If your question time goes unused, you can use it as bonus time for relationship building, take advantage of extra discussion time for more complex topics on the agenda, or even end the call a bit early. It’s important to consider this time for each topic, as stakeholders may want to discuss one topic completely before moving onto the next. 8Include time for questionsĪ well-structured agenda should leave a few minutes for questions on each major topic. Alternatively, a guest speaker from within one partner organization may be able to present key results or shine some light onto how the partner organization functions. The note-taker (who is also responsible for meeting minutes)īringing in an expert (whether internal or external to any partner organization) can be an engaging way to stimulate a new discussion within the partner meeting.Īn external guest speaker may be able to provide new insights that benefit both partnerships, like a short seminar on recent research findings related to the project.There are eight main meeting roles, but if your meeting has less than eight people, some individuals may take on multiple roles. 6Assign meeting rolesĪssigning meeting roles is a quick way to ensure that all those attending your meeting are there for a purpose.

Anyone else who may need to be informed can be sent the recording or meeting notes post-call. Only include key decision makers, informants, and managers who have direct involvement with the meeting at hand. While not always a bad thing, in partnership calls these long discussions can put the meeting at risk of going over time, which can have a negative impact on the attending organizations. The more voices you have in a given call, the longer it can take to get through discussions. Partner meetings, much like many other meetings, are most effective with a smaller group. Also, the higher the seniority of the attendees of your meeting, the sooner you’ll need to schedule the call although a partnerships manager who regularly books calls to scope out potential new partners may be available for a meeting in the next week, a C-suite executive may need at least two or three weeks notice to fit the meeting into their calendar. Stakeholders are busy and need time to prepare for meetings.

Closeout meeting to review how the previous project went.

Status reporting meeting for progress updates on an existing project.

Planning session for an upcoming project.

Negotiation meeting to sift through contracts and fine details of the agreement.

General scoping call to determine if there’s strategic alignment.

Some common reasons to hold a partner meeting include a need for a:

The purpose of the meeting is a lot like the goals. Sending the agenda in advance can help verify that you’ve touched on all important angles for the meeting and confirm that you and the partner(s) are mutually agreed on the goals for the call. Not only is sending the agenda ahead of time a sign of respect for the stakeholders’ time, but getting the agenda to stakeholders at least one day in advance also ensures there’s enough time for feedback or insight on additional items that need to be included.

Sharing the agenda with stakeholders ahead of the meeting ensures that all attendees are well informed of the plan for the meeting. 2Send the agenda out at least 24 hours before the meeting

Business meeting agenda template