The chairperson, facilitator, or meeting leader shall include all basic meeting details. These commonly include meeting date and time, location, and keynote speakers. A dial-in number or URL can be added if the meeting will be held online through a video-conferencing application (such as Zoom, Skype, Teams, etc).

The opening item serves as an introduction to the meeting. Meeting leaders often use this time to provide a brief background and establish the tone of the meeting. The person in charge of the formal meeting minutes can officially call the meeting into order upon the start time and begin documenting (if necessary).

All attendees and absentees of the meeting can be recorded after going through a standard roll call. A list of those present and absent can be added to the agenda document.

The agenda should be distributed amongst all the attendees, who may vote or motion to add items they deem should be included on the agenda. Once approved, the agenda will proceed as mutually agreed upon. Note that approval of the agenda may only apply to certain organizations or boards. If approval is not required, the meeting leader can simply use this slot to introduce the agenda by overviewing the items with those in attendance.

The individual in charge of distributing meeting minutes, usually a secretary, seeks approval from the attendees for the prior meeting’s minutes. Attendees shall vote to approve the prior meeting’s minutes based on the accuracy of the description of previous discussions.

Prior to attending to new business, it is worth addressing older matters that have yet to be resolved or completed. Many issues that have been tabled may be alluded to during the distribution of prior minutes; therefore, this allocated time can be dedicated to discussing those earlier affairs. Formal meetings usually entail voting on resolutions. All decisions can be put to a vote after carefully contemplating and discussing all options. If this is the case, a vote should be docked on the agenda under “Old Business.”

This item on the agenda should take a larger portion of time since the purpose of the meeting will likely be addressed during this item’s discussion. Here, the meeting leader and other speakers (if any) will present the formal business at hand and any pertinent information on the matter. As is the case for old business, decisions may be put to a vote in order to move towards resolutions.

Any matters that went undiscussed may be reserved for this section of the agenda. Given the new business being discussed, it is crucial to open the floor for questions and related comments. An effective way to do this entails each attendee chiming in with their input on the matters in question. Having this item on the agenda will also encourage attendees to reserve their questions until the allocated time for an open forum.

Finally, the individual in charge will conclude the meeting when all items have been discussed or upon the meeting’s set end time. The secretary or otherwise authorized individual can approve meeting minutes upon adjournment, if and when applicable.