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"10.00am | Alpha Catch Up - Zoom"
Hang on, what?!
You know those random invites that appear in your calendar. Little or no explanation. Just your time and heartbeats gone forever.
I’ve sent those invites too. And let’s be honest, we’ve all cursed them when they land.
Like a lot of things related to meetings, we've normalised total mediocrity
“I’ll figure it out in the room.”
“No one ever reads the invite anyway.”
“I just need to hold the slot.”
These are the excuses I’ve give myself. You’ve probably thought the same - and it’s not that we don’t care!
It's just that writing a decent invite feels like too much extra work. And anyway, the whole point of getting a meeting in the diary is that you don't need to worry about that knotty issue until next week now!
But the problem is, without clarity beforehand people arrive unprepared, unsure or even defensive. We burn half the meeting trying to agree why we’re there in the first place. The real conversation never quite takes off.
A Harvard Business Review study showed that 71% of managers believe meetings are unproductive and inefficient. The invite is often where that unproductivity begins.
The invite is your prime real estate
Before a single word is spoken, the invite sets the tone.
It tells people if this meeting is worth their time (and that their time matters to you).
It signals whether you are clear, purposeful and inclusive or just going through the motions.
The word “agenda” makes me cringe a bit. It usually just ends up as a list of topics - better than nothing, for sure. But it leads to ploughing through bullet points while people switch off. You don’t get to what matters because you haven't properly formed a strong, pop up team for that session.
So treat the invite as a briefing, not an agenda.
Here's my guide to a super clear briefing invitation
Instead of “Weekly Team Meeting, Agenda Attached,” you get an invite that might include some or all of these (you can download the template for this below):
- Meeting name: The memorable, purposeful title that signposts and energises. (See my guide to naming meetings here)
- Purpose statement: Why this meeting matters and what we're trying to achieve in the time.
- Connection to the bigger goal: A quick nod to how this fits the wider picture.
- Key questions: The specific questions we’ll answer together.
- Your role: Specifically what we're hoping each person will contribute.
- Will do / won't do: A short list of what you will cover and what is definitely out of scope for this session.
- Decisions: What will and won’t be decided, and how.
- Come ready to: What to bring, what to read or think about in advance.
- Helpful links: Easy access to docs or other information people need. If you can offer the slides in advance, share them here - some people really appreciate scanning them before the session.
- What to expect: Especially if something new or unusual will happen. You might include any behaviours or norms you want people to use and whether it's a cameras on/off session.
THIS is how you make people feel included, respected and clear enough to get straight into the real work.
The outsized outcomes you can expect from a good briefing invitation
Sounds like a lot? You don't need to include everything - just what makes sense. But here’s what I’ve seen when meeting leaders treat the invite as prime real estate:
- Defensiveness drops away because the session is clear and unambiguous.
- Organisers sometimes cancel the meeting - hurray! (because when forced to articulate the purpose, they realise it isn’t needed)
- People prepare better and contribute more. The conversation is richer and more useful
- Agendas don’t drift or get hijacked- everyone start to self- and co-moderate.
- The tone is fair and open before anyone even joins the room.
Templates to make this SUPER super simple and quick
“I don’t have time.”
“People will think I’m overcomplicating it.”
“They’ll ignore it anyway.”
It has to be super simple so here's my template and instruction guide (scroll to the second resource down) - and you can also feed the template into ChatGPT or Copilot with a voicenote explaining the outcome you're looking for and get a great jumping off point. (That's what I would do!)
Drop me a reply if you'd like me to me create a customGPT that does this for FrictionFree readers.
I'll leave you with this
Let's zoom out for a hot minute - this isn’t only about invites but about reinventing all the basics of meeting to achieve complex, collaborative work in knowledge-era teams. The invitation is just the first step. But it’s a crucial tone-setting step that tells people you respect their time and are committed to making it easy for them to do their job.
Every meeting is a social contract. Your invitation provides the opportunity to get super clear together before the meeting to everyone arrives committed, prepared and ready to make progress. |
With my best wishes as always 👋