Meetings are integral to every business. Unfortunately, 67% of gatherings are considered a total disaster, wasting employees’ time and efforts. Meeting memos are an effective way to omit failures and enhance teams’ productivity.
Many office workers underestimate this prompt notice and don’t use it to boost efficiency. Let’s review how to write a meeting memo that will stop your employees from yawning and checking their phones during corporate events.
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What Is a Meeting Memo?
A meeting memo resembles a to-do list with a reminder. It’s basically a short notice sent out to the event attendees covering all the aspects of the meeting. It answers the eternal five Ws questions: who, when, where, what, and why.
Besides, it includes the expectations set and assignments to be done (if any) before the gathering. Meeting memos help keep all participants on the same page and let them get ready and organized. As a result, you will get a productive meeting where every attendee knows their role, responsibilities, and desired outcome.
Meeting Memo Content
You can find an example of a memo for a meeting online or just stick to our guide on its content and create a template to use within your company. It’s pretty easy to navigate through its elements, and only one part requires some basic writing skills and a pinch of creativity.
Let’s review what you should include in your meeting memo on an example of an upcoming HR meeting at the made-up ABC company.
| HR Meeting Memorandum | Include a header with a meeting title. |
| TO: ABC HR department staff | Define an addressed group of people. |
| FROM: John Smith, Head of HR, ABC | Specify the sender (a.k.a. organizer) of the meeting, mentioning their full name and position. |
| DATE AND TIME: September 15th, 2022, at 10 A.M. EST | Set the exact time of the meeting, noting the time zone if this is a virtual call with remote employees. |
| LOCATION: A conference call via Whoosh. You can join the call via this link | It’s important to define the exact location of a meeting (e.g., Conference Room 114) or specify a tool and provide your participants with an access link. |
| MEETING SUBJECT: Enhancing team building within remote teams | The subject must give an idea of what the meeting will be about.Try to make it brief yet comprehensive. |
| MEETING ATTENDEES:Julia Robertson, HR Manager Tim Wilson, Head of Employee Activitiesetc. | Include a full list of all the participants and their positions. |
| Hello team, The increase in the number of remote employees within the company has led to a deterioration in their social relationships and, as a result, a decrease in team spirit. This leads to ineffective communication and a decline in their performance. At our meeting on September 15th, we will discuss ways to solve this problem and elaborate on a plan of activities. Specifically: Organizing online events for team building;Group workshops for professional development;The possibility of organizing offline events to improve social relationships;Arranging joint leisure activities;Creating chat rooms or interest groups for social interaction. I ask each meeting participant to research how our competitors and other companies handle this problem. Each participant should also prepare three ideas for team-building activities and introduce them within a five-minute presentation. We will then brainstorm and discuss them to approve the plan. Your creativity is welcomed! If you have any questions or will not be able to attend the meeting, please contact me via e-mail (john.smith@abc.com) or phone (555 555 555). I am looking forward to hearing your ideas on September 15th. | The main body of your meeting memo is that very part requiring creativity and writing skills. It covers the problems you need to review, introduces the topics to be discussed, and sets action items or expectations for the participants. It’s also vital to define the goal of your meeting. As you see in the example, the HR department at ABC needs to approve a plan of team-building activities to enhance their employees’ relations. Let your participants know if they should confirm their attendance, and give them a person to contact in case of any questions. |
| Thank you, John Smith | Don’t forget to sign the note. |
Tips for Making Your Meeting Memo Concise and Thorough
- Make your memo up to one page long. It’s an optimal size to open an e-mail and not be shocked. If you can’t put it on a single page, you should reconsider the meeting goal and think of splitting it into more than one event;
- Format your text — use bullet points and lists, highlight important aspects in bold, use headers, and active links for documents, e-mails, chat rooms, etc.;
- Don’t be too wordy and get into much detail. You are not retelling the future meeting; you are giving an overall impression of what to expect and be ready for;
- Stick to your brand tone of voice and simple language. Use the work-related terms and notions depending on the department you have a meeting with;
- Proofread a meeting memo before sending it. Twice.
