Meeting Templates

What to cover

• What is this meeting for, and which decisions may it make — and what happens when something bigger than day-to-day work comes up?
• Who has to be there, how many make a quorum, and who may join if they wish?
• How often does it meet, how long may it run, and who facilitates — chosen or rotated how, with what cover if they are away?
• What is the fixed agenda, in what order?
• Who takes notes, in what format, and where and how soon are they published — and how is each decision recorded?
• Do we have a template like this one for every kind of meeting we hold — operations, governance, coordination, reflection and conflict — and how do we notice when meetings overrun or multiply? (The overall limit on meeting load is its own question.)

Examples

The Operations meeting reviews active work, clears blockers and makes Operational decisions only; anything Strategic or Constitutional becomes a proposal. All current role holders attend (quorum four); any member may join. It meets weekly for at most 60 minutes, run by a facilitator who rotates monthly. Agenda: check-in, task review, blockers, decisions, actions. Notes go on the shared board within 48 hours, each decision with who made it, the outcome and its start date. If it overruns three weeks running, that goes to the quarterly workload review.

Examples, not recommendations. Your answers will be your own.

What to cover

• Who must be invited, must the proposer be present, and who may observe?
• When is this meeting held, and how long may it run?
• Who facilitates, and how are they chosen?
• What is the agenda — how long for presenting the proposal, for clarifying questions, for discussion, and for the closing summary?
• Is anything decided in the room, or does the binding decision happen afterwards so that members who could not attend still take part? (The thresholds themselves are set in the Decision Matrix.)
• What do the notes record — which proposal, what type of decision, how it will be decided, and the outcome — and where are they published?

Examples

A Governance meeting is held during the deliberation period of every Strategic or Constitutional proposal. All Full Members are invited, the proposer must attend, and anyone else may observe. It lasts at most 60 minutes: the proposer presents (10 minutes), clarifying questions only (10), open discussion (30), then the facilitator summarises and confirms when voting opens (10). Nothing is decided in the room — the vote runs online for seven days afterwards. Notes link to the proposal and are posted within two days.

Examples, not recommendations. Your answers will be your own.

What to cover

• When do we call this meeting rather than raising things at the regular Operations meeting?
• Who has to attend — only role holders with active pieces of work that depend on each other — and who else is welcome?
• How often does it meet, how long may it run, and who facilitates, with what cover?
• What is the agenda — dependencies, handoffs, competing priorities — and in what order?
• What may it agree, and what happens when a clash of priorities needs a bigger decision than it is allowed to make?
• Where are the notes and agreed handoffs recorded, and how soon?

Examples

Coordination meets online on the first Tuesday of each month for at most 60 minutes, and any two role holders can call one sooner. Only role holders with an active initiative must attend; any member may join. The agenda is dependencies, handoffs, then competing priorities. It may agree Operational changes only — a priority clash that needs a Strategic call is written up as a proposal. Facilitation rotates among attendees, and notes with the agreed handoffs go in the shared channel the same week.

Examples, not recommendations. Your answers will be your own.

What to cover

• Who is invited, how often do we meet, and how long may it run?
• Who facilitates, and how are they chosen?
• What is the agenda — how do we look back at the period, what worked, what did not — and how do we keep it about patterns rather than blame?
• What comes out of it — which lessons go into the Learning Log, and which ideas become future proposals?
• Can this meeting decide anything itself, or does it only send items on?
• What stops it being postponed or dropped whenever we are busy?

Examples

Every three months all Full Members are invited to a 90-minute Reflection meeting, in person with a call-in link. A facilitator chosen at the previous one runs it: what happened this quarter, what worked, what did not — looking for patterns, not blame — then which lessons go into the Learning Log and which ideas become future proposals. It decides nothing itself. It may be postponed once, never cancelled. The list of outputs, or "none", is published with the notes within a week.

Examples, not recommendations. Your answers will be your own.

What to cover

• Which steps of our conflict process use this meeting format, and when must we not use an ordinary meeting instead?
• How long does a session last, and who may extend it?
• What is said at the start — about consent, confidentiality, protection from retaliation, and anyone's right to pause?
• What is the agenda — how does each party get to speak uninterrupted and for equal time, and what follows?
• How can a session end — agreement, moving to the next step, or adjourning — and how is that outcome noted? (Who facilitates and who may see the record are set in the conflict protocol.)

Examples

This format is used only for facilitated sessions at steps 2 to 4 of our conflict ladder. A session runs up to 90 minutes; the Facilitator may extend it once by 30 minutes if both parties agree. It opens with the ground rules: taking part is voluntary, what is said stays in the room, nobody may be penalised for raising the conflict, and anyone may call a pause. Each party then speaks uninterrupted for equal time, followed by exploring options and agreeing next steps. It ends as agreement reached, escalated, or adjourned.

Examples, not recommendations. Your answers will be your own.