Meeting Templates

Agenda, notes, and action item templates

Copy-paste these templates when creating meeting agendas and notes.

Agenda Template

The meeting lead should copy this template when creating the biweekly Discussion thread:

## Lab Meeting - [DATE]

**Lead:** @[github-username]
**Time:** Thursday [DATE] 9:30-11:00 AM
**Location:** [Room / Teams Link]

---

### Attendees
- [ ] @person1
- [ ] @person2
- [ ] @person3
(check off as people confirm attendance)

---

### Agenda

#### Standing Items (10 min)
- [ ] Review action items from last week
- [ ] Announcements

#### Research Updates (40 min)

| Presenter | Topic | Time |
|-----------|-------|------|
| @presenter1 | [Topic] | 15 min |
| @presenter2 | [Topic] | 15 min |
| Open discussion | | 10 min |

#### New Business (10 min)
- [ ] [Add items here]

---

### Discussion Items
(Team members: add your items below by Wednesday 5pm)

---

### Parking Lot
(Items to revisit later or defer to future meetings)

Adding Your Agenda Items

To add an agenda item, reply to the Discussion thread with:

### [Your Name] - Agenda Item

**Topic:** [Brief title]
**Time needed:** [5/10/15 min]
**Type:** [Update / Discussion / Decision needed / FYI]

**Summary:**
[2-3 sentences describing what you want to share or discuss]

**Questions for the group:** (if any)
1. [Question 1]
2. [Question 2]

Meeting Notes Template

After the meeting, the lead updates the original Discussion post with notes:

---

## Meeting Notes

### Decisions Made
1. [Decision 1 - brief description]
2. [Decision 2 - brief description]

### Key Discussion Points
- **[Topic 1]:** [Summary of discussion and outcome]
- **[Topic 2]:** [Summary of discussion and outcome]

### Action Items

| Task | Assignee | Due Date | Status |
|------|----------|----------|--------|
| [Specific task description] | @username | YYYY-MM-DD | [ ] |
| [Specific task description] | @username | YYYY-MM-DD | [ ] |

### Parking Lot (for future meetings)
- [Item deferred to later]

### Next Meeting
- **Date:** [Next Thursday]
- **Lead:** @[next-lead]
- **Presenter(s):** @[name1], @[name2]

Committed Notes Template

Save this as meeting-notes/TEMPLATE.md and copy for each meeting:

# Lab Meeting - YYYY-MM-DD

**Lead:** @username
**Attendees:** @person1, @person2, @person3

## Agenda

1. Item 1
2. Item 2

## Decisions Made

- Decision 1
- Decision 2

## Discussion Summary

### Topic 1
Summary of discussion...

### Topic 2
Summary of discussion...

## Action Items

- [ ] **Task description** - @assignee - Due: YYYY-MM-DD
- [ ] **Task description** - @assignee - Due: YYYY-MM-DD

## Parking Lot

- Deferred item

## Next Meeting

- **Date:** YYYY-MM-DD
- **Lead:** @username
TipQuick Commit

You can copy-paste directly from the GitHub Discussion into the markdown file. The format is identical.

Action Items Best Practices

Effective action items follow the SMART criteria:

Writing Good Action Items

Element Bad Example Good Example
Specific “Work on analysis” “Run sensitivity analysis for Table 2 scenarios”
Measurable “Make progress” “Complete first draft of Methods section”
Assignable “Someone should…” “@jsmith will…”
Realistic “Finish entire paper” “Write Results section (3 pages)”
Time-bound “Soon” “By Friday Feb 14”

Action Item Format

Each action item should include:

- [ ] **[Action verb] [specific task]** - @assignee - Due: YYYY-MM-DD

Examples:

- [ ] **Submit IRB amendment for protocol change** - @jsmith - Due: 2026-02-10
- [ ] **Review and comment on manuscript draft** - @mjones - Due: 2026-02-12
- [ ] **Run power analysis with updated parameters** - @klee - Due: 2026-02-14

Tracking Status

Update action items with status indicators:

Status Markdown Meaning
Not started - [ ] Work not begun
In progress - [ ] :hourglass: Actively working
Blocked - [ ] :red_circle: Waiting on something
Complete - [x] Done

Action Item Review

At each meeting:

  1. Review last week’s action items (first 5 minutes)
  2. Update statuses in the Discussion thread
  3. Discuss blockers and reassign if needed
  4. Carry forward incomplete items with new due dates

Presentation Guidelines

Research Update Presentations

When presenting at lab meeting:

Element Guideline
Length 10-15 minutes + 5 min questions
Slides Optional; screen share code/results is fine
Focus What you did, what you found, where you’re stuck
Feedback Be specific about what feedback you want

Presentation Structure

  1. Context (1-2 min): Remind us of the project goals
  2. Progress (5-7 min): What you’ve done since last update
  3. Results (3-5 min): Key findings, figures, tables
  4. Challenges (2-3 min): Where you’re stuck or need input
  5. Next steps (1 min): What you plan to do next
  6. Questions (5 min): Specific questions for the group

Giving Feedback

When providing feedback:

  • Be constructive: Suggest alternatives, not just problems
  • Be specific: Point to exact issues
  • Prioritize: Distinguish major concerns from minor suggestions
  • Be supportive: Research is hard; acknowledge good work

File Structure

Meeting notes are stored in meeting-notes/ organized by year:

meeting-notes/
├── 2026/
│   ├── 2026-01-31-lab-meeting.md
│   └── 2026-02-07-lab-meeting.md
├── TEMPLATE.md
└── README.md

Automated Reminders

The lab-handbook repository includes GitHub Actions workflows that send reminders to Microsoft Teams.

Reminder Schedule

Reminder When Recipients
Create agenda thread Tuesday 9am Meeting lead
Add agenda items Wednesday 9am All lab members
Meeting tomorrow Wednesday 5pm All lab members
Action items due Monday 9am Assignees with items due that week

Setup Requirements

  1. Teams Incoming Webhook: Created in your Teams channel
  2. GitHub Secret: MS_TEAMS_WEBHOOK_URI stored in repository secrets
  3. Meeting Schedule: .github/meeting-rotation.yml with rotation schedule

Workflow Files

Located in .github/workflows/:

  • meeting-reminder-create.yml - Reminds lead to create agenda
  • meeting-reminder-contribute.yml - Reminds all to add items
  • action-item-reminder.yml - Weekly action item reminders