Plan the board’s work across the year, with room for recurring obligations, strategic priorities and deeper discussion. This guide explains how a forward agenda can help you see the pressure points before they arrive.
Free PDF · 4 pages · Practical guide
By Beyond Governance
- Map recurring business and reporting deadlines
- Spot overloaded meetings and competing priorities
- Make space for strategy, training and deeper discussion
Download the agenda planning guide
Seeing beyond the next meeting
Preparing one agenda at a time can make it difficult to judge whether the board will cover its full programme of work. Important topics may cluster around the same reporting dates, leaving limited time for discussion.
Forward Looking Agendas explores how an annual view can help. It covers recurring matters, strategic business and committee responsibilities, with practical considerations for spreading work across meetings. The resource explains the approach so you can apply it to your organisation’s calendar.
What the guide covers
Recurring board business
Identify the regular matters and reporting deadlines that need to be reflected in the board’s programme of work.
Strategic priorities
Consider how to reserve time for the discussions that require the board to look beyond routine reporting.
A balanced meeting schedule
Use the annual view to recognise crowded periods and consider where topics could be scheduled more effectively.
Board and committee coordination
Review how committee responsibilities and timings connect with the matters coming to the board.
Who the guide is for
Company secretaries, governance teams, Board Chairs and committee Chairs preparing an annual meeting plan or reviewing how time is allocated across the board calendar.
Finding time for deeper discussion
A forward agenda can reveal both overloaded meetings and quieter periods. The guide considers using that visibility to plan training, strategy sessions and more detailed discussion of selected subjects.
Why download the guide
It provides a short explanation you can use when preparing or improving a forward agenda. The emphasis is on the planning decisions behind the calendar, making it useful for a discussion with the Chair about the year ahead.
How to use it
Read the guide alongside your current annual plan. Mark recurring obligations, committee dependencies and strategic topics, then discuss where the workload or available meeting time needs adjustment.
Download Forward Looking Agendas
Take a wider view of the board and committee work ahead.
Download the agenda planning guide
Related resources
Company Secretarial Team Challenges
Implementing Board Effectiveness Review Recommendations
Further support
Explore CoSec on Demand for additional company secretarial and board support capacity.
