The Perfect Agenda

My name is Chris Astrella, a former local government hero and legendary municipal Clerk (I swear I didn’t label myself with those titles!) myself. I worked in local government for almost seventeen years, but now I am an Adjunct Professor of Public Administration and work for Town Web Design and HeyGov as the Government Content Insider.

What does that mean? Well, the first part is easy: I teach undergraduate Public Administration courses to students all over the country. The second part, Government Content Insider, means I know a few things about local government responsibilities and how to take meeting minutes.

Over the next ten weeks, we’re sharing a five-part series about how to take meeting minutes. We’ll discuss the different elements of meeting minutes, to help Clerks create the perfect set of minutes. We’ll be unpacking: The Perfect Agenda, The Perfect Audio for Clarity/Recording, The Perfect set of Meeting Minutes, The Perfect way to use AI Actions when taking your minutes, and The Perfect way to share your minutes with residents.

Today, we’ll cover how to craft the Perfect Agenda.

How to Create the Perfect Agenda

In any professional or organizational setting, but especially as part of local government responsibilities, an effective meeting agenda is a vital tool to ensure meetings are productive, focused, and efficient. Knowing how to take meeting minutes is important for helping teams and gatherings to be efficient. Whether for a team meeting, department head meeting, a conference, or a board gathering, a well-crafted agenda can set the tone for the meeting, align participants with the goals, and keep discussions on track. Below, I’ve listed my top five components of the Perfect Agenda with some strategies I learned in my time as a Clerk and from former colleagues as well.

Understand the Purpose of the Agenda

An effective meeting agenda serves as a roadmap for any meeting, laying out the topics to be discussed and the sequence in which they will be addressed. According to a study by the Harvard Business Review, well-structured meetings can increase productivity by ensuring all participants understand the goals, expectations, and roles before the meeting even begins (Muha, 2024 & Schwarz, 2015).

How many of us have been to a meeting where there isn’t an agenda, or the one presented isn’t followed?

Therefore, before creating your agenda, we have to understand the meeting's purpose. For most of us, that’s pretty simple: a board meeting vs. a public hearing is straightforward in our line of work. We’re all versed in what needs to be on the agenda for our Boards and Councils to conduct business and we’re guided by statutes and ordinances. However, weekly or monthly department head meetings can evolve as the needs change. Is there a major project on the horizon to talk about, capital expenses to start planning for or do you need some ideas for how to solve a problem? Will you have multiple departments involved on a project or do they intersect on the same issue? Depending on the need, identifying the meeting's objective will guide the structure and content of the agenda (Krakoff, 2025).

Identify and Prioritize the Key Topics

Once the purpose is clear, your next step is to identify the key topics to be discussed. For Board and Councils these typically must be listed, due to state laws, so the public can be notified of what the board/council is going to talk about. However, the structure of the agenda can affect how much business is accomplished at the meeting. For instance, in a decision-making meeting, the agenda may need to include time for presenting options, discussing pros and cons, and ultimately voting on a solution instead of only procedural items like approval of vouchers, minutes and other “regular” business.

Something I learned on the job was aligning my agenda items so issues the public were in attendance for were near the beginning, not the end. This way, if someone is coming for a rezone, variance, CUP (conditional use permit) or something else which directly affects them, they can leave if they wish. They don’t have to sit through an entire meeting waiting for their item to come up on the agenda.

Another suggestion I’ll offer is if it can wait until next meeting, and you have a LONG agenda... Put it off until next meeting. We all wish all our meetings were 30 minutes or less! Sometimes though, we have the monster agenda we’ve gotta power through for three hours. An easy way to shorten the meeting for everyone is to take items off the agenda which aren’t urgent and push them to the next meeting. I’ve found any meeting over two hours, our brains will typically turn to mush.

Structure an Effective Meeting Agenda

As part of local government responsibilities ask that we implement a standard agenda structure. A typical agenda should follow a standard structure, ensuring that all participants know what to expect. A well-organized agenda usually includes the following components:

Title/Heading: This should state the name of the meeting, the date, and the location. If the meeting is virtual, the agenda may also include the meeting link or dial-in number. In Wisconsin this is required by law (Kaul, 2024).

Main Topics of Discussion: List key topics in the order they will be discussed, along with the person responsible for each topic. If specific documents or reports will be referenced, include them as attachments or links if possible.

Time Allocation: Allocate a specific amount of time to each topic. This is critical to prevent discussions from going off track or dragging on too long. Time limits should be realistic and ensure that the most critical discussions receive the necessary focus (Muha, 2024).

Q&A or Discussion Time: If appropriate, reserve a set amount of time for questions, feedback, and ideas from the public outside of Public Comment but before talking about an agenda item. This ensures participants can voice their opinions without disrupting the flow of the meeting (Muha, 2024)

Action Items/Next Steps: Summarize decisions made and next steps to be taken, assigning responsibility for each task. This will of course be noted in the minutes, but more on that later! By structuring the agenda this way, the meeting becomes predictable, which reduces anxiety and ensures that everyone knows when they are expected to speak or act.

Allocate Time Effectively

Time management is the most important aspect of crafting a productive and effective meeting agenda. An effective meeting agenda strikes a balance between giving each topic adequate time and preventing discussions from dragging on too long. Do you have a time limit for each person to speak during public comment? If you don’t you should. Remember, it’s a meeting for the board to conduct their business. If residents have detailed issues to bring to the board’s attention, they don’t need to take up ten minutes of a meeting to do it!

Some municipalities will set a time limit per topic, say 15 minutes. The only way to extend time is a motion, second and vote (in the affirmative) to extend time, otherwise a vote is immediately called. This, as part of your role and local government responsibilities, will ensure board members are concise in their thoughts! If all else fails and further discussion is needed, anything can be tabled for any amount of time, according to Robert’s Rules of Order.

Distribute the Agenda Early

One of the most important steps in creating a perfect agenda is sharing it with participants in advance (Wright, 2024). We are all governed by different state laws dictating the minimum time we have to post our agenda. Some states must publish in the newspaper based on the municipality they work in. In Wisconsin the minimum is 24 hours before a regular meeting Is held and two hours before an emergency meeting. Each state can be different.

However, is 24-hours really enough time for anyone to review an agenda and prepare for a meeting?

According to Anastasia Muha from MeetGeek.ai (2024) participants who receive an effective meeting agenda ahead of time are more likely to be prepared, participate actively, and contribute meaningfully to the discussion. I’m not only talking about elected officials either! If there are members of the public interested in a certain agenda item, they may wish to prepare in advance of the meeting. The more time they have, the more organized they’ll, meaning they’ll be able to share (concisely) their thoughts and opinions!

Conclusion

Knowing how to take meeting minutes and creating effective meeting agenda involves a combination of clear purpose, effective prioritization, structured time allocation, and some flexibility. A well-crafted and effective meeting agenda not only ensures the smooth flow of the meeting but also increases productivity, promotes engagement, and minimizes wasted time which everyone will appreciate! By thoughtfully crafting agendas and adhering to best practices, municipalities can conduct meetings which are efficient, collaborative and focused on outcomes.

Next up, in our five-part series, is how to record the perfect audio for clarity.