Have you ever been to a meeting without an agenda? Chances are, it was a disorganized mess—all productive meetings start with a clear meeting agenda. The purpose of an agenda is threefold: It should help ensure you accomplish your goals; keep you on track with regards to time; and help the attendees ensure they are prepared to talk about the topics to be covered.

With that in mind, here is how to ensure you have a good agenda.

1. Begin with a statement of the meeting’s objective—one or two sentences that explains the purpose of getting everyone together.
2. Then, create an ordered list of discussion topics needed to meet the objective. Order them by priority.
3. Then assign a presenter who will lead the discussion on each item. Remember: just because it’s your meeting, you don’t have to own every topic.
4. Next to each item, add an allotted time. If there’s likely to be discussion or questions, make sure you account for that.
5. Attach the agenda to the invite when the meeting is scheduled. If it is a recurring meeting, then the agenda should be set within 24 hours of the last meeting. You can always add to it later if something new comes up. And don’t forget to attach any relevant documents to the meeting invite as well.

Start implementing these items to ensure a great meeting where everyone is able to contribute effectively.

Do these tips work for you? Do you organize your meeting agendas differently? Let us know in the comments.