Guides

How to prepare for a meeting in two minutes

You don’t need an hour of prep. Two minutes before a meeting, three questions: what do I owe them, what are they doing for me, and what did we say last time.

Most meetings don’t need a prep document. They need you to walk in knowing where things stand with the people in the room, so the meeting moves things forward instead of rediscovering them. That takes two minutes if you ask the right three questions.

1. What do I owe them?

Search your email and Slack for the people in the meeting and look for anything they asked you that you haven’t answered, and anything you promised last time. If something is small, do it now: answering a question before the meeting is better than answering it in the meeting.

2. What are they doing for me?

Anything you asked them that hasn’t come back is worth raising. “Did the security questionnaire get to your team?” is easier in person than in a third follow-up email.

3. What did we say last time?

Skim your notes from the last meeting with them, if you keep any, for decisions and next steps. Then you can open with “Last time we said we’d…” instead of “So, where are we?”

Write down one sentence

Before you join, write the one thing you want out of the meeting. Everything above feeds into it: “Get the signed agreement, and confirm the start date.” If the meeting gets there in ten minutes, you can end early.