How to Write Perfect Pre-Meeting Email Templates 

I love a productive meeting that makes the best use of everyone’s time.  I have found that when meeting attendees understand exactly what is expected from for an upcoming meeting, they are more likely to be actively present and participate.  Additionally, when a friendly reminder is shared in advance of a meeting, outlining an agenda and any pre-meeting prep work, the likelihood of everyone joining increases as well. What are the ways that you, as the meeting leader, can set clear expectations about an upcoming meeting?  This article delves into several pre-meeting emails that you can share – for both internal and external meetings.  

1) Is the meeting necessary?

First and foremost, ask yourself “Is an official meeting actually needed?  The issue of limited time is a reality for most business professionals. Could you get what you need by making a quick phone call or sending a Teams / Slack message instead?  If so, take that route. There is so much noise in the business world and one less meeting helps.

2) Always have an agenda for your meeting

Many professionals are bombarded by meetings that can quickly clutter their calendar.  Often a meeting subject or title is not descriptive enough to inform meeting invitees of the intent of the meeting. Therefore, take a few extra minutes and include the meeting agenda in the body of your invitation.  It provides more clarity as to the purpose of the meeting, in advance of the meeting time.  An agenda should be included for both internal meetings as well as meetings that include participants outside your organization such as clients, partners and vendors.  I’ll caveat this tip with the fact that many may not see the agenda details in the meeting invite which is why you are going to take additional steps…

3) Send a pre-meeting touchpoint email, that includes the agenda, in advance of the meeting

If you have a meeting tomorrow or in the near future, send attendees a *brief* agenda confirmation email.  Include a specific subject line that includes “Agenda: Name of the Meeting.” This important piece of communication makes you look organized and reinforces that your meeting is important and worth attending. If different people are assigned to different discussion points or agenda items, make note of that in your agenda.  A solid pre-meeting email template might look like this:

The above message contains a personal greeting to attendees reminding them of the intent / goal of the scheduled meeting. The meeting host details the agenda in succinct specificity.  It includes time frames, meeting topics and the assigned presenters. The level of detail, ideally sent 1-2 days in advance of the meeting, is a great way to remind each participant of what they can expect to learn at the meeting.  It also reminds them to prepare their content if assigned a section.  

A brief closing paragraph encourages presenters to reach out to you with any questions. **Knowing that certain team members may not read this email (you can only do so much!), you may have to call, text, Teams/Slack message individuals reminding them of their speaking roles. 

4) Is there background information and/or a meeting pre-read that meeting attendees need to review in advance? 

For example, perhaps your meeting next week is to share findings on what it takes to do business with a handful of companies that receive federal funding.  You have prepared a white paper that organizes your research and subsequent recommendations.  If the purpose of the meeting is to get feedback on the recommendations, you will need meeting attendees to at least skim the white paper in advance of the meeting.  A pre-meeting email to attendees might look like this. 

Hi Everyone,

In advance of our “Doing Business with Colorado Aerospace Companies” meeting on March 24, please review the 5-page white paper (link to document) I completed. The purpose of the meeting is to get your feedback on the recommendations posed so that I have clear direction on how to proceed.  I plan to spend only 5 minutes summarizing my research process so that we can focus our time on next steps.  Page 1 of the white paper includes an executive summary. 

Best,
Meg

This brief reminder paragraph ideally prompts attendees to carve out 15-minutes of prep time before your meeting. While in a perfect world, every meeting attendee reviews your white paper, keep in mind that there is a good chance that not every person will do what is asked of them.  Account for this by dedicating the first 5 minutes of the meeting summarizing your findings. If 75% of meetings attendees have come prepared, consider that a win!  This proactive approach also sends the message that your time is just as valuable as everyone else’s, and you fully intend to get / give the information needed.  

5) Set clear expectations in advance of the meeting

My company is in the process of transitioning all our data to a new, more robust Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.  Everyone in the Marketing and Business Development teams needs to complete six training sessions that range from 45-minute to 2 hours. These are not the types of training sessions that the team can have playing in the background while they work on something else.  To make the expectations clear, the following email is sent to attendees before each session. 

6) Send a short video reminder 

When I worked at a software company, sending videos in lieu of lengthy emails was the norm.  This can be especially helpful if you are in a sales role preparing for a meeting in front of prospects.  There are several free video platforms such as Vidyard that allow you to create > insert link right into your email.  As you will see in this video example, I have included a personal greeting to the person with whom I am meeting and I have reinforced what the prospect can expect to gain at tomorrow’s meeting.  This helps answer the “What’s in it for me?” question that business owners / leaders may ask themselves when evaluating their calendar on a particular day.  You want to guarantee that the meeting you worked so hard to get stays on the calendar!