Meeting Agenda Template
The five-section structure, ready to fill in — with motion, second and vote columns so the sheet you send out doubles as the minutes.
The Excel workbook is the fill-in version — formulas and print setup included. The PDF is generated from the same workbook, so the two never disagree. Nothing is sent to us either way.
A board meeting without an agenda is a conversation. It can run two hours, feel productive, and decide nothing — because nothing was put in front of the board as a decision.
This template is the agenda the video walks through: five sections in a fixed order, sent out with the notice, and used again during the meeting to record what was moved, who seconded, and how the vote went. That second use is the point. A board that fills this in as it goes has written most of its minutes before anyone stands up.
Why five sections, in this order
Call to order comes first because quorum comes first. If the minimum number of board members is not in the room, the board cannot legally bind the association to anything, and the meeting is informational only. The sheet asks the question before it lets you get to a motion.
Approval of previous minutes is a single motion. It is where corrections get made on the record, and it is the reason last month’s minutes have to exist before this month’s meeting.
Old business is anything you agreed to come back to. It goes before new business so that postponed decisions do not get postponed again by a fresh topic that feels more urgent.
New business is where boards go wrong. The rule on the sheet: a decision to vote on, not a topic to discuss. If an item is not a decision, it is an update, and updates belong in an email.
Open forum sits last, with its three ground rules printed on the agenda you send out. Stated out loud before the first person speaks, they turn the most volatile part of the meeting into the most predictable one.
The columns that turn it into minutes
Every business row has the same five columns: motion by, seconded by, the vote, the outcome, and an action item with an owner. That is the record your state and your bylaws expect the minutes to hold. Filling it in as the meeting runs is faster than reconstructing it afterwards, and it means the decision and the follow-up are written in the same line.
Executive session
If the board goes into closed session, the minutes still need to say that it happened and give the general reason. Any vote on that matter is taken in the open meeting. What executive session may cover is set by your state, so the sheet leaves that to you and tells you to look it up.
Before the meeting
Send the agenda with the notice, and send the background for any new-business item with it. Owners who have read the material ask better questions in open forum, and a board that has read it votes faster.
Who it's for
Board members running their first meeting, and boards whose meetings run long and decide nothing.
What's inside
Every section, so you know before you download
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The meeting header
Association, date, location, when notice went out, and how many board members you need for quorum — with the reminder that whichever notice period is longer, statute or bylaws, governs.
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1 · Call to order
Attendance and a quorum check before anything else. No quorum means informational only — no motions, no votes — and the sheet says so.
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2 · Approval of previous minutes
One motion, one second, one vote. Corrections first, then approve as corrected.
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3 · Old business
Anything postponed last time that you agreed to circle back on. One row per item, with what was postponed from where.
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4 · New business
Decisions to vote on, not topics to discuss. A column for whether the background went to owners ahead of the meeting.
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5 · Open forum
The three ground rules printed on the sheet — three minutes each, comments to the board not to neighbours, and 'under advisement' as a legitimate response — plus a log of who raised what.
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Executive session and adjournment
Note that it happened and the general reason, and take any vote on that matter in the open meeting.
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Motion · second · vote · outcome · action item
On every business row. Fill them in as the meeting runs and most of your minutes are already written.
Related episode
Your First HOA Board Meeting Is Coming — How to Not Blow It
This worksheet accompanies an episode of HOA Essentials, our video series for self-managed boards.
Watch the episode →Next step
Found gaps while filling this in?
The Building Health Score asks your board the same kind of questions across six areas — reserves, governance, maintenance and more — and tells you where you actually stand. Free, and about ten minutes.
Check your building's health score →Meeting Agenda Template
Free to download, free to use, and yours to hand to the next board.
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