I was recently invited to a meeting called “update”. No agenda. Nothing in the notes section. I had no idea what it was for, who else was going, or why I was needed.
So I declined.
I’m sure you’ve received similar invites to this.
And, quite possibly, you’ve sent a few too.
Instead, to ensure people attend your meetings, you need:
- Interesting title
- Interesting content
For the title, call it “Meeting to agree [insert outcome]”. In other words, state what you want to achieve from the meeting.
For the content, in the notes section, reinforce your desired outcome with a few additional notes…
“This meeting will ensure we [achieve outcome]. Therefore, our only agenda items are X, Y and agreeing our actions. We’ll take a max of X minutes. So, please bring your pre-work (see below), so we finish as soon as possible.”
Much better than sending a blank thing called “update”.
Action Point
For your next meeting, improve the invitation. The better it is, the more likely people will (1) attend (2) on time (3) prepared.