledge big wins and milestones accomplished since the last weekly meeting. What valuable lessons were learned?

Roadblocks & Concerns

Have any issues or challenges come up since the last weekly meeting? Are there any particular problems a team member is stuck on? How can we help solve them?

New Information

Are there any new metrics, trends, customer feedback, or market influences we should be aware of? What about company announcements or industry news? Share any resources that would help the team understand these concepts better.

Other Important Notes

Summarize any other valuable information that was shared. It does not have to be directly related to the weekly meeting agenda.

Upcoming Priorities

What are the main priorities we should focus on for next week? How are we planning to approach these? What does success look like?

Main Takeaways

What were the main insights from this weekly meeting? Include key decisions made, progress reports, and any opportunities, issues, or concerns that should be shared with colleagues.

Share

List all key stakeholders not present and other departments that this information should be shared with.

Take Action

Clarify next steps for the entire team as well as each individual. Note who's completing them, and when they should be done by. You can assign these tasks from this template.

Team
Contributed
Working Group Meeting
Template by
Etsy
Jessica Harllee
Product Designer
at
Etsy
Jessica Harllee
Attendees

Attendees

A working group is a defined set of people, usually coming from multiple teams or disciplines to fix a common business challenge.

Define the problem

Review the goal at the beginning of every meeting to remind group members of what they’re trying to achieve. Since the problems you’re tackling can be broad and fuzzy, having an explicit goal can also help you decide what is and isn’t the responsibility of the group.

Review past decisions

  • Have you fixed the problem you set out to solve?
  • Has the problem been solved another way?
  • Has the company changed? Have its needs changed?
  • Is the group still the most effective way to solve this problem?

Here are some questions to fill in to see how your solutions fit into your wider goal (check out how Etsy used this method to define "design excellence" for their team) 

  • What motivates this work?
  • What are the goals of this solution?
  • What characteristics should the solution exhibit?
  • Who should benefit from this solution?
  • What informs this solution?
  • When and where should this solution be used?

Set milestones

“In order to be effective, the group has to ship; in order to ship, milestones should be established from the beginning.” Without delivery dates in place, it is impossible to create an action plan that accurately reflects the speed in which you must be working to achieve your goals. 

Team
Featured
Remote
Contributed
Remote All Hands Meeting
Template by
Trello
Brian Cervino
Product Marketing Senior Team Lead
at
Trello
Brian Cervino
Location

Location

For Town Halls, access the meeting via a video chat. This is a powerful way of creating a shared experience across the entire company, wherever they are. 

Department Updates

Town Halls are a great way to hear about what different teams and departments are working on by setting up demos, or sharing statistics with the entire company. In the absence of in person communication day today, it’s easy to run into the trap of different teams feeling siloed and out of the loop. It is also a good time for management and executives to reiterate the bigger picture in terms of company priorities.

Solidifying Company Culture

The first card read aloud is called Town Hall Announcements. The 10 items in the checklist on this card are akin to the “10 commandments” for the company. These state the core philosophies of the company and the company culture.  At the beginning of each Town Hall, someone reads these 10 principles out loud so that they are reiterated to the entire company. We always have a new hire read the list so that they become familiar with these philosophies. 

An Open Platform For The People

The goal of a Town Hall is to have a transparent company wide meeting with an open forum for any employee to be able to ask questions, voice concerns, celebrate great contributions, or update the company on their work.

Anyone can add a card to Announcements/Questions with the goal of addressing every single card on the list during the town hall. If you add a card to the list, add yourself to the card so that the meeting moderator can call on you when your card comes up.

Celebrate Successes

Town Hall meetings are not all business. The meetings are a rare opportunity when the entire team is together, which is especially novel in distributed companies. Take the time to build your employees up by establishing fun traditions and finding different ways to celebrate successes.

Easy Access Meeting Minutes

Of course, once a town hall is done this doesn’t mean it should be forgotten. Meeting Minutes from the Town Hall should be easily accessed by all employees after the meeting is over.

Team
Simple Meeting Minutes
Template by
Hugo
at
Hugo
Meeting type

Meeting type

Check all that apply.

  • Update
  • Discussion
  • Decision

Goal

‍Write the meeting goal here. (E.g. Discuss agency performance and decide whether to renew for another year.)

Agenda

  • Item one
  • Item two
  • Item three

Next Steps

  • @name task by Due-Date

Team
Featured
Project Check-In Meeting
Template by
Hugo
at
Hugo
Our Objective

Our Objective

Reiterate the objective of the project

Deadlines/Milestones

Include in the agenda high-level milestones

Project Update Roundtable

  • Name
  • Summarize 1-5 updates here in the agenda
  • Name
  • Summarize 1-5 updates here in the agenda

Roadblocks & Risks

  • Where are you blocked? How can the team help?

Next Steps

  • @name Task by DUE-DATE
Team
One-on-one
Catch-Up Meeting
Template by
Hugo
at
Hugo
Emotional state

Emotional state

Discuss how the time between this meeting and your last one has been. What has excited, frustrated, engaged, or bored you (and the other meeting participants)? 

Relationships

Explore the most recent state of each other’s team relationships. What is your team struggling with? Where are they finding success?

Goals

Review your short and long-term goals. How are you progressing towards them? What short-term goals or interim milestones on long-term goals have you reached?

Feedback & Support

Check in to see how/if you can support the other meeting participants. How can we work together more effectively? How can I support you better?

Open Discussion & Wrap Up

Open discussion. Then, list and assign action items and schedule the next meeting.

Team
Product
Contributed
All Activities Retro
Template by
Atlassian
Ashley Faus
Content Strategy Lead
at
Atlassian
Ashley Faus
Preparation

Preparation


The most important aspect of this meeting is the meeting memo. This way you don't spend half the meeting briefing one another. Here is what you need to include in every board memo:

  • Each team leader writes their own section, no more than 1-2 pages summarizing the state of the business. Introduction, things going well, challenges, plans for the future, update on items from last time. These sections can contain graphs and charts.
  • The CEO summarizes and provides a narrative at the beginning of the document.
  • The VP Finance attaches the financial statements and key reports
  • The team circulates the narrative with the board ahead of time. Board members comment and ask questions as they read. The team clarifies points and provides analysis where necessary.

Take stock of the work you performed

Take stock of the events and work you performed. Ashley recommends using Trello. Pull up the calendar view and have each team member make sure that all of the projects they worked on over the previous quarter are represented. It should take about 10 minutes to add all the items to the board.

Label with feelings

Once the team is on the same page and you have a view with all the projects, have everyone go through the ones that belong to them and label it with a feeling. You can start with 5 basic feelings and expand as needed: 

  • Happy
  • Sad
  • Frustrated
  • Proud
  • Indifferent

Review for each team member

Take 15 minutes to go around the room or conference call and have each team member talk a little bit about 2-3 key projects and why they assigned them a certain feeling. It sounds kind of touchy feely, but it’s actually really helpful when you look back over a quarter and you can identify places where you should allocate time elsewhere.

Brainstorm action items

Last but not least, take the last 20 minutes of the meeting and spend some time brainstorming how you could allocate tasks a little differently to maximize positive sentiment across the team. If Tom is stressed out working on user-facing projects and doesn’t enjoy it, maybe there is another team member who is energized by similar projects. Managers should run this discussion, chew on the feedback, and think about action items going into the next quarter.

Team
Formal Meeting Agenda Template
Template by
Hugo
at
Hugo
Call to Order

Call to Order

A [meeting type] meeting of [organization name] was held on [date] at [location]. It began at [time] and was presided over by [chairperson’s name], with [secretary’s name] as secretary.

Attendance 

Voting members


Guests


Members not in attendance


Approval of minutes

A motion to approve the minutes of the previous [date] meeting was made by [name] and seconded by [name].

Officer’s Reports


Other Reports


Main Motions

  • Motion by [name] and seconded by [name] that [state the motion here]. The motion [carried or failed] with [#] in favor and [#] against.

Announcements


Adjournment

Team
Informal Meeting Minutes
Template by
Hugo
at
Hugo
Attendance

Attendance

Present


Absent


Discussion Topics

  •  

Decisions / Motions


Action Items


Announcements

  •  

Team
Team Meeting
Template by
Hugo
at
Hugo
Agenda

Agenda

Celebrate wins

Data to review

Updates Roundtable

  1. Name
  2. Name
  3. Name

Discussion Topics

--

Action Items

--


Team
Contributed
Weekly Team Meeting
Template by
Trello
Jessica Webb
Product Marketing Senior Team Lead
at
Trello
Jessica Webb
Say Hi

Say Hi

Make sure everyone's here and ask for a volunteer scribe.

Kickoff each meeting with a quick update from each team

If anyone else has any questions about something relating to one of the other teams, now is your chance to ask. (2 min per update)

  • Marketing
  • Design
  • Data & Analytics
  • Product Managers
  • Community
  • International

Go through the items that people added to the agenda

Ask whoever added the item to introduce it and lead that part of the conversation. 

Sum up next steps/actions

  • Clarify what actions need to be taken and assign a responsible person for each task
  • Choose someone else on the team to be meeting lead next time and add it to next week's agenda
Team
Contributed
Design
Marketing
Brainstorming Session
Template by
Shopify
Courtney Symons
Lead Writer
at
Shopify
Courtney Symons
Preparation

Preparation

Attendees

  • Invite stakeholders that are representatives from each discipline that is relevant (design, product, engineering, etc)
  • Assign a facilitator that is neutral to act as the scribe and decision-maker

Space 

  • Choose a spot that the team doesn’t regularly use for meetings. Be sure to have a big blank wall where you can place post-it notes from your brainstorming session

Time

  • Consider one hour for a micro-session, three to four hours for a medium-sized discussion, and a full day for a larger project

To bring

(if this is a virtual meeting try to use online tools to mimic the post-it notes)

  • Chart paper
  • Post-it notes
  • Dot stickers
  • Pens

Brainstorming Session

Break the Ice

Tell me a story about… What did you want to be when you were younger... Where do you want to go on holiday and why? etc. 

To make sure your session remains focused, you should begin with a question. What specifically are you trying to solve?

  1. How can we get people to perform X specific action?
  2. What would lead to increased conversion on X client’s site?
  3. How can we achieve X result?

Establish rules for the session

  • No idea is stupid
  • Postpone criticism. Feel free to ask clarification questions, but wait until the team decides whether to dig into that particular idea to provide any constructive feedback
  • Don't focus on the solution in the early stages of the brainstorm — just focus on the problem
  • You don’t need to raise your hand to speak, but make sure you’re not cutting anyone off
  • No phones or laptops

Brainstorm

A great way to encourage everyone to speak up and to mitigate groupthink is to begin with silence: a solo brainstorm where each individual writes down all of their ideas on post-it notes. This should only last a few minutes. Be sure to use a timer to make sure you stay on track. As people are jotting down their ideas, the facilitator can begin to collect those post-its and start grouping them into themes and concepts onto the whiteboard or blank wall.

Voting

After the initial brainstorming session, it’s often useful to have small, circular colored stickers so that people can vote on their preferred ideas. Consider giving each person a maximum of two stickers (or “votes”) per brainstorming sprint, and dole them out accordingly.

Summarize

The facilitator should paraphrase and synthesize as many of the points as possible to make sure everyone is following.

Prioritize

When the top ideas have been voted upon, it’s time to decide how to take action. Here are two questions the group should determine before leaving the room:

  • What is our deadline? This will vary greatly depending on the scope of the project. It could range from next week to the end of the year. Make sure you choose an ambitious, but achievable, timeframe
  • Who will own this? It could be that the Project Manager will take ownership of each of these line items, but cross-collaboration between teams means there could be multiple stakeholders for each item
Product
Team
Contributed
Pre-Mortem Meeting
Template by
Squarespace
Jonathan Hastings
Group Product Manager
at
Squarespace
Jonathan Hastings
Project overview

Project overview

Include details of the project here with a link to any additional specification documents. Make sure you note who owns each part of the workload if relevant. This should be filled out in advance, as it sets the context for the rest of the meeting that follows.

Potential outcomes

Start off by thinking critically about the feature or product, laying out possible outcomes for how people might engage with whatever you’re working on. For example, let’s say you are adding a checklist to your product to increase activation. One possible outcome is that users don’t engage with the checklist at all!


Reasons for outcome

Next up it's time to brainstorm the reasons that the previous outcome might occur. Maybe the checklist blends in with the other UI elements? Maybe people see it, but just don't want any guidance. It's important to go broad and generate lots of ideas, especially the negative ones.


Scenario responses

Last but not least, ponder how you would respond to that outcome. If the checklist doesn't stand out among the other elements, would you add more color or make it bigger? Will you cut your losses and try another approach?


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Free Team Meeting Agenda Templates

Team meetings are one of the best opportunities to create alignment and visibility across an organization. How they are run can also be massively influential on company culture, enabling culture to be a key driver of success.

We surveyed professionals across many top organizations—including Shopify, Trello, Drift, Miro, Calendly, and Etsy—to figure out how high-performing teams run their meetings. We then took what we learned and turned it into these example team meeting agendas and templates.

Use the free agenda templates on this page to write notes for your meetings as well. That way, you'll have a resource to review later to see what was covered in the meeting. Make sure to highlight decisions, actions, and next steps in your meeting notes.

To get the most value from these sample team meeting agendas, here are seven tips — habits to help your team grow and become more productive and aligned.

Tips for Better Team Meetings

Keep It Real

Creating a culture of transparency is difficult. However, when your leaders are honest and share insights without constraints, it allows the rest of the team to build on that knowledge and grow, which in turn improves team productivity and collaboration in your business. If your team is able to create a culture where everyone's opinion is valued, you'll find more cohesion and inspire everyone to strive for growth.

Be Upfront About Who, How, and Why

If organizations with smooth and effective team meetings are more likely to be efficient and productive in other areas too, the opposite is also true. When run poorly, these business meetings can be a big waste of time, and one that sets a dangerous tone for the organization overall. That’s why it is critical to have clear communication about the meeting's purpose, agenda, goals, and what outcomes are expected.

Always Have a Meeting Agenda. Always Share It

Having a great staff meeting begins before the meeting starts. A well-organized meeting has a solid meeting agenda.

Because team meetings are usually recurring (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc...) you should invest in creating a team meeting agenda template that lists out common agenda items. With a template, you never have to start from scratch when preparing for your next meeting.

An agenda doesn't need to be overly detailed. Even a handful of bullet points — containing key metrics, project updates, and discussion topics — can go a long way to helping attendees get more value from your team session. Your agenda style may vary across projects, teams, and types of meetings, but simply having one provides so much-needed direction to all attendees.

Every meeting can have at least a one-sentence "agenda" that cover's that meeting's purpose and goal.

(Don't worry, we have a lot of sample agenda templates for you to copy or download as Google Docs, Word Docs (.docx) or use for your meetings in Hugo.)

Document Action Items and Assign Them

A good team meeting template also leaves room to document action items within the meeting notes or meeting minutes. If you want tasks from your meeting to get accomplished, make sure you note those action items.

Many teams also find it helpful to document priorities, roadblocks, feedback, and ideas that come up in the meeting. By being able to review these details later, you're able to get a wide-angle view of the team's progress.

Upskill Your Team

While it's not efficient to spend the majority of team meeting time mentoring and coaching every week, the occasional deep dive into data, learnings, or strategy can be of major benefit to long-term company success. Team meetings aren't just for giving status updates on a project, they're to help the team learn and grow together. Keep an eye out for opportunities to upskill everyone.

End Meetings Early (When You Can)

Let your team know you value their time. Endless meetings not only take up time, they suck the energy out of team members, disrupting employee productivity for hours afterward. For productive meetings, try to schedule meetings in small clusters on specific days of the week to minimize disruption, and then end them early when you can.

At Hugo, we use a Ten Percent Rule, giving employees only 4 hours of total meeting time per week. This self-imposed scarcity of meeting time ensures that every second is used wisely.

Customizing Your Team Meeting Agenda Template

Every team is different, and every team meeting is different.

When you take a look at the team meeting templates on this page, compare them to how you are meeting today. When customizing your team meeting agenda, here are some additional questions to ask yourself:

  • What are the differences between the agenda template and your current process?
  • Are there parts of your current meetings that you should consider omitting so that you can focus on more productive parts of your team meeting?
  • Does your team prefer a formal agenda format, or something productive but not too rigid?
  • Is this a weekly meeting, bi-weekly, monthly, or ad-hoc team meeting?
  • Do you need to cover updates, or can you mostly jump to discussions on roadblocks, ideas, challenges, and solutions in your meeting?
  • Who will take notes? Who will review the notes? What information could they be looking for?

Get your team meeting template

On this page, we’ve compiled agenda templates for the most common types of team meetings. From quick stand-ups, to weekly planning meetings, brainstorming, and post-mortems, there are a lot of reasons for teams to meet together.

Below you can find a selection of sample agendas for all these common types of team meetings pulled for our free library of 80+ meeting agenda templates. (Or, scroll back up and download the whole bundle of team meeting templates.)

Each agenda template is available to copy as a Google Doc, download as a Word doc, or use with your free Hugo account.

And if you don't find the team meeting agenda template you're looking for here, in our executive meetings category, you'll find templates for other kinds of team meetings: board meetings, leadership meetings, and strategic planning sessions.

Other Resources for Team Meetings:

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