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Figure Three : A Well‐Constructed Agenda

1. Staff Social Committee – elect a new representative. (5 minutes)

2. Strategies – what changes will impact on our strategies next year.
Action plans to be drawn up to review strategy options available. (60 minutes)

3. CA positions – identify any potential problems with regard to (15 minutes)
recruitment.

4. Visitors from Beijing. (5 minutes)

5. AOB (5 minutes)

It is usually up to the meeting leader to set the agenda and priorities, although in some settings,
prioritisation can be dealt with at the beginning of the meeting amongst those present. A useful idea is
to set a certain amount of time for each item and stick to it. Put the urgent items first and give them
little time. Then allot sufficient time to the really important things. Let us look at the previous agenda.
The staff social committee was urgent because a new person was needed immediately so planning
could begin. The CA positions item was simply a review of who was leaving the school and about the
present response to advertisements. The foreign visitors item was merely a notification that it would
take place and that teachers would be joining the party for lunch. It was worth putting on the agenda
in case there were any questions of clarification, but it was not important if it was not discussed. The
new agenda might look like that shown in Figure Three.

Summary:
 Ensure the agenda contains only essential items.
 Deal with urgent items first and give them little time.

 Allocate most time to important items.
 Prioritise the agenda, ensuring important items take precedence.

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