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Creating an event agenda is the key to making your event successful. We’ll give you our best tips and templates to make a killer event agenda that everyone can follow!
When hosting a business meeting or event, either in-person or virtual, you are responsible for leading and maintaining the attention of a large group of people while ensuring that the meeting runs smoothly. By creating an event agenda, your meeting or event will be sure to stay on track and allow you to use all of your allotted time efficiently.
A meeting agenda is a list of topics, along with the amount of time you plan to dedicate to it throughout the course of your event. The main purpose for creating an event agenda is to outline all of the important tasks at hand and give your audience a clear idea of what to expect at the event. Assigning times to each subject will ensure that your event runs in a timely manner. Things to include when creating your agenda may include:
Before you start inviting guests to your event, or open up the registration portal, you should have already created your event agenda. Once you start to invite your guests, you can send out the event agenda with the event invitation email. Giving your guests enough notice for the event and what topics will be covered will allow them to come up with any questions that they might need answered. No matter the size of your event, it should require an agenda! Staying focused and on track is one of the most important parts of your event, and sticking to the event agenda will help you do that!
An event agenda is the master list of all of the details associated with your event. If you were to host an event without an agenda, or even a moderator, your event can run off the rails quickly. With the use of an event agenda, your event will be able to stay on track! If your guests have any questions, be sure to include a Q&A session, so that individual questions throughout the event don’t take up too much time. An event agenda will also increase productivity, as you will be able to hit all of your goals on the agenda within the allotted time.
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Whether your event is a quick one hour meeting or an all day event, having an agenda to follow will help your guests understand what will be covered during the event. An event agenda will leave no room for confusion about what is going to happen next, when breaks will happen and when the audience will have time for questions, comments and concerns. In terms of the actual agenda, whether it is printed on paper or sent in an email, being very clear and organized with the details will let your guests know exactly what is coming next. While at the event, be sure to print out copies of the agenda, so guests can take one if they’d like.
By determining your event goal in the early stages of planning, you can from there invite the correct guests and determine your expanded agenda. These goals can be anything from discussing a budget, increasing your brand awareness or onboarding the new hires. Once you have determined what your goal is, you are able to create an agenda around that. You can plan for keynote speakers, breakout sessions and any other details that may need to be included.
Guest speakers are a great way to motivate your audience while still providing them with knowledge, information and personal stories. Once you have your goal determined, you can begin the search for the perfect guest speakers. Your speakers should be someone who specializes in the goal at hand. You wouldn’t want a guest speaker who talks about human resources when the goal is speaking about financial topics, such as the budget and payroll.
Just about every event is going to have a target audience, and you will have a better understanding of who to invite when you get your event agenda finalized. Once you have your target audience, you may even want to ask them before the event what their expectations are. With this information, you are able to tailor your event, as well as your event agenda to your audience!
There may be several subjects you wish to discuss throughout your event, but don’t overstuff your event agenda! If you add too many subjects or sessions into your event agenda, you may not hit them all! Part of making your agenda goals achievable is making sure you hit all of the goals, and nothing is left on the table at the end of the event! If you have many subjects and topics to cover, you may want to plan your event over the course of a few days, to ensure that you cover every topic.
One thing to do when you create an event agenda is to add times to each session. You can also include time for breaks and meals as needed. Be sure to pay attention to the time as sessions come to a close; if you run over time on one subject, it will throw the rest of the day off. Giving your guests and speakers a 5 minute warning to signal the end of a session will let them know to start wrapping up any ongoing conversations and tying up any loose ends.
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In order to correctly align your agenda with the needs of your audience, ask your audience what they wish to see during the course of your event! Your event will likely already have a theme and topics you are going to cover by the time you invite your guests, but asking what they want to see can help you narrow down any topics! By doing this, you can ensure that your guests will gain the most knowledge from your event! One way to gather feedback would be to conduct a survey to measure attendee satisfaction, which according to Markletic, 90% of virtual event organizers do this.
Questions are such an important part of your event! They allow your guests to further their knowledge and receive any clarification on any topics they might not understand! You may also ask your guests ahead of time what questions they want answered, so event organizers can add these questions to the agenda! If any questions do arise throughout the event, having a Q&A session will allow your guests to ask their questions at an appropriate time.
By adding each task to the event agenda, your audience will have a better understanding of what is being covered! Adding a small blurb to each task will further explain the purpose of each task. Events typically have many tasks and subjects to cover in a short amount of time, and by explaining the purpose of each task, you can ensure that your audience will gain the most knowledge possible.
Following these 6 tips will help you to create an effective event agenda!
Once you start inviting your guests, begin to ask them which topics they wish to see covered. With this information, you will be able to create an event agenda that will fully engage your audience. Asking your guest’s input will help with feedback at the end of your event as well! If you include the topics your guests wanted to see, this will provide great feedback!
As discussed above, sticking to the event agenda and schedule will help you to create a successful event! If you or your guests start to get sidetracked on a certain subject, it can throw off the whole timeline. Event organizers work very hard to create an event agenda that will cover all of the topics in a timely manner. And if you don’t stick to the schedule, your guests may be losing out on valuable information. If your event ends early, adding in time for a Q&A session or a networking event can ensure that your guests will have time to ask questions or meet their peers.
If your event agenda is completed by the time you begin to invite your guests, you can send out the agenda then! For large virutal conferences, it’s estimated that 65% of marketers need more than 6 weeks to promote the event and drive the desired amount of registrations. If you choose to ask your guests which topics they wish to see covered, you can create the event agenda from that information and send the agenda out closer to the event. By doing this, your guests will be able to see which topics are being covered and prepare any questions they might have!
Designate somebody, an event organizer perhaps, to take notes of the event. These notes can be handwritten by the note taker, and then placed into an online document. These notes may include any talking points, thoughts or concerns that came from your guests. Whether all of your registered guests attended the event, you can still use the guest list from the event and send the notes to everyone! Just because a guest didn’t attend your event doesn’t mean they should go without the notes.
In order to effectively gauge how well your event agenda worked with your event, asking your guests to fill out post-event surveys will allow you to better understand how they enjoyed your event. Use your event agenda to cross reference the feedback and post-event surveys you receive to determine if you hit all of your topics! If you didn’t, no need to worry- these surveys and feedback can help you to plan your next event and agenda!
Breaks are an essential part of an all day event. In fact, 45% of event organizers opt for shorter multi-day events to combat virtual fatigue. Whether it’s a short or long event, breaksThey allow people to stretch their legs, grab a drink of water or use the restroom. By adding in these breaks, people won’t feel uncomfortable about needing to get up in the middle of the event. These breaks can last anywhere from 5-15 minutes. Meal breaks for lunch or dinner (depending on the time of your event) should be at least an hour. This allows your guests to eat their meal and have time to talk to their peers in a more relaxed environment.
AGENDA
Day 1:
Time: Session: Objectives:
8:00am Sample Session Sample Objective
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8:20am Sample Session Sample Objective
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8:30am Sample Session Sample Objective
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9:15am Sample Session Sample Objective
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10:15am Break Sample Objective
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10:30am Sample Session Sample Objective
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12:00pm Sample Session Sample Objective
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1:00pm Sample Session Sample Objective
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2:00pm Break Sample Objective
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2:15pm Sample Session Sample Objective
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3:00pm Sample Session Sample Objective
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4:00pm Sample Session Sample Objective
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4:30pm-5:00pm Sample Session Sample Objective
By adding as much information into the event agenda as you can, you can stick to the timeline as close as possible. If you acquire guest speakers, yet you want to keep them a surprise to your guests, you can have your guest speaker portion say TBA. The template for an event agenda can be done in a variety of ways. This is just one event agenda template, but feel free to add or take away portions of the agenda that work or don’t work for your event.
AGENDA
DAY 1:
Time: Session: Objective:
8:00am Team Breakfast 4th Floor Cafeteria
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8:20am Convene Conference Room A
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8:30am Introductions Meet The Team!
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9:15am Keynote Speaker John Smith, Accountant
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10:15am Break
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10:30am Breakout Rooms Brainstorm Ideas & Thoughts
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12:00pm Lunch Provided By Top Sandwich Co.
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1:00pm Sales Presentation Learn How To Rock Your Sales
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2:00pm Break
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2:15pm HR Presentation Best HR Practices
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3:00pm Keynote Speaker Susan Brown, HR Director
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4:00pm Q&A, Networking Learn More About Each Other
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5:00pm Closing Ceremonies Goodbyes And Clean Up
Event agendas are the roadmap to a successful event! They provide your guests a look into the event, before the event even begins! They are able to see what types of topics are going to be covered, who their guest speakers are and can even see what they’re having for lunch or dinner! The takeaways from your event are important for everyone involved, and taking notes will be beneficial! These notes can be transferred to an online document and passed along to everyone on the guest list! By staying on track with the time and subjects on the agenda, you are sure to have a successful event!
With the aid of modern technology, such as Hubilo, the process of staying on track with an event agenda becomes even more seamless. Hubilo, a trusted virtual event hosting platform, offers comprehensive event planning solutions tailored to your specific needs. From creating a detailed run of show to managing various aspects of your event, Hubilo streamlines the planning process from start to finish. Hubilo can assist you in crafting a well-organized agenda, managing time effectively, and ensuring a successful event. Don't miss out on the opportunity to elevate your event planning experience with Hubilo. Request a demo today and unlock the full potential of your next event!
Hubilo is the webinar platform built for marketers that helps you 2X your pipeline. Founded in 2015, Hubilo's powerful engagement features, dedicated client experience team, and custom branding tools have helped create over 12K virtual events & webinars, creating hundreds of millions of minutes of high-engagement experiences and counting. Headquartered in Bengaluru and San Francisco, Hubilo's 200+ employees are dedicated to enabling webinars & virtual events that convert.
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