Host Checklist for Pre-Meeting Prep

Learn essential pre-meeting prep steps for hosts to ensure productive, efficient, and engaging meetings.

min read

Pre-meeting prep is the essential groundwork a host does before a meeting to ensure its success. As a host, your preparation sets the tone and direction for the entire meeting. It's like being the captain of a ship – your readiness determines whether the journey will be smooth sailing or a choppy ride.

Checklist and Key Points to include for pre-meeting prep for host:

Set Clear Objectives Clearly define the purpose and desired outcomes of the meeting. This helps guide the discussion and keeps everyone focused on achieving specific goals.
Create a Detailed Agenda Develop a structured agenda that outlines topics, time allocations, and responsible parties. This ensures all important points are covered and helps manage time effectively.
Prepare and Distribute Materials Compile and share any necessary documents, presentations, or data in advance. This allows participants to review and come prepared, leading to more informed discussions.
Coordinate with Participants Reach out to key attendees to confirm their roles, expectations, and any contributions they need to prepare. This ensures everyone is aligned and ready to participate actively.
Test Technology and Setup For virtual or hybrid meetings, test all necessary technology in advance. Ensure audio, video, and screen-sharing capabilities are working properly to avoid technical issues during the meeting.
Anticipate Potential Challenges Consider possible roadblocks or areas of disagreement that may arise during the meeting. Prepare strategies or additional information to address these proactively.
Plan for Follow-up Determine how you'll document decisions, action items, and next steps. Having a clear plan for post-meeting communication helps maintain momentum and accountability.

Effective pre-meeting preparation is more than just a best practice—it's a strategic advantage in today's fast-paced business environment. By investing time in thoughtful preparation, hosts can transform meetings from potential time-sinks into powerful catalysts for progress and innovation. This approach not only enhances the immediate outcomes of each meeting but also contributes to a broader culture of efficiency and respect within the organization.

Delegate pre-meeting prep with Video Calling App

We understand that meetings aren’t just a time block. There are a plethora of pre-, in, and post-meeting tasks involved in driving an effective meeting. And how significant the groundwork is that starts with meeting agendas.

That’s why we are building the Video Calling App - it helps product and engineering teams capture meeting context, automate tasks, and focus on high-impact work.

VCA’s AI-powered smart agenda acts as a meeting precursor, helping you draft well-structured agendas by factoring in various elements. It pulls in meeting recaps, shared docs/pre-reads, messages from Slack's "remind me" feature, parking lot items, and more. This way, you've got a comprehensive agenda that sets you up for a productive meeting right from the start.

We are still in the early stages and rolling out access every day. If that sounds interesting, join the waitlist or fill out this form, and we’ll be in touch super soon.

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