| name | meeting-agenda |
| description | Builds structured meeting agendas with time allocations, discussion topics, decision items, and action item templates for productive meetings. |
| allowed-tools | Read Write Glob |
| metadata | {"author":"matthewhitcham","version":"1.0"} |
Meeting Agenda
When to Use This Skill
Use this skill when you need to:
- Create a structured agenda for a team, client, or stakeholder meeting
- Design recurring meeting templates (weekly standups, quarterly reviews, board meetings)
- Build an agenda that ensures decisions get made and action items get assigned
- Prepare a meeting that respects everyone's time with clear time allocations
DO NOT use this skill for meeting notes, post-meeting summaries, or facilitation scripts. This is for pre-meeting agenda creation only.
Core Principle
EVERY MEETING EXISTS TO MAKE DECISIONS OR ALIGN ON INFORMATION — IF THE AGENDA DOES NOT SPECIFY WHICH DECISIONS NEED TO BE MADE, THE MEETING WILL END WITHOUT MAKING THEM.
Phase 1: Meeting Brief
Gather meeting context before building the agenda.
Required Inputs
| Input | What to Ask | Default |
|---|
| Meeting type | "What kind of meeting? (team sync, client call, strategy session, 1:1, board meeting, brainstorm)" | Team sync |
| Duration | "How long is the meeting?" | 30 minutes |
| Attendees | "Who is attending and what are their roles?" | 2-5 team members |
| Objective | "What MUST be decided or accomplished by the end of this meeting?" | No default — must be provided |
| Pre-read materials | "Any documents, reports, or context attendees should review beforehand?" | None |
| Recurring? | "Is this a one-time meeting or recurring?" | One-time |
GATE: Confirm the meeting brief before building the agenda.
Phase 2: Build Agenda
Structure the agenda with time-boxed sections.
Agenda Architecture
Every agenda follows this structure, adjusted for meeting type and duration:
- Opening (5% of meeting time) — state the objective, confirm agenda
- Information sharing (20-30%) — updates, context, data review
- Discussion (30-40%) — debate, input gathering, problem solving
- Decisions (15-20%) — explicit decision points with owners
- Action items + close (10%) — assign tasks, confirm next steps, set deadlines
Agenda Template
## Meeting Agenda: [Meeting Title]
**Date:** [Date]
**Time:** [Start] - [End] ([Duration])
**Attendees:** [Names and roles]
**Objective:** [One sentence — what success looks like when this meeting ends]
**Pre-read:** [Links or documents to review before the meeting]
---
| Time | Topic | Type | Owner | Notes |
|------|-------|------|-------|-------|
| 0:00 | Welcome + agenda review | Align | [Facilitator] | State objective |
| 0:02 | [Topic 1] | Info | [Name] | [Key question or context] |
| 0:10 | [Topic 2] | Discuss | [Name] | [Decision needed: Y/N] |
| 0:20 | [Topic 3] | Decide | [Name] | [Options to evaluate] |
| 0:25 | Action items + next steps | Close | [Facilitator] | Assign owners + deadlines |
---
**Decision items for this meeting:**
1. [ ] [Decision 1 — options: A, B, C]
2. [ ] [Decision 2 — options: A, B]
**Parking lot:** (topics raised but not on today's agenda)
-
Time Allocation Rules
- No single topic should exceed 40% of the meeting duration
- Decision items need at least 5 minutes each — do not rush decisions into 2 minutes
- If more than 3 decisions need to be made, the meeting is too short or needs to be split
- Buffer 2-3 minutes for transitions between topics
GATE: Present the agenda and get approval before finalizing.
Phase 3: Enhance
Add facilitation elements that keep the meeting on track.
Discussion Prompts
For each discussion topic, provide 1-2 specific questions the facilitator can ask to keep conversation focused:
**Topic: Q1 marketing budget allocation**
- "Given our Q4 results, which channel deserves more budget and why?"
- "What would we cut if we had to reduce the budget by 20%?"
Pre-Meeting Checklist
## Pre-Meeting Checklist
- [ ] Agenda sent to all attendees at least 24 hours before the meeting
- [ ] Pre-read materials linked and accessible
- [ ] Decision items clearly stated so attendees can form opinions beforehand
- [ ] Meeting room / video link confirmed
- [ ] Note-taker assigned
Action Item Template
## Action Items from [Meeting Title] — [Date]
| # | Action | Owner | Deadline | Status |
|---|--------|-------|----------|--------|
| 1 | | | | [ ] |
| 2 | | | | [ ] |
Phase 4: Recurring Template
If the meeting is recurring, deliver a reusable template.
Template Customization
- Mark which sections are fixed (always present) vs. variable (change each meeting)
- Include placeholders for rotating topics
- Suggest a cadence for agenda distribution (e.g., "Send every Monday by 9 AM for Tuesday meetings")
- Provide a quarterly review prompt to evaluate if the recurring meeting still needs to exist
Anti-Patterns
- No stated objective — "Team sync" is not an objective. "Decide on Q2 launch date" is an objective.
- Topic without owner — every agenda item needs one person responsible for driving that section.
- All information, no decisions — meetings that only share updates should be emails instead.
- No time limits — without time boxes, one topic will consume the entire meeting.
- Too many topics — more than 5 topics in a 30-minute meeting means nothing gets depth.
- Agenda sent during the meeting — if attendees see the agenda for the first time in the meeting, they cannot prepare.
Recovery
- User cannot define the objective: Ask "If this meeting goes perfectly, what is different afterward?" The answer is the objective.
- Too many topics for the time: Force-rank topics by urgency. Move lowest-priority items to a follow-up meeting or async channel.
- User wants a meeting but it should be an email: If there are no decisions and no discussion needed, suggest an async update instead and draft that.
- Recurring meeting feels stale: Recommend a meeting audit — skip the meeting for 2 weeks and see if anyone notices. If not, cancel it.
- Attendee list is too large: Meetings with 8+ people rarely produce decisions. Recommend a core group of decision-makers with a summary sent to the broader group.
