Meet with a documented agenda

Don’t overthink the agenda creation. By default, include async content/pre-read, followed by the 3d’s — important decisions, debates, and discussion. The first section provides an overview of why this topic is important and what information you want to tell or ask attendees asynchronously, either before the meeting or during allocated silent read time. 

Whether you’re preparing for a 1-to-1, a weekly team standup, or a creative review, take a moment and attach a shared agenda document to the calendar invite. That way, everyone in the meeting is aligned and focused, with zero ambiguity on how the meeting should kick off or end - this is all documented before the session even begins!

If a meeting recurs (like a 1-to-1 with your manager) or a topic gets revisited (like a second stakeholder review of a project brief), use the same document. By leveraging the same document and simply adding a fresh date at the top, you are creating a single source of truth that attendees can trust to bring themselves up to speed. Dropbox Paper is tailor-made for this workflow with pre-made templates.