What is a planning meeting?

What is a planning meeting?

A planning meeting is as the name suggests - a meeting about discussing plans for an upcoming project.

In work, that could be getting ready for the next quarter or deciding on the next steps for a task. Personally, it could arrange a weekend away with friends or thinking about your wedding. Planning comes in all different forms and without thinking we’re likely to meet with people to discuss it. 

Talking through a project is a great way to discuss the scope, objectives and timeline of what you hope to achieve. Planning meetings can serve as a starting point for a project – this is where you get the chance to get everyone on board with the idea, goals, timeline and so on.

Even if the goal of your planning sessions is obvious, the attendees can get a gist of the direction and any crucial details so they know what’s expected of them to make the project successful.

How to plan a planning session

The first step is to figure out what you’re planning. Have the goal in mind then walk back from there. Pose questions to yourself, scope the size of tasks and determine what’s important and what’s not. 

Next, think about who you need to do what. If you're planning a website build, for instance, you might need a copywriter, designer and developer. At this stage, you should also think about what resources you need too. Do you already have them or are you going to have to source them?

Now we get to the meeting itself. Bring together the people you need and talk through what you want to achieve and how you see it happening. They will have questions, so be prepared to answer them and take contributions to shape how your project will proceed. They might have ideas you’ve not thought of. 

You should also ask for feedback to ensure what you’re asking them to do was clear and, if not, think about how you can do that in future sessions. 

Try not to force anyone into doing something they don’t feel comfortable doing. People who buy into what you want to achieve are much more likely to produce better results. 

After the meeting check in regularly with your team and make sure they’re sticking to the plan and don’t require any additional support or resources.

How do you schedule your planning meeting? 

Whether it’s for a big work project or your friend’s baby shower, getting people together is hard when everyone has busy lives. Doodle can make it easy. 

With Group Poll you can get your planning session in the diary in no time. All you do is select a range of times you’re free and send it to the people you need. They’ll decide what works for them and you’ll have a time to meet. 

If you want to take scheduling even further, Doodle Professional lets you add your own branding to meeting invites (great for meeting with clients), get rid of ads and send reminders for when you’re meeting. Plus you can create unlimited Booking Pages - a powerful way to get a handle on your schedule.

Don’t worry if you’re meeting online, with Doodle you can add your favorite video conferencing tool and its links will automatically be added to any invites you send.

Doodle makes it easy for you to arrange a planning meeting quickly. No email back and forth, no more stress, just more free time for you to focus on more important things. Try it for free today.