← Chapter 14
Oral Communication · Chapter 14

The Agenda Forge

“Scheduling” is not an agenda item — it is a subject heading, and a room staring at a subject heading produces forty minutes of anecdote. Rewrite four dead headings as questions the meeting must answer, with an owner, a time box and a decision rule. Then build the four-second handoff that decides whether a group presentation sounds like one talk or five.
The agenda somebody actually sent — rewrite each heading as a question, then give it an owner, minutes and a decision rule.

The agenda as the room will read it

0Real questions
0Minutes booked
0Decisions due