You’re a professional, and if it’s one thing you know, it’s that you don’t have time to waste time. Ironically, that’s exactly what you’re doing when you go into a meeting without an agenda prepared or distributed.

Agendas are necessary to keep things in order and to make sure every meeting runs smoothly. That being that case, knowing when and where to pass out your agendas could mean the difference between a successful meeting and a bad one.

We have all the answers you need to help you plan your agenda accordingly. So let’s find out when the best time to distribute an agenda for a meeting is, and how you can be prepared for it!

The Best Time to Distribute an Agenda or a Meeting Is Well Before the Meeting Begins

All too often, you see or hear about business leaders distributing their agenda right before or even during the interview. This is a clear sign of a lack of care for the agenda – and by extent, the entire meeting.

Why is that? The agenda holds everything that is to be talked about in the meeting, and your employees are going to want to know what’s going to be talked about, as well as where and when this will all take place.

By not giving your agenda out beforehand, you’re telling your workers that the meeting wasn’t serious enough to plan for in advance – and they shouldn’t’ put much value on it.

Try this: the more important or lengthy the meeting actually is, the more time in advance you should hand out your agenda.

This will give your workers more time to make arrangements for the timing of the meeting, as well as allow them time to come up with any questions or ideas of their own that they feel should be mentioned at the meeting itself.

In turn, this approach also gives you, the planner, enough time to make sure you know everything you want to cover before you have the meeting in the first place.

How Do I Plan for It?

Knowing how to plan a meeting agenda isn’t as hard as people may make it out to be. In fact, the process is pretty simplistic.

First, you need to know what the subject will be. This needs to be specific; all too often, a boss will go into a meeting and not have any specific guidelines involved, and the workers will leave more confused than they came.

Afterward, you’ll want to know your specific audience of workers who will attend. It doesn’t make sense to bring a member of your IT department to a meeting that centers on sales representation.

Also, you’ll want to factor in what sort of tech stuff you’ll need at the meeting (psst…this is where IT could come in handy at the meeting). Things like sound testing and visuals need to be scheduled, more for your sake than the workers.

Finally, you’ll want to judge the size of the meeting. As previously mentioned, having a longer or more important meeting means that your agenda should be out well in advance for the workers to be prepared – not the day of the meeting.

Follow these tips and you’ll have successful meetings in no time.

Hartford Technology Rental Means Business

Now that you know when the best time to distribute an agenda for a meeting is, you’ll want to know where you can go to get the tools you need to make your meeting a success. Luckily for you, we’ve got you covered.

When it comes to business, we really know what we’re talking about – and we want to help you to succeed. We do a lot of technology rentals of laptops, iPads, scanners, copiers, and so much more.

We also give solid advice on business continuity, as well as event rentals, so we can make sure you look your best no matter what. Give us a call at 888-520-5667 to find out more about what we can do. We look forward to hearing from you.