Advancement · School Operations

Meetings that decide
and end on time.

Leadership meetings run long for two reasons: more items than minutes, and announcements that could have been an email. Build each agenda here with the time booked. The builder adds up the items, gives each a start time, shows how much of the meeting is announcements and flags decisions squeezed into five minutes.

Plan a meetingWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the School operations toolkit, $49 for 52 items.

Meetings

The worked example is made up: a Tuesday meeting 15 minutes over, a 90-minute planning meeting built around one decision and a Friday agenda that is mostly announcements. Saved on this device only.

Loading the meeting form. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

Advancement · School Operations$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
A record per meeting: date, start, minutes booked, facilitator, note-taker, purpose, agenda items with kind, owner and minutes, and five preparation checks. Works out total minutes against time booked, start times and minutes by kind; shows the share of planned time spent on announcements across meetings; flags agendas over time, decisions under ten minutes, agendas mostly announcements and meetings with nothing to decide.
Who it is for
Principals, heads of school, assistant principals and the leadership teams they run.
Format
Browser agenda builder with a saved record per meeting. Prints one agenda, every meeting in a table or a blank agenda; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the School operations toolkit ($49) and the Advancement Suite pass ($99), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The School Operations space in Caveat Advancement.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Write the purpose first, in one sentence.
  2. Add items in order and mark each one’s kind.
  3. Cut until the minutes fit the time booked.
  4. Send pre-reading and proposals two days ahead.
  5. Print the agenda for the packet.

Plan a meeting

What belongs on the agenda

Three kinds of agenda itemInformOne-way news.Better as a writtenupdate.Keep it under a tenth ofthe time.DiscussOpen question, manyviews.Name what the talkshould produce.Owner writes it upafter.DecideA written proposal goesout first.Time to question andamend.Record the decision andwho acts.Three kinds of agenda itemInformOne-way news.Better as a written update.Keep it under a tenth of the time.DiscussOpen question, many views.Name what the talk should produce.Owner writes it up after.DecideA written proposal goes out first.Time to question and amend.Record the decision and who acts.
A leadership team’s scarce resource is time together. Spend it on the items that need everyone in the room.

The proposal rule

A decision item needs a written proposal before the meeting: what is proposed, the options considered, the cost and who will carry it out. People read it ahead, the meeting improves it and decides. Without one, the item turns into a first discussion and comes back next week.

Announcements in writing

Calendar notes, reminders and updates fit a short written bulletin sent the day before. The worked example’s Friday meeting spends 25 of 30 minutes on them; as a bulletin, that meeting could be ten minutes or none.

Sources

  1. Wallace Foundation (2013). The School Principal as Leader: Guiding Schools to Better Teaching and Learning.
  2. Lencioni, P. (2004). Death by Meeting. Jossey-Bass.
  3. Rogelberg, S. (2019). The Surprising Science of Meetings. Oxford University Press.
  4. National Association of Secondary School Principals. Building leadership teams (nassp.org).

The worked example is made up. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.