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5+ Meeting Planner Templates
Meetings are usually orchestrated by upper management. Make sure everything exceeds their expectations by planning everything in advance by using these templates. Having to remember everything is very difficult. So in order to avoid an information overload, write everything on a piece of paper to prevent forgetting them. Aside from being prepared, it also helps you with time management and improves your productivity. By planning everything ahead, you can detect any errors and come up with ways on how to solve them immediately.
6 Steps for Creating a Meeting Planner Template
Step 1: Determine the purpose of the meeting
The first step is to determine the purpose of the meeting. Is it about deliberating issues? Creating solutions? Or making decisions? Whatever the purpose is, you must state the reason so your attendees will have at least an idea on what the meeting is all about. Try to avoid keeping them guessing. This way, they will have ample time to compose their concerns and/or provide solutions to whatever issue the company is currently facing.
Step 2: Specify the end result of the meeting
This step answers the question “What are you hoping to achieve at the end of the meeting?” Do you expect more compliance with the company policies after? Do you want the attendees to have better comprehension? Whatever it is, develop a goal and work towards that goal until the end. Without a goal, everything will be astray. You will be having a hard time organizing your thoughts and the meeting wouldn’t even make sense to the attendees.
Step 3: Determine who needs to be there
Make sure that the right people are present during the meeting. The most important attendees are the people from upper management. Aside from them, the leader, recorder, timekeeper, and employees are essential as well. A meeting will not be a meeting if not for its attendees. As the facilitator, you are responsible for the schedule, location, equipment, and topics that will be discussed. You also have to consider the time of the meeting. For example, meetings during noon can trigger disinterest, drowsiness, and hunger so try to avoid this time slot.
Step 4: Specify what information needs to be provided
In this step, specify the topic you want to converse about with the attendees. It may be about training and development, creativity and new ideas, and etc. In training and development, you might wanna talk about the progress of probationary employees or the remedies of employees who are developing bad habits and/or experiencing burnout. For creativity and new ideas, you may want to suggest ideas for employee coordination. Make sure to provide all the necessary points to your chosen topic to avoid lapses during the discussion.
Step 5: Specify the schedule of the meeting
Determine the date, time, duration, and location of the meeting. In order not to be in conflict with the schedules of the attendees, set a date and time that everybody can agree with. Some attendees might sacrifice their other commitments for a meeting so don’t waste their time and make it worth their while. Don’t make them regret their decision and be sure to include only the relevant topics. Practice courtesy as well by being at the location possibly an hour before to get everything ready.
Step 6: Notify all attendees in advance
Inform the attendees ahead of time through email, text, broadcast, and/or alerts. Also, inform them of the purpose, attendees, location, and etc. It’s good to inform them weeks ahead of the meeting to include said meeting in their schedules. If certain attendees have to prepare a presentation, then it’s good to inform them as well. Double check if you have sent the notification to the attendees. If possible, ask them politely to respond if they have received the notification.
5+ Meeting Planner Templates
1. Free Meeting Planner Template
Coordinate meetings by using this Free Meeting Planner Template. This template is customizable to fit your preferences and you can change its color as well if you prefer another color of your choice. This template breaks your goals, actions, reminders, and notes into sections. If you are having a hard time being organized, this will help you uncomplicate your planning. Using meeting planners will help you identify discrepancies ahead of time. Download this now to assist you with your meeting planning.
2. Team Meeting Planner Template
Writing things down helps improve your memory. One can only contain/remember certain information; so to avoid an information overload, write them down. The facilitator is the leader of meetings, so plan your meetings in a timely manner by using this template. You cannot afford any mistakes during meetings; so, ensure that everything is smooth and well organized. Download this template now to aid you in planning your meeting. This is available in Illustrator and Photoshop.
3. Company Meeting Planner Template
This template is quite similar to the preceding one. Except, this is designed for company meetings. For company meetings, expect a lot of participants. This is twice the pressure because it involves all the employees in the company. So to help ease the pressure, let this template help you with planning and organizing everything, from preparing the resources to accommodating the attendees. Download this template now to help you with your current and future company meeting planning.
4. Sample Meeting Planner Template
This template serves as a list of attendees whether attending or not. This way, it will enable you to determine the population as well as estimate the food and beverages to be served. Jotting names down doesn’t have to be difficult. Using this template will make everything easier for you. If an attendee confirms that he/she isn’t attending the said meeting, you can just place his/her reason on ‘Notes’. Download this template now to assist you in monitoring the list of attendees.
5. Fillable Meeting Planner Template
This displays a step-by-step flow of the meeting. This can serve as your guide if you don’t have an idea on how to start the meeting. Everything is easily provided for the facilitator here. All you have to do is provide everything whatever is needed in the “Activity” section. It also allows you to encode the duration of the said meeting. If the time is too long, you can think of ways to shorten it the next meeting and vice versa.
6. Simple Meeting Planner Template
This is a more generalized version of the meeting planner. It helps you plan meetings monthly. This will also help you see which month has the least and most meetings for your documentation. You can also use this as a tracker of your monthly meeting planning. In the previous templates, it is more specific than this one so it allows you to input a lot of data. Download this template now if you prefer the generalized version of the previous ones.