What NOT having an agenda in every meeting invite does.

My world revolves around my calendar, without my calendar I am lost. This has been true since the days of the Day Timer, then to the Palm Pilot, and now my iPhone. With so many competing obligations in my professional and personal life, I would not be able to accomplish what I do without organization. Over the past 15 years, it has always struck me at the way many people send out meeting invites; close to 80% of the invites follow the same pattern of a vague subject title, a dial in or web meeting connection information and a list of those who will be joining the meeting. Does this sound or look familiar?

Typical Meeting Invite

So what is the impact of this type of invite? How does it affect your attendees if there is no agenda?

1. Ensure Improper Expectations - Almost all meetings that are deemed unsuccessful can be traced back to un-aligned expectations. An agenda outlines exactly what will be covered in the meeting and when attendees accept the meeting invite, it gives them an opportunity to agree with the agenda (by accepting the invitation) or disagree (decline and respond to the invitation). This sets the proper expectations.
   

2. Ensure Unprepared Attendees - Imagine going to the movies and having no idea what you were going to see...a comedy, horror film, drama, documentary, action, or sci-fi. On top of that you have no idea of the plot as you have seen no preview. How would you feel? Probably a little lost and worried that what you are about to see might be a waste of your time. You can't prepare yourself mentally for the type of movie you are going to see. Likewise, your attendees need to be able to prepare themselves. An agenda gives them the ability to do some prior research and get themselves in the proper mindset in order to receive and participate in the communication.
   

3. Ensure Tangents - Without a guide of what the meeting will be about, the door is open for anyone to bring up any topic. The floor is open and you can be sure that people will take advantage of that. Imagine an attendee that has ulterior motives and would like to walk you into competitive traps, derail your presentation, and disrupt your flow. If you have an agenda, you can always point back to that when this occurs and offer to schedule a follow-up to cover new agenda items in another meeting and return immediately to your scheduled discussion.

Structured Agenda for Meeting Invite

We are all guilty of trying to do too much with too little time and in a rush send out quick invites with vague titles and no agenda. The fact is, it does not take that much time to create an agenda and the consequences of NOT having one is dire to your success. If you are sending out an invite, include an agenda, and if you ever receive an invite with no agenda, respond to the organizer and ask for one...it is as vital for the attendees as to the presenter.