meeting cadence presentation

Meeting Cadence 101: Examples and Top Tips for Getting Started

Learn what a meeting cadence means in the workplace. This post covers examples and recommendations for selecting the right cadence for your business.

Are you struggling to find time to meet with your team?

Are ad hoc meetings throwing off your productivity?

If so, then it might be time to establish a meeting cadence in your workplace. With regular, predictable meetings, participants can plan and prepare for every conversation.

In this post, we explore meeting cadence and how you can use it to support more productive meetings.

What is a meeting cadence?

A meeting cadence refers to the rhythm and pattern of regularly scheduled meetings.

In the workplace, meeting cadence refers to organizational, team, project, or any other type of meeting that’s scheduled repeatedly. It also includes how long the meeting is planned for and where it is held.

Meeting cadence provides managers and employees with consistent opportunities to present and gather information, provide feedback, and collaborate on systems, projects, and deadlines.

Why is it important to establish meeting cadence?

Setting a recurring schedule ensures that meetings are scheduled purposefully, with a clear agenda, task items, and goals.

When meetings are planned continually, the team members better understand the mission, project, and task items. Teamwork is improved with a regular rhythm, as members know when and where they will meet.

Meetings with too large of an interval between them leave employees feeling out of the loop and uncertain about the next steps. Too few meetings also reduce opportunities for collaboration, team-building, and problem-solving.

Too many meetings have their share of problems, too. Employees spend an average of  18 hours per week  in meetings and report that 30% of them could be more productive. People who feel they are wasting valuable time in meetings they don’t need to attend often become frustrated.

Meeting cadence also reduces the likelihood of too many unplanned or sporadic meetings being scheduled — though the odd spontaneous meeting can be necessary to address a particularly pressing need.

Employees demonstrate greater engagement, productivity, and job satisfaction when they attend the right meetings at the right times. In fact, about 84% feel their work productivity would improve if they only participated in  essential  meetings.

Now that you know why meeting cadence is important, let’s look at some examples.

Examples of meeting cadence

Meeting cadence ranges from annually scheduled events to daily meet-ups, depending on the type of meeting and the needs of the employees, managers, and organization as a whole.

‎Meetings with a lengthier cadence tend to have longer timeframes than those that occur more frequently.

An annual meeting cadence is typically held during the same month every year. The meeting length depends on the objective.

Here are some examples:

• End-of-year reviews:  The goal of end-of-year reviews is to report to shareholders on the overall business performance, goal progress, and profitability. Identifying new goals and objectives may also be covered.

End-of-year reviews typically run from 90 to 120 minutes.

• Employee-based events:  These events may include company retreats or get-togethers focused on team-building or celebrations of business achievements.

They may last one or more days.

• Employee performance evaluations   or reviews:  These types of reviews can also follow an annual meeting cadence.

Depending on the employee and the company, employee reviews may last up to an hour.

A quarterly meeting cadence occurs four times yearly or every three months. If your business follows the fiscal quarterly calendar, then Q1 will cover January to March, Q2 April to June, and so on.

Quarterly meetings run 60 to 90 minutes and often include the following:

• Business reviews   between the company and the customer:  The customer has a regular chance to review the company’s performance. You also have an opportunity to address customer satisfaction issues more proactively.
• Planning and brainstorming sessions:  These sessions are held for the purpose of determining new project ideas or company goals.

Monthly meeting cadence is intended for teams who need to check in with each other fairly often. Each of these meetings typically lasts about 60 minutes.

Here are some examples of meetings that are typically held monthly:

• All-hands meetings:  Also referred to as town hall meetings, these sessions unite everyone in the company and allow upper management to inform all employees of updates and progress toward objectives.
• Committee meetings:  These are scheduled monthly to keep members apprised of current issues and events. Popular workplace committee meetings include safety, social, and budgetary types.
• Management meetings:  All the managers in the company come together to ensure everyone is on the same page.
• Project update   meetings:  These may occur monthly, as well, depending on the size and scope of the project involved.

Plan weekly meetings when team members must be informed and updated consistently. These meetings typically range from 30 to 60 minutes, depending on their objectives.

Here are some examples of when weekly meetings are used:

• Weekly team meetings:  These sessions keep members connected, engaged, and collaborative as they work toward a common goal.
• Project meetings:  These meetings allow members to report on progress toward goals, solve problems, and determine the next steps.

Meeting more frequently typically keeps projects moving smoothly and members on track with action items and objectives.

• Leadership meetings:  Depending on the organization’s size, it may hold more frequent leadership meetings.

Using a  weekly schedule template  to identify appropriate meeting times can be a game changer. With Motion, you can schedule out weeks in advance and inform team members immediately of changes and updates.

Daily meeting cadence is intended to be short and sweet updates — typically 5 to 15 minutes in length. The goal is for quick checks, updates, and reports.

• Daily stand-up   meetings:  These provide quick updates for team members.

‎If you want to ensure these meetings are short and target the objective, gather in a consistent location where attendees can stand.

If your company uses the  Agile  system, daily meetings focus on reporting progress and identifying roadblocks.

• Daily check-ins:  These provide quick updates and progress reports.
• Daily huddles:  Plan for 15 to 20 minutes for these sessions so employees can report on their progress and align their focus for the day.

Find the right cadence for your meetings

Before you initiate meeting cadence, reflect on recent meetings and answer the following questions:

1. Were the right participants invited?

Check your attendance list and determine who needed to be there. Meetings with too many people can be inefficient and disruptive.

2. Was the target or goal of the meeting achieved?

Find out whether the meeting met its stated targets, goals, or objectives. If not, investigate whether the agenda was sufficient.

3. Was the meeting length sufficient to cover the objectives?

A meeting that is too short may lead to the need for another, pushing deadlines back. On the other hand, overlong meetings affect productivity and keep workers from their other responsibilities.

4. Was there adequate notification and follow-through?

Check with the participants to determine whether they had enough notification for a scheduled meeting and whether they were given the information they were promised after the meeting.

Answering these four questions will go a long way toward helping you find the right cadence for your company.

And don’t forget the added benefits of  schedule-making software . Motion helps you craft schedules with ease through its innovative calendar feature. Once your meetings are scheduled, you can add accompanying tasks and deadlines. Motion even alerts you if your project is getting off track so you can get back on your intended path quickly.

Tips for determining a meeting cadence

Here is our advice for determining a meeting cadence that works:

1. Determine the meeting’s purpose

The scheduled meeting should have an identifiable purpose before it’s put on the calendar.

Set a clear agenda with a list of topics and the estimated time needed for the review. Identify who is responsible for any action items, how progress will be determined, and the type of follow-through that will be needed after the meeting.

Send out the agenda a day or two ahead of time to give participants time to prepare.

Team members thrive when managers  communicate effectively .

‎Providing a written agenda communicates the meeting intent, along with the invitation itself. Be consistent with your verbal and non-verbal messaging before, during, and after the meeting to stay on track.

Once you identify the purpose, you’ll be ready to determine who should attend.

2. Identify the participants

Determine the necessary participants. Then, ensure that the invitees understand exactly why they have been invited and whether their attendance is optional.

Clarify member accountability if some individuals will be unavailable. Determine who will follow up with them and how they can access the information discussed during the meeting.

Identify the roles and responsibilities of each member before, during, and after the meeting. For instance:

• Notify the participants of any information they are expected to bring or prepare.
• Assign participants roles during the meeting, such as notetaker, timekeeper, and facilitator.
• State how the information will be disseminated following the meeting and who will be responsible.

Now it’s time to get your meeting cadence scheduled.

3. Get the meetings scheduled — but be prepared to revise them

An effective meeting cadence may take some time to develop.

‎Determine the initial frequency of your new cadence by answering the following questions:

• What is the minimum number of meetings necessary to meet the project’s goals?
• How often must members participate to receive updates or keep the project on track?
• Do all team members need to attend the meeting every time? If not, how can they participate?
• Would this meeting benefit from a flexible arrangement, such as asynchronous attendance?

Once you’ve held a few meetings, gather feedback from your team members and make any necessary adjustments.

Establish a smooth meeting cadence with Motion

Setting the optimal meeting cadence offers benefits for employees, managers, and the business as a whole.

Start by identifying the purpose of the meetings and who the participants will be. Get the meetings scheduled and gather feedback. Refine and revise them as needed.

If you’re ready to make the process even simpler, invest in Motion.

Motion’s AI  Meeting Assistant  allows you to easily schedule meetings that matter. Create the perfect template based on your meeting type, reuse it, and send it out automatically. With Motion, you’ll create the ideal meeting cadence in minutes.

Contact  Motion  today to get started with your free 7-day trial.

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Meeting Cadences 101: Examples and Top Tips for Getting Started

Have you heard the term meeting cadence? 

Meeting cadences refer to the frequency, timing, and pattern of meetings within an organization. 

It's about establishing a regular, predictable schedule for team check-ins, strategy discussions, and project updates. 

Think of the meeting cadence as the heartbeat of organizational communication, where each beat is a meeting thoughtfully scheduled to maximize collaboration, clarity, and productivity.

An optimized meeting cadence can transform how teams interact, collaborate, and progress towards their goals. 

It's about striking the perfect balance - meetings should be frequent enough to keep everyone aligned yet spaced well enough to avoid the dreaded' meeting fatigue'.

Let's delve into the nuances of meeting cadence. 

We will explore various meeting rhythms - from daily stand-ups to quarterly reviews - and provide insights into selecting the most effective cadence for different team structures and business needs. 

We'll also share best practices for conducting effective meetings, addressing common challenges, and leveraging the latest tools and technologies to streamline the meeting process. 

Implementing the appropriate meeting cadence can be a game-changer for your business's efficiency and success.

Understanding Meeting Cadence

Meaning and role.

What exactly is meeting cadence? 

It's the rhythm of your workplace interactions. 

Like a drummer in a band, it sets the tempo for how your team communicates. It's not just about scheduling meetings; it's about creating a rhythm that keeps everyone in sync. 

A well-planned meeting cadence ensures that information flows smoothly, decisions are made on time, and teams stay connected without feeling overwhelmed. 

An optimized meeting cadence is the backbone of effective communication, ensuring that every voice is heard and every update is shared at the right moment with the right people.

Impact on Teams

Imagine a team where communication is haphazard – meetings are sporadic, agendas are unclear, and participants are unprepared. 

That's chaos. 

Now, picture a team with a clear meeting cadence. Here, meetings are predictable and purposeful. Team members come prepared, knowing what to expect and what's expected of them. 

This predictability breeds confidence and clarity. 

Regular, well-structured meetings mean fewer misunderstandings, more engaged team members, and a stronger sense of unity. 

The result? 

A noticeable boost in productivity and a team that moves forward together, aligned, and focused.

Types of Meeting Cadences

Daily stand-ups.

• Purpose : Kickstart the day with focus. Daily stand-ups are quick, 15-minute meetings to align the team.
• Structure : Each member briefly shares their goals for the day and any roadblocks. It's about momentum, not details.
• Benefit : Keeps the team on the same page, identifies immediate issues, and fosters daily accountability.

Weekly Team Meetings

• Objectives : Reflect on the week. Address achievements and challenges, and plan the upcoming week.
• Formats : Mix it up. Round-table discussions, presentation of critical metrics, or brainstorming sessions.
• Engagement : Encourage participation. Rotate meeting leads or introduce different themes to keep things fresh and engaging.

Bi-weekly/Monthly Strategy Sessions

• Timing : Best for deep dives. Use them when you need more than a quick check-in, less than a full-scale review.
• Focus Areas : Long-term projects, strategic planning, and team development take center stage.
• Outcome : These meetings offer opportunities for thoughtful discussion, brainstorming innovative ideas, and time to refine strategies.

Quarterly Reviews

• Significance : They're the milestones—a time to assess progress towards annual goals and make necessary adjustments.
• Content : Review key performance indicators, celebrate successes, and set objectives for the next quarter.
• Impact : Provides a broader perspective. It's about understanding the journey, not just the daily steps.

Ad Hoc Meetings

• Necessity : For the unexpected. When urgent issues or opportunities arise, ad hoc meetings are your go-to.
• Integration : Keep them focused and concise. Don't let them hijack your regular cadence.
• Flexibility : They demand adaptability. Ensure they complement, not disrupt, the established meeting rhythm.

Choosing the Right Cadence for Your Team

Considerations.

• Team Size Matters : Smaller teams might benefit from more frequent check-ins. Larger groups may require less regular but more structured meetings.
• Project Complexity : Complex projects often need more touchpoints. Simplify meeting cadence for straightforward tasks.
• Communication Needs : Evaluate how your team communicates best. Some prefer brief daily updates, while others thrive with in-depth weekly discussions.

Finding the Balance

• Quality Over Quantity : More meetings don't mean better outcomes. Aim for meetings that add value, not just fill up calendars.
• Respect Time : Consider team members' workloads. Ensure meetings are within essential work time.
• Feedback Loop : Regularly ask your team about the meeting frequency. Their input is crucial in finding the right balance.

Adapting to Work Environments

• Remote Teams : Video calls can bridge distances. But be mindful of digital fatigue. Mix in asynchronous communication where possible.
• Hybrid Workplaces : Align meeting cadences to when team members are in the office. Use remote days for focused, individual work.
• Changing Dynamics : Be ready to shift your approach as the team grows or projects evolve. Flexibility is critical in maintaining a compelling cadence.

Best Practices for Effective Meetings

Preparation is key.

Start strong with preparation. 

Every effective meeting begins with a clear agenda. Set the stage by defining the meeting's objectives and expected outcomes. Distribute the agenda in advance so participants can come prepared. 

This isn't just about efficiency but respecting everyone's time and contributions. 

When everyone knows the plan, meetings become more focused and productive.

Mastering Time Management

Respect everyone's time. 

Begin your meetings punctually and end them as scheduled. This discipline respects everyone's time and commitments outside the meeting room.

 If you're moderating, keep the discussion on track. 

If time runs short, prioritize key topics or schedule a follow-up. 

A well-timed meeting is a sign of a well-organized team.

Fostering Engagement

Engagement turns a meeting from a monologue into a dialogue. 

Encourage participation by inviting input from all attendees. 

Create a safe space for diverse opinions and constructive feedback. 

Sometimes, the quietest voices offer the most valuable insights.

 Use techniques like brainstorming or breakout sessions to stimulate active involvement. 

When team members feel their contributions are valued, engagement naturally follows.

The Art of Documentation

Don't let the momentum of a good meeting fade away. 

Document critical decisions, action items, and responsible parties. Distribute the meeting notes promptly to keep everyone aligned on the meeting's outcomes and next steps. 

This practice keeps the team on track and creates a reference point for future discussions.

Documentation ensures the meeting's value extends beyond the time spent in the conference room.

Common Challenges and Solutions

Tackling meeting fatigue.

Meeting fatigue is real and counterproductive. To combat it, evaluate the necessity of each meeting. Ask, "Could this be an email or a quick chat instead?" Limit the duration of meetings and keep them engaging. Rotate meeting leadership to bring in fresh perspectives. And remember, sometimes, the best way to re-energize your team is to have fewer meetings.

Maintaining Focus on Productivity

A focused meeting is a productive meeting. Start with a clear purpose and stick to it. If discussions veer off-track, gently steer them back. Use visual aids and interactive elements to keep engagement high. Set a timer, if necessary, to allocate time effectively to each agenda item. And crucially, end with a clear summary of decisions and next steps.

Embracing Flexibility

The only constant in business is change. Be prepared to adjust your meeting cadence as projects evolve and team needs shift. Regularly seek feedback from your team members about the meeting schedule and format. Be open to experimenting with different types of meetings or frequencies. Remember, the goal is to enhance team collaboration and productivity, not to stick to a rigid schedule.

Case Studies and Examples

Case study 1: tech startup - agile daily stand-ups.

A tech startup adopted daily stand-up meetings as part of its Agile methodology. These 15-minute meetings at the start of each day focused on quick updates from each team member. The result? Improved project velocity, better team alignment, and faster identification of roadblocks.

Key Takeaways :

• Brief, frequent meetings can significantly enhance communication in fast-paced environments.
• Daily check-ins foster a sense of accountability and rapid problem-solving.

Case Study 2: Healthcare - Monthly Quality Review Meetings

A healthcare provider implemented monthly quality review meetings. These sessions, lasting about an hour, focused on patient care standards, staff training needs, and operational improvements. The profound impact led to enhanced patient care and more efficient operations.

• Regular, focused meetings in service-oriented industries significantly improve quality and operational efficiency.
• Monthly meetings are effective for in-depth reviews and long-term planning.

Case Study 3: Education Sector - Quarterly Strategy Sessions

A university department held quarterly strategy sessions to align on academic goals, research initiatives, and faculty development. These meetings helped clarify long-term objectives and facilitated cross-department collaboration.

• Less frequent meetings can be valuable for strategic alignment and long-term planning, especially in sectors where goals are more long-term, like education.
• Quarterly reviews can effectively bridge gaps between different organizational departments or units.

Case Study 4: Manufacturing - Bi-weekly Production Meetings

In a manufacturing setting, bi-weekly production meetings were critical. They focused on production targets, machinery issues, and safety concerns. This cadence struck the right balance between staying updated and not overwhelming the team with meetings.

• In manufacturing, where operations are ongoing, a bi-weekly cadence can effectively monitor progress without disrupting workflow.
• Regular meetings in such settings can swiftly address operational challenges, ensuring safety and efficiency.

Establishing a Smooth Meeting Cadence with Smarty

Finding the proper meeting cadence is pivotal for your team's success. It's about aligning everyone's efforts, ensuring clear communication, and enhancing productivity. But where do you begin? Start by defining the purpose of your meetings and identifying the key participants. Schedule these meetings thoughtfully, considering the team's workload and availability. Then, actively seek feedback. Are the meetings too frequent? Need to be more regular? Use this feedback to refine and adapt your meeting cadence for maximum efficiency.

But what if you could make this process even smoother? Enter Smarty, a tool designed to streamline your meeting management process. Smarty's AI Meeting Assistant is a game-changer in scheduling and organizing meetings. With Smarty, you can create custom meeting templates tailored to your specific meeting types. Once set up, reuse these templates to schedule meetings effortlessly.

The real magic of Smarty lies in its ability to adapt. It understands your team's unique rhythms and suggests the optimal times for meetings, ensuring they are scheduled when they'll be most effective. This intelligent scheduling means you spend less time coordinating and more time engaging in productive discussions.

So, are you ready to transform your meeting cadence and elevate your team's productivity? Try Smarty. With its intuitive design and intelligent features, you'll establish the ideal meeting cadence that resonates with your team's needs. Start with Smarty today and experience a more streamlined, practical approach to meeting management.

Mastering the art of meeting cadence is much more than scheduling. It's about creating a rhythm that resonates with your team's workflow and enhances productivity. We've explored various meeting cadences, each with unique advantages, from daily stand-ups that keep teams agile to quarterly reviews that align with long-term objectives. The key is to tailor these formats to your team's needs, considering factors like team size, project complexity, and communication preferences.

Remember, effective meeting cadence is not set in stone. It requires a balance between regular communication and respecting individual work time. Be prepared to adjust and adapt based on team feedback and evolving project demands. Tools like Smarty can significantly simplify this process, offering AI-assisted scheduling and customizable meeting templates.

We encourage you to experiment with different meeting cadences and find the one that best suits your team's rhythm. The right cadence can transform your meetings from obligatory time slots into productive, engaging sessions that drive real progress.

References and Further Reading

To deepen your understanding and continue exploring the world of effective meetings and team management, here are some additional resources:

• "Death by Meeting" by Patrick Lencioni
• "The Surprising Science of Meetings" by Steven G. Rogelberg
• Harvard Business Review: A collection of articles on meeting management and productivity
• Forbes: Various thought pieces on effective team meetings and strategies

Online Courses :

• LinkedIn Learning offers courses on meeting facilitation and productivity.
• Coursera provides several courses on business communication and management skills.

Implementing the proper meeting cadence can be a transformative step for any team. By embracing these practices and continuously seeking improvement, you can lead your team to greater cohesion, more transparent communication, and enhanced productivity.

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How do you know when to hold team meetings? It's a difficult question. If you hold them too often, team members will see them as an inefficient burden on their time, get bored, and stop engaging.

According to BetterMeetings , 78% of people surveyed feel that their meeting schedule is either always or sometimes out of control.

However, if you don't hold meetings often enough, your team objectives can get off track and your results could suffer from lack of brainstorming and collaboration. Remote team members could also start feeling isolated and disconnected, which can damage their morale

Deciding on the perfect meeting cadence for your remote team is essential to balance the line between not meeting enough and meeting "all the time."

To achieve an effective team meeting cadence, meeting leaders need to understand how to set a cadence, refine the meeting cadence over time, and use collaboration tools to increase meeting efficiency and hold better meetings .

What is a meeting cadence?

A meeting cadence simply refers to the number of meetings you have, when you have them, and how long they are.

Your meeting cadence can be bi-weekly, weekly, bi-monthly, monthly, or quarterly. Following a bi-monthly meeting cadence, for example, means your team meets twice a month.

The concept of a meeting cadence is important for running successful meetings because the right meeting cadence can increase productivity and team effectiveness. Meeting too often or not enough can sabotage your team's success, and hinder its ability to make decisions and put project management initiatives in place.

Important questions to ask before you set your meeting cadence

Don't just automatically decide that weekly team meetings or monthly meetings are the best cadence for your team. There are several considerations to take into account when trying to establish the right cadence.

Here are a few questions that managers can use when trying to build a meeting cadence strategy:

• "What is the goal of this meeting?" Depending on the objective, you may need to meet more often, or not as much.
• "Can this meeting happen asynchronously ?" Do you need to meet in person, on Zoom, or will another channel like email or Slack be the best option?
• "Is this a high-priority or urgent task?" If there's a deadline approaching, or a critical project on the books, a more frequent meeting cadence may be necessary.
• "Do these types of meetings regularly run over the allotted time?" If so, it may be more effective to meet more often.
• "Do we run out of items to discuss in these types of meetings?" A lean or empty meeting schedule may be a sign that you're meeting more often than necessary.
• "Do we often run out of time discussing action items in these meetings?" If you never have enough time or don't get to the bottom of your meeting agenda, you need to meet more often.
• "How many people will attend these meetings?" If there are several people attending, your meetings may be more effective if you break them up into smaller meetings with fewer people.

How to select a meeting cadence

Deciding on the right meeting cadence depends on the type of meeting you're conducting.

Team leaders must consider the meeting attendees, the meeting facilitator , the topic that you'll be covering, and your company. Every business is unique and what's best for one may not work well for another.

Be aware you may not find your perfect meeting rhythm right away, so don't lock yourself into a meeting cadence forever.

Take a transparent, proactive approach with your team, and announce that you will try a new meeting cadence for a while — and if it doesn’t work, you can revisit it in the future.

Consider the type of meeting you’re running when choosing a cadence

The category of meeting cadence depends on what you want the meeting to accomplish. Here are some of the most common cadences to choose from:

Daily meetings

Daily meetings work well for check-ins, to update team members on pending tasks, and discuss the obstacles blocking their progress.

Meetings that fall under this category are:

• Daily standup meetings : They are so short, team members don't even need to sit down. These can also be called a “daily huddle.” The point of these meetings is to quickly run through everyone's tasks for the day. Stand-up meetings should last no more than 20 minutes.
• Team check-ins: A daily check-in are async updates that can be done directly in Range. These will let everyone know what you're working on that day, and what you may need help with. There are also mood check-ins and questions to get the whole team talking. Takes about 5 minutes!

Weekly meetings

A weekly meeting cadence is helpful for getting the team together to review the last week’s progress, and to go over what's on tap for the upcoming week. They're typically held on the same day at the same time every week.

• Department team meetings : Each team member can address their hotlist, give status updates, or discuss any bottlenecks they are experiencing. These can last anywhere from one to two hours.
• One-on-one meetings : Meetings don't have to have a dozen people. Some only have two! The one-on-one meeting cadence is a weekly meeting between the team leader and their direct report(s). During this meeting, the direct report shares specific information about the projects they’re working on, and managers provide feedback, insights, and guidance. These meetings are doubly valuable for remote team members, who typically don’t get much synchronous face time with their managers. One-on-ones are typically less than an hour long.

⭐️ Keep your meeting history and notes in one place.

⚡️ try a meeting template in range ., monthly meetings.

Some examples of monthly meetings are:

• All-hands meetings : Everyone in the company joins this monthly meeting to share updates and hear announcements. Upcoming changes or shifts in company policies are typically announced at all-hands meetings. Plan to set aside about two hours for these meetings

• Leadership meetings : The leadership team, which is made up of managers from each department, meets once a month. These meetings take place on a recurring schedule, usually on the same day and time. If managers have been buried in their own departments, this is a chance to get updated on other facets of the business. There's a critical exchange of information during these meetings, which typically last anywhere from two to four hours.

Quarterly meetings

Certain topics are best discussed less often — quarterly meetings work well in these scenarios. Some examples of good quarterly meetings are:

• Board meetings : There's no reason to take up board members' time with a weekly, or even monthly, meeting cadence. Set these meetings up four times a year to update the board on high-level initiatives, investments, and changes. These meetings can last anywhere from three hours to a full day.

• Business reviews: It's smart to keep an eye on where the business is in relation to sales goals. This meeting allows the stakeholders to review new accounts, sales by product, and efforts to increase sales, ranging from marketing efforts to customer support. This meeting should last about half a day.

Additional meeting cadence tips

Now that you’ve established what schedule is ideal for the type of meeting you’re planning, what else can you do to make sure the new routine is as successful as possible?

Here are a few additional meeting cadence tips to make sure the right people are there, your agenda is prepared, and your communication is on point.

Invite the right teammates

Sometimes, it feels easier to just invite people you're on the fence about, even if it hinders the meeting's effectiveness. Avoid this pitfall.

Only invite the necessary parties to your meeting , then afterward send the meeting notes to anyone else who needs to be privy to the information. This gives the uninvited people more time in their workday and reduces the chance that the meeting will dissolve into ineffective tangents.

Prepare your agenda in advance

“Winging it” may seem like you're leaving room for spirited debate and bouts of creativity, but you're actually setting yourself — and your team — up for failure. Use an agenda template and carefully map out the meeting topics from beginning to end. If you want to include creative time, add it to the agenda.

Use Range to create a meeting agenda and send it to all the attendees so they will know what to expect during the meeting, and can come prepared with questions or updates.

Consider team size

If your team is small, it's easy to have a daily huddle. Circumstances may change if you have a team of a dozen people or more. Think about your team size as you plan your meeting cadence. While nobody loves long meetings, you need to carve out adequate time to hear out your team members’ needs and obstacles — and give everyone a chance to participate.

Consult your team to refine your meeting cadences

Recurring meeting cadences help team members stay on track and frees up time in their schedules to focus on work.

• By setting the date, time, and length of the meeting upfront, the attendees can plan around it effectively.
• Be consistent with meetings but also provide the freedom to adjust and refine meeting cadences to better suit your team.
• If there are other meetings that overlap with yours, or big project deadlines on meeting day, it pays to be flexible and deviate from the schedule that day.
• Keep a pulse on your attendees' needs, and be willing to accommodate them.

Flexibility is key — don’t get too caught up in sticking to your agenda right down to the second. Things come up: Maybe the location of the meeting needs to change from in-person to via Zoom.

Or, perhaps a meeting runs overtime due to a lengthy but productive brainstorming session. It may even be cut short if you and your team members run through agenda items quickly.

Read the room to get a feel for whether or not your team members find the meeting to be useful, and don’t be afraid to adjust accordingly.

Remember, the goal of your meetings should always be to benefit your team members and the company overall. If you implement a new meeting cadence and meetings seem ineffective, lack engagement, or don't offer actionable plans, consider cutting the cadence down to fewer meetings.

What about asynchronous communication?

Asynchronous communication is different from real-time meetings, but they can still achieve the same objective. The above meeting cadence strategies apply to asynchronous communication just as much as synchronous communication.

One major benefit of asynchronous communication is that attendees have the flexibility of participating around their schedules — not the other way around (which is necessary for synchronous meetings).

Establishing a cadence for asynchronous communication is similar to establishing one for face-to-face meetings.

With Range check-ins , your team can:

• Have fewer meetings with async check-ins and waste less time
• Reduce meeting load by keeping every team member informed and connected
• Easily share your work plan and what you accomplished
• Check-in on a personal level and stay in-the-know – from wherever.
• Integrate tools from across your workflow, including Github, Google Docs, Google calendar, and more
• Add tasks from your project management tools
• Share updates via Slack or Microsoft Teams

Change your strategy for asynchronous and synchronous meetings

It’s important not to paint all your meetings with the same brush, as synchronous and asynchronous meetings require slightly different approaches.

Synchronous, in-person meetings are excellent for information-seeking sessions. This includes project kick-offs and one-on-ones, where direct input from team members is highly valuable to the process.

Asynchronous meetings are better suited for information-giving meetings, such as project updates, daily stand-ups, and check-ins.

The synchronous format may work better for quick sharing, while the asynchronous format might be more beneficial for in-depth, long-term collaboration. Again, it pays to think about what you're trying to accomplish, and then decide which format best suits that goal.

Meeting management tools help you host fewer, better meetings

By automating your stand-up and check-in meeting cadences, meeting management tools like Range can free up your attendees' schedules while still providing all the benefits of a face-to-face meeting. Over time, these cadences will become second nature for both on-site and remote team members.

Meeting management software make it easier for team members to engage when it’s convenient for them.

As a manager, tools like Range give you access to team communications, meeting notes, and task follow-ups all in one place.

This gives you better insights into what your team is working on, and what each person has on their plate. Similarly, team members have one-touch access to you and their coworkers, so it’s easy to fire off a question to someone via a chat feature and get a written response that they can refer to later.

Ready to find the perfect meeting cadence for your team?

Figuring out the meeting cadence that's right for your team can be challenging. By planning it thoughtfully and keeping what you want to accomplish at the top of your mind, you can lay out a cadence that doesn't take up too much time, includes the right attendees, stays on track, effectively shares communication, and pushes projects forward.

A good meeting cadence keeps team members updated and focused on their goals, helps pinpoint and overcome obstacles, and provides a way for them to feel included as part of the team.

⭐️ Take meeting notes, create agendas, and set action items.

⚡️ get started with a meeting in range ., try range for free.

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How We Perfected Our Meeting Cadence (& You Can, Too)

I ran a company for four years before I thought about our meeting cadence . That was a failure by me as the operator of the business. If you don’t put work into your systems, you’ll end up with whatever comes out the other side (and you may not like it).

When we decided to switch to a four-day work week , we reduced our work hours from 36 to 32 per week. People on the team were excited about it, but a few mentioned how they thought they may not be able to get all of their work done in fewer hours. That sent me on a quest to find four hours for everybody each week to show it could be done.

I started with our meetings, and particularly, our meeting cadence. We answered the following questions as a team:

• Which meetings can be cut out completely?
• Which one-hour meetings can be done in 30 minutes?
• Which 30-minute meetings can be done in 15?
• Which weekly meetings can go to bi-weekly?
• Which bi-weekly can skip to monthly?

We freed up valuable hours for deeper, more fulfilling work than meetings. I hope that, with this article, you too can redesign your cadence of meetings in a meaningful way.

Table of contents:

• Why should you work on meeting cadence?
• How to critique your meetings
• How we settled on the right meeting cadence
• A meeting cadence template you can use
• Additional reading I recommend

Meeting Cadence Definition

Meeting cadence: frequency, timing, and length of discussions at your company

Meeting cadence refers to how often, how long, and when people get together in meetings at your organization. It’s the pulse of your organization’s synchronous communication.

Why should you work on your meeting cadence?

Simply put, if you don’t put thought into your meeting cadence , you may end up with a way of communicating you don’t like:

• Too frequent: Your amount of meetings overload your team
• Too infrequent: You don’t get on the same page enough, pulling people in different directions
• Inconsistent: Some teams are overloaded while others are out of touch
• Mismatched: Some meetings that should be 15 minutes are booked for an hour and vice versa

By discussing and designing your meeting cadence, you’ll build the communication system and workplace you intend to have. Here are the reasons to work on it:

Increase productivity

If you can cut out unnecessary meetings, you’ll shift hours from talking about work to doing work.

Reduce or eliminate meeting fatigue

Overloading employees with excessive meetings can lead to meeting fatigue, reducing the effectiveness of communication and collaboration. Analyzing cadence helps in preventing burnout and maintaining a high level of energy and focus.

Increase time for deep work

Every hour you can remove in meetings frees up time for what Cal Newport calls “Deep Work .” Deep work is the ability and opportunity to focus on a hard, creative, valuable task for an uninterrupted period of time.

Give employees autonomy over their time

In the book “ Drive ,” Daniel Pink says that people are motivated by autonomy, mastery, and purpose. When employees have days full of meetings, they don’t have control (or autonomy) over their time. Meeting overload is a structured removal of autonomy.

Use time more efficiently

A one-hour meeting with 10 people requires 10 work hours. An all-team meeting with 100 people would require 100 hours. When you start to analyze your meeting cadence, you’ll find huge opportunities to cut out inefficient blocks of time.

Build a culture of continuous improvement

Analyzing meeting cadence provides an opportunity for feedback and continuous improvement. It allows for employees to question the value of certain meetings. When you start opening those channels, more improvement will follow as employees are empowered.

How To Critique Meetings (To Find Out If They’re Useful)

One way to perfect your meeting cadence is to ask the following questions about each meeting that happens on your team. For your next round of meetings, ask each of these questions and the answers will uncover the value of the meeting.

When you discover a meeting does not lead to positive changes within the company, delete the meeting. Eventually, you’ll end up with purposeful meetings only.

For ad-hoc meetings

• Where does this fall on the Eisenhower Matrix?
• Can we decide asynchronously (without a meeting) instead?
• What do we need to decide or accomplish in this meeting?
• Who needs to be in the meeting? Who doesn’t?
• What needs to be prepared so we can have a better meeting?

For recurring meetings

• What is the goal of the meeting?
• Is this meeting the right length? (Does it typically run over or under?)
• Is the meeting the right frequency? (Do we make decisions and changes before the next meeting?)
• Do we have the right people in this meeting?
• Does everyone participate?
• Is the topic urgent, important, both, or neither?
• Do we improve our strategy or process as a result of this meeting?
• Is the meeting duplicative with other recurring ones

How We Settled On The Right Meeting Cadence

By switching to a 32-hour work week , each work hour suddenly became more valuable. With that mindset shift, we started to cut down on meetings to free up time for real work. Most of this we did right away – within a week of switching our work schedule – but some work took years. Here’s how our meeting cadence changed over time.

Daily (30 min) > Twice weekly (30 min) > Weekly (15 min)

When we switched to agile project management, we started with daily 30-minute meetings. Once we got the hang of it, we dropped it to two meetings per week (Monday and Thursday). Then, we went to one, 15-minute meeting per week.

1:1 meetings

Weekly (30 min) > Bi-weekly (30 min)

The main value of this kind of meeting was relationship and trust building. Most tasks between the two people could be accomplished asynchronously, but spending one-on-one time on video is important for team building. But that didn’t need to take place weekly.

• Team meetings

Weekly (1 hour) > Weekly (30 min)

Our all-team meeting eventually became a non-work meeting. We discovered over the years that our ice breakers and open discussions became most important for our remote team. The business stuff could get done elsewhere. Once we cut out the work updates, we cut the meeting in half.

• Leadership meetings

Weekly (90 min) > Bi-weekly (90 min)

We put in the “Entrepreneur’s Operating System” (or, EOS) after reading “ Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business ” by Gino Wickman. This gave our meetings purpose and process, and it also gave us a weekly, 90-minute leadership meeting. Once we ran that way for a few years, we switched to bi-weekly, then cut it down to an hour.

• Client meetings

Weekly (30 min) > Bi-weekly (30 min) > Monthly (30 min)

As a consulting business, we charged for meetings. When we did that weekly, it was an expensive part of the package. By moving it to bi-weekly then monthly, we could charge less for meetings and provide more value in other ways.

Meeting cadence template

I created a simple meeting cadence template to determine the right frequency based on the type of meeting.

You can customize the template in Canva . Or, you can recreate it in Excel or Word or anywhere else (it’s straightforward).

Write out the types of meetings you have

Write out the types of meetings* you have in any way that makes sense to you. This is how I categorized ours:

• One-on-one meetings

*Tip: If some meetings can’t be categorized, they may not be valuable.

See Also: 41 Types Of Meetings Defined: The Full Library

Write out the frequencies

Then, write out how frequently you want meetings to occur at your company. These are all of the options I can come up with:

• Asynchronous (no meeting)

Pick the right cadence

With meeting type on one side of the table and frequency on the other, you can find the right cadence for meetings. Work with your team on this template. You’ll have a focused cadence soon enough.

See Also: 18 Quick Ways To Fight Off ‘Death By Meeting’

Experts To Follow On Meeting Cadence

If you’d like to learn more about meetings and meeting cadence, there are several great takeaways from experts. Below, you’ll see the name of the expert, my main takeaway, and a link to learn more.

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How to Choose the Right Meeting Cadence for Your Team

Content Partnership Specialist

August 16, 2023

Remote and hybrid work is here to stay.

And with this working model, keeping teams connected and informed at all times can be difficult (add the different time zones to make things even more challenging). 👀

So, in an effort to keep alignment with our teams, we’ve turned to scheduled meetings to run through updates, review action items , give feedback, and the list goes on. But the thing is, time is precious.

This is especially true when working in a fast-paced working environment because you’ll need to ensure you’re making the most out of your meetings.

This is when knowing the purpose of the meeting, having a meeting agenda , and scheduling the right meeting cadence can make a significant difference for your team.

In this article, you’ll learn what a meeting cadence is, how often to schedule meetings, and meeting management tools you can use to keep your meetings to a minimum and your remote teams updated at all times.

We’ve also added a few tips and suggestions to help you determine what works best for your team, along with meeting templates to structure your calls and make them as productive as possible.

What is a Meeting Cadence?

How to choose the right meeting cadence, meeting cadence templates, how to plan a meeting cadence, how to optimize your team’s meeting cadence, improve your meeting cadence with clickup.

A meeting cadence simply refers to how often a meeting is held.

For example, if you and a direct report check in every Friday morning, that’s a weekly meeting cadence. If you have a request to meet every other month, that’s a bimonthly cadence.

For remote teams, this can be more difficult to navigate. The challenge for every company is how frequently meetings should take place. In an increasingly distributed workforce, face-to-face Zoom calls have seemed to replace a lot of in-person meetings and sometimes become the only interaction you’ll have with your team.

And while we all love to catch a glimpse at someone’s pet in the background of a call, these can actually  hinder employee happiness and productivity , as they can be disruptive if too many meetings take over their day.

So, how do you balance your schedule and find the right meeting cadence for your remote teams?

Let’s find out.

The right meeting cadence will be different for every company and its needs. Some teams will require more or less meeting frequency depending on their roles, projects, and the type of meeting.

Depending on the type of meeting, the most common meeting cadences are:

• Daily meetings
• Weekly meetings
• Bi-weekly team meetings
• Monthly meetings
• Quarterly meetings

Aside from setting a meeting cadence and type of meeting , you’ll also have to determine which meetings can be done asynchronously or synchronously. Can you communicate updates through a business messaging app or within a project management tool with messaging features?

Regardless, your goal is to keep your teams updated and on track to hit their goals and allow for enough freedom for everyone to work asynchronously and autonomously without adding too many meetings to their work schedule .

Asynchronous vs. synchronous meetings

Once you’ve determined that you’ve got a weekly cadence for one project and another weekly cadence for an all-staff check-in, that doesn’t mean these  have  to be formatted in the same way.

The first step in determining the format of your meeting is to decide if the meeting is  information-seeking or information-giving . This matters a lot when you’re determining how to check in best.

Information-seeking  meetings can fall into any of the following categories:

• A  kickoff meeting  for a new project
• A project team meeting to discuss the next steps
• Management meeting to check in on how teams are running
• A one-on-one with a direct report to check in on goals and tasks

These types of meetings are generally great to be in person or a quick virtual update over a video conferencing call like Zoom.

Here are a few examples of information-giving  meetings:

• A daily standup
• A project update
• A company’s annual report

Establishing the right team meeting cadence for your company, along with the right meeting format, will cut down on low-value meetings and let everyone focus on being productive and stoked to be at work.

Now, here are a few meeting cadences and types to consider, along with templates to help you keep your meetings productive for all attendees.

1. Daily meetings

Daily standup meetings are informal meetings that are held daily. They’re necessary and useful for teams, such as engineering and development teams, to ensure alignment, share findings, and help identify blockers.

While daily meetings might seem like a great way to stay updated with daily progress and changes, they might be counterproductive and disruptive if not managed properly.

So, to make the most of your daily meeting and ensure a productive session, it’s best to come to the meeting prepared with an agenda and a templatized document that your team members can easily refer to at any time and fill out before the meeting.

DAILY MEETINGS PRO TIP Tip : Create your own or use this customizable Daily Standup Meeting Template by ClickUp to give you and your teams an organized, structured, and repeatable system for capturing and viewing daily updates.

This template is available in ClickUp Whiteboards and customized in any way to support your unique workflows. It also saves your input and reflects it in real-time, and because it’s built within ClickUp, your team can insert links to tasks and connect this document alongside their work.

2. Weekly meetings

There are various types of meetings that can be scheduled on a weekly basis. One of the most important meetings to have in this cadence is one-on-one meetings.

One-on-one meetings give managers and leaders one-on-one time with their direct reports or colleagues. It provides designated time to connect and build rapport with each other and ensures employees are given the support they need to succeed in their roles.

These meetings are also a good opportunity to align on goals, get a pulse check on workload, and provide feedback to ensure expectations are met.

WEEKLY MEETINGS PRO TIP Make your weekly check-in meetings productive and standardize your weekly one-on-one meetings by using the One-on-One Meeting Template by ClickUp .

This template can be applied to ClickUp Docs , where you can note important details such as priorities, action items, and more. Keep all your weekly meeting notes in one place by adding a new page within the same Doc. You also have the option to share this Doc with others or keep this Doc private to ensure a safe space for your employees.

3. Monthly meetings

Monthly recurring meetings are important as check-in meetings with your team. During these meetings, you can get updates on monthly goals, review progress to ensure your team is on track to hit their quarterly goals, and identify bottlenecks and blockers to set your team up for success in the upcoming months.

An example of a meeting that can be scheduled on a monthly cadence is project team meetings, where project teams and stakeholders gather to discuss the status of their current projects.

MONTHLY MEETINGS PRO TIP Give both teams and stakeholders an easy-to-digest visual representation of your project summary using the Project Status Report Template by ClickUp .

This template is available in ClickUp Whiteboards, where your team can collaborate, add updates, make changes, and more simultaneously or asynchronously. Use this template to keep all stakeholders up to date on the development, prevent problems before they occur, and guarantee that the project will be completed within the allotted time frame.

4. Quarterly meetings

Quarterly meetings are great for sharing project updates, discussing findings from the last quarter, celebrating wins, and preparing for the upcoming quarter with your team or the entire organization. If done properly, these meetings can help uplift your team’s spirits, improve cross-functional alignment, and keep everyone on track to hit their goals.

There are many uses for quarterly meetings, but some of the most common ones are planning meetings, board meetings, and all-hands meetings.

QUARTERLY MEETINGS PRO TIP Tip : Easily plan your next company-wide quarterly meeting and delegate work with the All-Hands Meeting Template by ClickUp .

This template provides pre-set Custom Statutes, Custom Fields, and multiple views to give you a structured and detailed overview of your tasks and ensure you cover every important announcement . Use the template as is, or customize it to fit your needs. It also comes with a Getting Started Guide to help you make the most of this template.

The key to productive meetings is making sure they’re necessary in the first place. Here are a few questions to ask yourself or your team before setting up a meeting.

1. What is the goal of this meeting?

Is this meeting’s goal to offer new information to key players, or is it simply for people to update the team?

This is always a good first question to ask yourself when setting up a new cadence.

Here are a few examples of how this question might determine how often a meeting is scheduled:

New project

• Meeting Purpose:  New marketing initiative
• Meeting Cadence:  Weekly check-ins for a status report and next steps
• Meeting Purpose:  Regular updates with the manager and or team lead
• Meeting Cadence:  Daily stand up to see what everyone is actively working on

Project updates

• Meeting Purpose:  Update on the project status
• Meeting Cadence:  Daily check-in or weekly check-in, depending on the high priority

2. Can this meeting happen asynchronously?

If it’s a quick check-in or update, think about the information you need and the time it takes to make it happen. And that’s more than the time allotted.

Consider the back-and-forth for scheduling, the preparation that needs to be done before the meeting, and then the meeting itself—they all add up in time.

As a remote or distributed team, you can utilize other communication tools to support asynchronous communication.

Some meetings by nature, such as big projects and important business decisions, require different stakeholders to weigh in real-time, which is always easier to do in person or on a Zoom call.

But for meetings largely motivated by updates, setting aside time for an in-person check-in is unnecessary. In fact, these are best suited to be done asynchronously and, in that case, can be done more frequently.

3. Is this a high-priority or urgent task?

Some projects will take priority over others with tight deadlines. Only team leaders will know what these projects are and be able to determine how frequent these check-ins need to be.

If the task is urgent, determine the best way to communicate with your team, whether that be a Zoom call, a video recording, or noting priorities within the task.

4. Do these types of meetings regularly run over the allotted time?

Meetings that frequently get cut short might be a reason to schedule those meetings to be more frequent rather than longer, but it all depends from team to team. For others, sitting in meetings for over an hour may not be as productive. In this case, shorter meetings with a more regular cadence could help cover more ground and keep conversations focused. Using ClickUp as a meeting minutes software can help keep you on track with your agenda.

5. Do we run out of items to discuss in these types of meetings?

On the flip side, if you’re doing a daily check-in call where there isn’t much to say, consider consolidating those into a weekly check-in and moving those daily updates to asynchronous rather than in-person or conference calls.

Remote and hybrid working environments can be a little tricky when it comes to team collaboration.

Keep your teams connected no matter where they are in the world by giving them a project management tool with team collaboration features like ClickUp .

ClickUp is an all-in-one project management and productivity tool built with teams in mind. It’s a project management tool at heart that lets you, your team, and the entire organization plan your priorities , simplify your workflow and keep track of your progress and timelines —all in one place.

As for team collaboration , it offers hundreds of features, including a collaborative Docs and Whiteboard feature where teams can brainstorm, document strategies, and more. Streamline communication with the built-in Chat view to give your team a designated space to chat about projects, questions, and updates.

And easily access your emails and keep your conversations in one place with the Email in ClickUp feature , which lets you send and receive emails without leaving ClickUp. 🔥

It also provides a comments feature that allows your team to comment within tasks, Docs, and attachments for Proofing and assign it to a specific person, making it easier than ever to collaborate with each other, work asynchronously, and provide feedback—without having to schedule a meeting. ☝️

And if you’re a visual learner or have team members that are, simply use Clip , the in-app screen recorder by ClickUp , to record high-quality videos and send them to your team with a comment. This is especially helpful when explaining complex topics when you need to show a step-by-step tutorial, or presenting an update with visuals.

Use this feature to eliminate the need to hop on another meeting or create long email threads, which is something that everyone on your team can ( and will ) appreciate. 👌

And if you must schedule a remote meeting, don’t sweat. ClickUp can help you stay prepared, keep your meeting productive, and make the most of your time with your team.

How? Just follow these steps:

• Meeting agenda : Create a structured meeting agenda on your own or use the pre-built meeting templates by ClickUp and customize them to fit your needs
• Build a view of your choice : Come to your meeting prepared and ready to present. Build a project timeline in Timeline or Gantt Chart view , map out strategies in Whiteboards or Docs, create a custom Dashboard to bring all your important information and get reports in one view, and more
• Recurring tasks and due dates : Set up a task in ClickUp specifically for the meeting or set it as a recurring task to remind you and attendees when the next meeting is. You can also look at your tasks and schedule in the Calendar view
• Identify and invite your attendees : Add single or multiple assignees to the task to notify who’s involved in the meeting
• Share your task, meeting agenda, and other visuals : Attach your meeting agenda, work views, and more to the task within the comments or task description, and share it with your team, specific person, or group of people
• Connect ClickUp to Zoom : Integrate Zoom to ClickUp to access the Zoom app within ClickUp at any time, and use the screen share option in Zoom to present your meeting agenda, timelines, reports in Dashboards in ClickUp, and so on
• Have a productive call and take notes : Hop on the call, take meeting notes , and list action items in ClickUp Docs, Whiteboards, Notepad, or within a task

Now, that’s just one way to use ClickUp to improve your meetings. Get to know all the features in ClickUp to learn how you can maximize the platform to support all your business, project, and communication needs.

The key to productive meetings and workdays is to find an effective meeting cadence for you and your team, then use ClickUp to manage your projects, enhance team communication, and track goals and progress.

And because the platform is fully customizable and offers hundreds of features for project management and team collaboration, you can absolutely configure ClickUp in any way that supports your workflow and enhance cross-functional communication.

Use ClickUp as a meeting management software and its collaboration features to communicate updates, feedback, questions, and more to eliminate unnecessary meetings from your busy schedule and give your teams an open line of communication, no matter the time zone or where and when they work. 🌎

It also integrates with over 1,000 work tools, including video conferencing apps, Slack , and more, to help you streamline your team communication and bring all your work into one place.

It’s free to get started. Get access to ClickUp today!

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Create The Perfect Meeting Cadence For Your Team

Supercharge your team's productivity with a powerful meeting cadence. We'll break down the remote team meeting cadence so you can build one that boosts productivity, engagement, and cohesion.

In the world of remote work, meetings can be both a blessing and a curse.

While they're essential for collaboration, many teams miss out on the benefits of a well-structured meeting cadence. A haphazard approach to meetings can lead to miscommunication, wasted time, and low engagement.

That's where the concept of meeting cadence comes in—creating a systematic approach that enhances team productivity and communication.

In this blog post, we'll explore the core components of a successful remote team meeting cadence, including often overlooked elements like spontaneous synchronous time. It's time to upgrade your remote team's meeting game, foster better connections, and unlock your team's full potential. Let's dive in!

What's a Meeting Cadence?

A meeting cadence is the combination of various meetings that occur on different timelines—daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly.

These meetings serve unique purposes and fit together like pieces of a puzzle, creating an effective and energizing system for your team.

A well-defined meeting cadence is a roadmap for collaboration, providing structure and clarity on when and how different conversations will take place.

Here's a breakdown of the meeting cadence components:

• Short check-ins or stand-ups to ensure alignment, monitor progress, and address immediate roadblocks.
• Blocks of time to work together, both scheduled and spontaneous.
• Start of week team meetings to set goals, plan the week ahead
• End of week check-ins to assess progress, and celebrate successes.
• Strategy sessions for in-depth discussions, goal-setting
• Individual and team performance reviews.
• Review and planning meetings to assess progress towards objectives
• Adjust strategies, and set new goals for the upcoming quarter.
• Annual meetings to reflect on the past year, celebrate achievements, and outline long-term goals and strategies.

By integrating these different types of meetings into a predictable, cohesive and purpose-driven meeting cadence, you can create a rhythm that keeps your team engaged, informed, and energized.

This meeting puzzle becomes the backbone of your team's collaboration, ensuring everyone is on the same page and working towards common objectives.

Core Components

Remote teams face unique challenges when it comes to collaboration and communication. Establishing a solid meeting cadence is crucial for overcoming these challenges and ensuring that your team thrives.

Regularly Scheduled Meetings

Stick to a predictable schedule for various types of meetings. Consistency helps team members know what to expect and plan their time accordingly

Clear Agendas & Objectives

Well-defined agendas and objectives ensure that meetings stay focused and productive. Share agendas ahead of time to give team members a chance to prepare and contribute effectively.

Appropriate Meeting Duration

Keep meetings concise and time-boxed to avoid fatigue and maintain engagement. Adjust meeting lengths based on the complexity of topics and the number of attendees.

Summaries & Action Items

Document and share key takeaways, decisions, and action items after each meeting to maintain clarity and accountability. This practice ensures that everyone is aligned on next steps and reinforces the meeting's purpose and value.

Remote teams have an advantage here. Apps incorporating the latest AI technology into their meeting tools means your team can have notes, summaries, and action items created for you. With zero work.

Check out SoWork's AI meeting assistant to see what's possible and how these tools can save your team a ton of time.

Inclusive Scheduling For Different Time Zones

Be mindful of team members' time zones when scheduling meetings. Rotate meeting times, if necessary, to ensure fair and inclusive scheduling.

Use of Engaging Meeting Tools

Leverage video apps that are engaging and make your team feel like you're really together in one place. Not just tiles staring at each other on screens. Check out a SoWork office as an option.

The Units Of Your Meeting Cadence

Revisit the structure and format of your virtual daily stand-ups. Ensure they remain short (10-15 minutes) to quickly align on priorities, share updates, and identify roadblocks.

Introduce spontaneous synchronous sessions for quick, informal check-ins or problem-solving sessions, fostering real-time collaboration.

Consider a virtual office for engaging, productive, and life-like spontaneous synchronous sessions.

Reinforce the importance of weekly team meetings for maintaining strong communication and collaboration.

Encourage active participation by rotating facilitation duties among team members and allocating time for open discussion or brainstorming.

Incorporate spontaneous synchronous time for casual chats or team-building activities to strengthen connections and boost morale.

Reassess the effectiveness of your virtual monthly strategy and goal-setting sessions. Ensure they remain focused on discussing in-depth topics, setting goals, and analyzing performance.

Try an all hands meeting template , and review common mistakes that kill all hands meeting productivity.

Bigger team? Break out into smaller groups for discussions, brainstorming, and problem-solving. Consider using a virtual office make to make this easy, engaging and fun.

Evaluate the efficiency of your remote quarterly reviews and planning sessions. Share presentations and reports in advance to give team members time to review and prepare their input. Utilize polls and surveys to gather feedback and encourage engagement, ensuring that everyone's voice is heard.

Incorporate social activities in a virtual office before or after the meeting to take advantage of cross-functional time together.

The Critical Meeting Cadence Unit Most Remote Teams Miss

In remote teams, spontaneous synchronous time needs to be added back in intentionally. This is time where teammates can connect unexpectedly, talk to people they haven't seen in a while, or join in on something they otherwise wouldn't have known about. We don't get this 'for free' like we used to in real life.

What do most remote team leaders do? Add a block to the calendar where teammates meet on Zoom and play games.

This isn't.. bad. But it isn't actually checking the box. It's awkward, clunky, and doesn't foster true spontaneity.

Teams who have virtual offices are able to solve this, by working together in a place where they can see what's happening. And walk up to each other to connect, spontaneously.

Instead of adding Zoom games into the meeting cadence, remote teams who use virtual offices often schedule blocks on the calendar where they work beside each other in their virtual offices.

This balances the scheduled nature and allows it to be added to the meeting cadence, while maintaining the unstructured and spontaneous nature of the time.

Ready To Tackle Your Meeting Cadence?

Before you blow everything up...

We recommend first considering adding a virtual office to your remote team's tech stack .

Virtual offices make building your remote team meeting cadence so much easier. Your team works beside each other, able to move seamlessly between spontaneous meetings, scheduled meetings and deep work. Wanna try one? Check out SoWork .

How to decide on the perfect meeting cadence

Meetings are one thing that virtually every organization has in common. And yet, almost no one thinks they’re getting meetings right.

With too few meetings, it can be a struggle to stay aligned. But too many meetings make it hard to get things done and be the productive teams we all want to be. 

And with so many meeting types, it’s hard to know what the right meeting cadence is for your team. Luckily, we’ve been thinking about this for a while — here are a few tips and guidelines to help you decide!

Related: Fixing bad meetings isn’t enough: it’s time to reimagine them

What is 'meeting cadence'?   

A meeting cadence is the frequency, schedule, and duration of your meetings. Depending on the type of meeting, you might meet more or less frequently. Common meeting cadences include daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly. 

It’s important to distinguish between when a meeting in real-time is necessary and when it'll be a big waste of time (e.g., “This meeting could have been an email”). It’s all too common for team leaders to schedule a meeting that could have easily been a quick status update via Slack or a shared online workspace. 

Be mindful of your team’s schedules and determine whether you actually need a meeting .

As a general guideline, reserve meetings for specific cases and to create a consistent and manageable schedule around them. Unnecessary meetings interrupt the workday and cost your business money.

With the right cadence for your team meetings, you can have effective and productive meetings that boost business rather than inadvertently stall it.     

Types of meeting cadences 

Your team meeting cadence typically depends on your priorities and the purpose of that meeting. 

This includes: 

• the size of the meeting; 
• how many team members should be there; 
• where the meeting will be held;
• and the urgency of the work you'll do during the meeting. 

So before you arbitrarily select a recurring meeting cadence, consider which type of meeting cadence‌ fits best with that meeting type and your objectives. 

Daily meetings 

Daily meetings should be reserved for time-sensitive tasks and project management. Since these meetings occur more regularly, they're usually on the shorter side — no more than 30 minutes. 

For example, if your marketing team is working on a big campaign, you might want to schedule daily check-ins to make sure every team member is on track with their tasks. 

The idea is to gather and discuss challenges or roadblocks, give progress updates , and lay out your plans for the day. Note that this type of meeting is typically not the best option when project due dates are far away, as it can be disruptive and waste time that could otherwise be spent working.

Examples of daily meetings include:  

• Daily stand-up meetings for project briefings or roadblock reports
• Sales team huddles or scrum meetings to share success stories or plan new targets
• Production or operation team check-ins to address any process issues 

Weekly meetings 

A weekly meeting cadence can be used to catch up as a team or meet individually with your direct reports. Like daily meetings, you can use this time to report on project progress, provide feedback, bring up any challenges, and refine plans or goals. These sessions might run anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour or more, depending on the size of your team and the scope of the meeting agenda.

Examples of weekly meetings include:  

• Sales pipeline reviews to review leads and adjust strategies
• Marketing campaign reviews to evaluate performance metrics
• Project status updates and questions

Bi-weekly meetings

In some cases, a weekly meeting is still too frequent and becomes more of a time suck. But a monthly meeting would feel too infrequent, leaving you out of the loop or causing delays. In these cases, meeting bi-weekly gives you the right balance.

Examples of bi-weekly meetings include: 

• Agile sprint planning to review the completed work and plan the next week’s work
• Check-ins on clients and account management  
• One-on-one check-ins on progress or overall workplace wellbeing

Monthly meetings 

Monthly meetings tend to be better for a staff-wide meeting or a larger project check-in. These are typically used to share general company updates, provide team updates to other teams, or educate on a new process. They’re also great for collecting feedback after a new product launch or campaign that needs time to run in order to gather data and analyze it.   

Examples of monthly meetings include:  

• Customer feedback meetings to address issues and improve
• All-hands meetings to keep everyone updated on business and strategy direction
• Training and development workshops

Quarterly meetings 

Quarterly meetings occur every three months. They’re best suited for longer goal planning and business review sessions of your team or company’s general direction. In some cases, these quarterly meetings are meant for larger groups or multiple teams to update each other on projects or discuss plans. It’s also a good time to bring any data or stats on how your team has been performing over the previous three months. 

Examples of quarterly meetings include:  

• Board meetings to discuss finances and major strategic decisions 
• Roadmap update meetings for cross-functional teams
• Market research reviews and customer analysis

Annual meetings

Annual meetings tend to be for very high-level discussions about business progress and an overview of plans for the next year. These meetings may occur with your team, your entire organization, or one-on-one with an individual team member. 

Ideally, you use this time to celebrate accomplishments and highlight the great work that's been done over the past year. It’s also a way to get people excited about the year ahead and motivate and inspire your team. 

Examples of annual meetings include:  

• Performance reviews to discuss achievements and set goals for career development
• Yearly business reviews to discuss how things are going and plans for next year
• Strategic planning retreats to set long-term goals and develop new initiatives

Whether you follow these examples or do some variation of your own, the important thing is to experiment with these meeting types and cadences until you find what works for your company.

How to choose the best meeting cadence for your team 

To choose an effective meeting cadence for your team, you’ll need to consider a few different factors. The first — and likely most important — question to consider is whether your team members already spend a lot of time in meetings. Too many meetings can contribute to burnout and a lack of time for focused work.  

Here are a few steps you can take to make sure you’re choosing a meeting cadence that's beneficial for your team without adding stress or taking away from valuable work time. 

1. Assess your team’s needs

Start by figuring out what items are high-priority and should be addressed during meetings. Do you have a challenging project you’re working on that needs brainstorming, or do you just want to check in on the progress of tasks? 

Then, consider the logistical needs of your team environment. For example, with an in-person team, it’s easier to keep tabs on your team’s performance and work ethic than with a fully remote team . You might not need as many meetings to keep everyone in the loop and hold people accountable for their work. Remote teams can set up weekly or daily video calls to give progress updates. However, if your team members work across time zones, setting up frequent meetings might be tricky or disruptive for their schedules.

Related: Supercharge teamwork with visual collaboration | Mural + Microsoft Teams

In both cases, asynchronous communication should still be used to make sure everyone can do focused work and get things done. 

2. Define the purpose of the meeting

A clear purpose for every meeting is a critical step in setting up an effective meeting cadence. Start by establishing your end goal for this recurring meeting. What do you want everyone to take away from each meeting once it’s over? 

Once you have an answer to this, you can consider what material will be covered during the meeting. This will help you determine how often you might need to meet.

For example, say your goal is to brainstorm , create, and run a marketing campaign for a new product launching in two months. This is a relatively short time frame, but not short enough to warrant a daily meeting. A weekly meeting is likely the best option, with potential for a more frequent cadence as you get closer to the launch date.  

3. Consider your team size and attendees 

The size of your team can also impact what meeting cadence works best. Small teams tend to need less frequent meetings, while larger teams may need more communication and status updates. However, whether you lead a small or large team, not every meeting requires that all team members be present. 

For example, you might host a meeting exclusively for your leadership team, which all managers attend, but their direct reports don't. If that’s the case, maybe the leadership meetings happen bi-weekly while a meeting with everyone else occurs monthly.    

4. Determine the meeting duration   

Next, you’ll need to figure out how long the meeting should be. Making sure you have enough time to cover everything without taking up too much time is a fine balance. If you decide you need an hour or more, you’ll likely need a less frequent meeting cadence. If you decide it only needs about 30 minutes, you might want a more frequent cadence. 

To figure out how long the meeting should be, create a meeting agenda to see the extent of what'll be discussed during the meeting. You could even consider running a mock meeting by yourself or with a colleague and timing it to see how long it takes. 

Make sure you include a discussion of action items or next steps at the end — an important part of the meeting that can take up some time.

5. Get team feedback

Before officially setting a meeting rhythm, share what you’ve learned and what your tentative plan is. Ask your team for feedback or any thoughts about this proposed meeting schedule. For example, one-on-one meetings have increased in their frequency over time. Yet, by the same token, almost 30% of those one-on-ones are regularly canceled — a clear indication that meetings are getting booked too often. 

Some of the biggest challenges that people attribute to meetings are that they:

• Interrupt workflows
• Consist of off-topic conversations 
• Have no set time-frame
• Have an overall feeling of chaos
• Don’t result in concrete action items of takeaways

When you get your team members involved, they can explicitly share these types of concerns with you so that you can make choices to prevent them. With their helpful feedback, you’ll make a better decision around cadence and anything else related to your meetings.

Infuse flexibility into your decision-making  

Part of the problem with a meeting cadence that isn’t suited to the task is that your team members end up feeling annoyed and frustrated. This doesn't make for productive meetings. In fact, even when employees complain to their managers about wasted time, many managers still don’t reduce the frequency or structure of meetings. 

Having a flexible mindset, regardless of what meeting cadence you choose, is what makes Agile teams successful. Adjusting your schedule, choosing new tools, or experimenting with new processes is all about what works best for your team and their changing needs. 

Whether you choose to use templates to increase productivity and efficiency during meetings, or try out a new meeting cadence every so often, maintaining flexibility in your approach is key. 

Not only will it reduce the negativity surrounding the norms of your meeting culture, but it'll also help you discover a meeting cadence that helps everyone thrive.

About the authors

Bryan Kitch

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Key takeaways.

• Choosing the right meeting cadence is an important element of successful meeting management.
• Different meetings, teams, and environments require different meeting cadences.
• Adapting common meeting cadence best practices to your specific needs will ensure your strategy is successful.

Meeting cadence is the frequency with which you schedule meetings. Scheduling an effective meeting cadence is essential in achieving high productivity and avoiding zoom fatigue and disengagement.

In many workplaces, it can be challenging to walk the line between excessive meetings and employee disconnection. This is especially true in   remote work   environments. 

While there is no universal schedule that will fit all types of meetings, there are best practices you should be aware of when setting the pace of your team’s meetings. In this post, we gathered the most common meeting cadences and what meetings they’re most appropriate for.

Most common meeting cadences

Different types of meetings often command different meeting schedules, but there are no absolute rules you need to follow. The right approach is the one that works best for you. Below are some of the most common meeting frequencies and the meeting types they are most often associated with.

Daily meetings

These are usually short and focused on the practicalities and goals for the workday. They involve quick status updates, allocating support, or resolving any immediate blockers to pending action items.

Examples of daily meetings are:

• Daily stand-up meetings
• End-of-shift daily check-ins

Weekly meetings

A weekly meeting cadence has a broader focus than daily meetings. It helps attendees align on what work they will complete during the week, what deliverables they can expect, and what issues might slow down the progress.

Weekly meetings are helpful for project managers and team leaders to coordinate different facets of a complex project and share updates. Weekly meetings are also opportunities for teams, especially remote ones, to interact and stay connected. For managers, it’s the time scheduled to interact 1-on-1 with their direct reports.

Examples of weekly meetings are:

• Weekly team meetings
• Project team meetings
• Revenue or goals updates
• One-on-one meetings
• End-of-week team hangouts

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Meetings that follow a bi-weekly cadence focus less on interaction and operations and more on project and business updates.

Examples of bi-weekly meetings are:

• Start/end of sprints for agile teams
• Department updates
• One-on-one meetings for cross-team collaboration
• Campaign launches
• Leadership team meetings
• Management meetings

Monthly meetings

Here we start moving into more strategic meetings, where decisions are made on a longer-term basis and do not involve day-to-day issues or company-wide events.

Examples of monthly meetings are:

• Company updates
• Performance updates
• Monthly company gatherings
• Keynote events or meetings with guest speakers
• Board meetings

Quarterly meetings

Quarterly meetings usually focus on strategy, reporting results, and future goal setting.

Examples of quarterly meetings are:

• Company/business updates
• Brainstorming for upcoming campaigns and initiatives
• Reporting on KPIs and setting new goals

Annual meetings

Annual meetings usually take place at the end of the year and offer you and your respective team the opportunity to reflect on all the hard work and effort that has gone into the past few months. 

• End-of-year round-up and recap
• Team achievements and praise
• Goals for the coming year

Now that we know the most common meeting cadences, what should we consider when selecting the right one for our needs?

Selecting the right cadence for your team

Set the meeting goal and outcome.

When understanding how to set an effective meeting cadence for any particular objective, ask yourself and your team a few questions as you build your plan. Selecting the proper meeting cadence becomes easy when you understand the meeting goal. You could ask questions such as:

• What will be the meeting agenda?
• What are we trying to achieve with the meeting?
• Do we need detailed check-ins on the next steps and progress?
• Is this meeting part of regular project management, or is it more of a business review or all-hands meeting

Do attendees realistically have enough time to follow the proposed meeting rhythm?

Ensure all attendees add value to the meeting

Inviting only those that contribute to the desired outcome is part of a healthy strategy when planning an effective meeting cadence.

While it may feel uncomfortable to omit some people, keeping the attendee list to the minimum ultimately favors everyone. Those who join will find discussion and decision-making faster and more effective, and those that don’t can invest time in focused work.

Moreover, people should be encouraged to reject meeting invitations when they feel they aren’t needed. 

When determining who should be invited to a meeting, ask yourself the following questions:

• Does this person contribute to the planning and discussion?
• Is this person part of the decision-making process? Do they need to take meeting notes? Do they have an active role?
• Will this person bring significant value to the objective of the meeting?
• Is this a waste of time for this person? Would their time be better spent on something else?
• Is their calendar already full?

Factor in the communication styles 

To plan an effective meeting cadence, you want to know how effectively your team communicates. Individual communication styles differ. Some meetings may be long-winded, go off-topic, or over time, while others are likely to be brief and to the point. 

To help determine how often you will schedule a specific meeting and how to structure it correctly, ask yourself the following questions:

• What is the team size?
• Does the team typically run over time when discussing topics?
• Does the team run out of time and stretch the conversation to the maximum available time?
• Does the team set actionable tasks in this kind of setting?
• Are the results of action plans and next steps considered during follow-ups?

Assess current meeting cadence

A great way to ensure you have an effective meeting cadence is through trial and error. The right meeting cadence will evolve as projects, teams, and situations evolve. When assessing the current meeting cadence, ask the following questions:

• Are projects running smoothly, and would it be beneficial to spread out meetings? 
• Would team members get more support with more frequent meetings?
• Would the meeting efficiency improve if it was shorter?
• Are team members disengaged, and could they benefit from more interaction time?

Identify high-priority meetings

Knowing the importance of the meeting’s goal will help you decide how often the team should meet to discuss progress and how much time you should devote to these conversations.

This consideration is more complex than it may seem at first glance. High priority shouldn’t always correlate to a more frequent meeting cadence. This approach might add confusion, stress, and the feeling of being micromanaged on projects that are already complex and time-consuming.

On the other hand, agile teams that follow the scrum methodology see value in having daily stand-ups, even though they aren’t always a true business priority.

Switch to asynchronous communication where appropriate

Are all of your meetings truly necessary? Some meetings are essential for exchanging real-time information, progress, and ideas. However, often many meetings can take place via   asynchronous communication . Be ruthless when identifying meetings that can occur asynchronously, as this will help you save time for critical interactions that need to occur in person. 

Ask yourself:

• Could this topic be discussed via Slack (or other channels)?
• Could this project be worked on through a shared document (Notion, Miro, or Google Docs)?
• Would switching to asynchronous work positively impact the team?
• Do people have to interrupt their focused work to join this meeting?

Gather participant’s feedback and insights

After real-time meetings, follow up with participants to garner feedback and suggestions. Asking your meeting attendees how frequently you should hold specific meetings is sensible and should be an ongoing practice. As the team, business, and projects evolve, so should the meeting cadence. Always keep an open channel of communication. 

• When was the last time I got feedback on a recurring meeting?
• Would discussing process and cadence for a few minutes at the beginning or end of each session help improve?
• Do attendees know how to reach you to discuss concerns or ideas, and is it clear to them that they are encouraged to do so?
• Does your   meeting agenda   and template provide enough time for attendees to express themselves?

Effective meeting cheat sheet

Meeting cadence is only one small part of running a healthy remote workforce. 

Over 50 million meetings happen weekly in the US,   according to Zippia’s research , with about 70% of those sessions are considered unproductive. Unproductive meetings can harm employee wellbeing, and work satisfaction, cause stress and anxiety, leading to employee burnout and harming overall business growth. Moreover, they are expensive, with ineffective meetings losing big companies   $100 million a year .

Below are 15 proven tips to ensure your meetings are productive. Together with the right cadence choices, these tips will be crucial in improving your productivity and workplace effectiveness.

Before the meeting

1. establish the purpose of the meeting.

Before hosting a business meeting, you should ensure that you have a specific purpose and goal. If you don’t, cancel it.

2. Set a meeting length

To ensure an efficient meeting, keep an eye on the clock and remind everyone of the meeting time limit. This practice will also help maintain focus and avoid stress caused meetings going over time or off-topic.

3. Go in with an agenda

A meeting agenda determines the meeting flow and topics of discussion. You should send the agenda to participants in advance, so everyone has time to prepare.

A meeting agenda should contain the following:

• Meeting objectives
• Topics to discuss
• Questions to answer
• Actions to take

4. Keep the meeting attendees list small

Limiting the number of meeting attendees to those fundamental to the meeting’s success will ensure everyone participates actively and prevent time waste and meeting fatigue. 

To avoid feelings of exclusion among those not invited, share meeting notes with the rest of the team once the session is over.

5. Assign roles to participants 

Aside from choosing key speakers, keep everyone else engaged by delegating particular tasks to the rest of the attendees. Tasks could include: 

• Icebreaker topics
• Note-taking
• Meeting moderator

During the meeting

6. kick-off with an icebreaker.

Starting the meeting with a   5-minute icebreaker   acts as a transitional buffer and will help everyone get warmed up for a free-flowing discussion. 

7. Emphasize achievements, not mistakes

A healthy meeting culture should foster open and transparent communication that is constructive and supportive. Avoid using meetings to reprimand team members, as the tension could negatively affect morale. On the other hand, showing appreciation for achievements boosts motivation and productivity. 

8. Consider multi-layered voting

The more complex a topic is, the harder it is for decision-makers to form conclusive action points. Team voting can make the decision-making process easier:

• Ask each participant to write one action item or idea down 
• Ask everyone to vote on their top priority or favorite idea
• Ideas and items with the most votes go to the next round
• Repeat the process until you’re left with one idea or a prioritized list

9. Act as a spokesperson for attendees

Although you should not control the content of a meeting, you can suggest how participants could clarify or elaborate on certain points. As a meeting facilitator, you can ask for clarifications and relatable examples if you feel the topic might take a technical turn and leave attendees feeling lost or confused.

10. Encourage participation

Not everyone feels comfortable speaking up during team meetings. Instead of pressuring those more introverted participants by putting them on the spot, allow them to express themselves the way they find most comfortable, such as chat messages or emojis.

11. Use the parking lot technique

During discussions, people naturally interrupt each other, go off-topic, and ask side questions. If you see the conversation veering away from the planned agenda, getting it back on track without dismissing potentially important information is important. 

Use the parking lot technique by announcing to the participants that you are going to “park” this topic. You can then ask the participant to write their points down in a shared document that you can return to later. 

12. Try silent discussions and problem-solving

After raising a question or problem, ask each participant to write down their ideas in silence. The team can submit their ideas via the chat function, a digital whiteboard, or a shared document. The meeting host can present the ideas, and the team can discuss their favorites. 

After the meeting

13. get a post-meeting pulse check.

Getting a pulse check at the end of a meeting can help gauge whether participants understood the topics discussed, how they feel about them, and whether a follow-up meeting is necessary. 

Ask team members to use a 1-5 scale, a traffic light approach, or even emojis to show how they feel after a meeting. 

14. Come out with an action plan

A meeting without actionable outcomes is a waste of time for everyone involved. At the end of the meeting, set small and realistic action items assigned to specific people with deadlines on when and how they should be delivered.

15. Send a round-up message

Use the meeting notes, agenda items, and action points to summarize the discussion and course of action. Be sure to thank the meeting participants for their attendance and contributions. 

Boost your meeting experience with Deel

Deel’s   HR Slack plugins   are essential for distributed teams looking to build a healthy and productive meeting culture.

1-on-1s by Deel   makes it easy to organize and manage your weekly check-in meetings via the Slack app. The plugin helps attendees align on talking points, give and receive real-time feedback, and track meeting history to identify trends in performance or mood. 

With   Pulse Surveys by Deel , meeting facilitators can gauge participants’ feelings and feedback after a meeting to improve their meeting management skills. Create survey automation using pre-made templates, set up completion reminders, and enable team members to respond directly in Slack.

Learn more about   Deel’s HR Slack plugins,   or   book a demo   today to get started.

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How to set the perfect meeting cadence.

Set the perfect meeting cadence by identifying the purpose, involving relevant participants, establishing a regular schedule with consideration for participants’ time zones and work loads, and consistently reviewing and adjusting the frequency as needed.

• Last Updated: February 28, 2024

A Meeting Cadence refers to the frequency and consistent schedule of meetings held within an organization. It establishes a standard pattern of meetings, such as daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly, depending on the team’s communication needs, project requirements, and organizational goals. The cadence ensures regular communication, fosters teamwork, allows for updates on progress, helps in tracking issues and resolving them on time. Thus, an effective meeting cadence plays a crucial role in enhancing productivity, transparency, and success of teams within an organization.

How to set the perfect meeting cadence: Step-By-Step

Step 1: determine the goal of the meeting,, step 2: identify necessary participants,, step 3: set the frequency,, step 4: decide the duration,, step 5: establish the agenda,, step 6: determine meeting logistics,, step 7: follow up,.

Before organizing a meeting, it’s paramount to have a clear comprehension of the intended objectives. This could range from critical decision-making processes, seeking diverse opinions and inputs on a particular topic, to discussing crucial updates or strategic changes within the organization or team.

To determine who should be present at a meeting, evaluate the goal of the meeting. Identify the key contributors who directly affect the meeting outcome and only invite those individuals. This would make the meeting more effective, without wasting the time of unnecessary attendees.

The decision on how often meetings should occur – daily, weekly, monthly, or on a needs-basis – will largely hinge on the significance and urgency of the project or goal at hand. For critical, time-sensitive endeavors, more frequent meetings may be required, whereas less urgent matters may only need occasional meetings.

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Planning your meeting length is an essential step in ensuring efficiency. Aim to keep your meeting concise and centered around your objectives. Estimate the time required for each item on the agenda and allocate accordingly, keeping the meeting tight and productive. Remember, prolonged meetings often lose focus and impact.

Prior to the meeting, distribute an agenda amongst attendees as a foundation for discussion. The agenda acts as a roadmap, fostering structure and streamlining the conversation to stay on point and within the meeting’s allocated timeframe. This ensures efficiency, productivity, and respect for everyone’s time.

Deciding when and where the meeting will occur is the first step. Choose a time that fits everyone’s schedule. If the meeting is in-person, select a convenient location. For virtual meetings, carefully select a conferencing platform that is accessible and easy to use for all participants. The chosen platform should be reliable and have essential features like screen sharing and recording.

Once your meeting concludes, it’s crucial to distribute a comprehensive minutes or summary detailing the conversation, decisions made, and the subsequent tasks or steps to be undertaken. This eliminates confusion, ensures a mutual understanding, and establishes clear expectations for future action among all participants.

Setting the perfect meeting cadence can greatly impact the productivity and effectiveness within an organization. Remember, it’s not about having more meetings, but about having purposeful and efficient ones. Balancing the frequency of your meetings while focusing on clear agenda, sufficient preparation, and active participation can lead to better communication, improved team performance and ultimately drive a business’s success. Evaluating and adjusting the meeting cadence periodically is also crucial to adapt to evolving needs and changes. By integrating the strategies discussed, organizations can maximize the value of their meetings and ensure a fruitful and collaborative work environment. Always strive for ‘less is more’: less distraction, less unnecessary chatter, and more targeted, productive dialogue.

Jannik Lindner

I'm jannik and i write on meetingfever about the experiences from my career as a founder and team lead. if you have any questions, please contact me via linkedin., popular questions.

A ‘meeting cadence’ refers to the frequency or rhythm of conducting meetings. It details how often meetings are scheduled and can range from daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually depending on the needs of the organization or team.

Meeting cadence is important because it helps ensure a consistent exchange of information and updates. Regular meetings help teams stay informed, aligned, and focused on their objectives. It also provides opportunities for addressing issues and making necessary adjustments in a timely manner.

The best cadence for meetings depends on a variety of factors such as the nature of the project or tasks, size of the team, complexity of the work, and the urgency of decision-making needs. It might involve trial and error, and should be reassessed regularly to ensure it’s still meeting the team’s needs.

Not necessarily. Different types of meetings might require different cadences. For instance, project status meetings might need to be held weekly whereas strategic planning meetings could be held annually or semi-annually.

Yes, a meeting cadence can and should change as necessary. Factors like changes in project status, team structure, or just as a result of feedback from team members might prompt a reconsideration of meeting cadence. It’s important to keep the communication lines open and reassess the process regularly for effective collaboration.

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How to Find Meeting Cadence That Works For Your Team 

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Meetings are the cornerstones of the workday, but getting the cadence right can be tricky. Too many meetings will undermine productivity, while inadequate meeting frequency will result in losing track of workflows and important information. 

However, when meeting cadences are done right, meetings become a powerful tool to keep everyone in the loop, boost work efficiency, and improve team morale. 

If you’re looking for ways to find the best meeting cadence for your team, we’ve got you covered. In this article, we’ll discuss the different types of meetings that suit each cadence, how to get them right, and what happens when we get them wrong.

What’s a Meeting Cadence?

Meetings are appointments where colleagues get together to have a discussion, and cadences refer to the frequency at which something occurs. Putting these words together, meeting cadences are the schedule that determines the number of meetings organized, the length of these meetings, and when they are held.

While meeting cadence requirements will differ depending on the type of meeting being held, you’ll also find that the team members participating in the meeting will have different scheduling needs, subject to whether their work arrangements are on-site, hybrid, or remote.

Benefits Of Choosing The Right Meeting Cadence

Selecting the right meeting cadence requires some effort and thought, but striking the balance between individual work and team meets will provide a host of benefits to your team’s overall productivity.

Enhanced Team Productivity and Focus

Setting up a structured and appropriate meeting cadence helps team members focus on their core tasks and reduces spontaneous ad hoc meetings. When team members know what to expect in terms of meeting commitments for the week, they can plan productive time blocks more efficiently and work around scheduled interruptions.

Improved Communication and Collaboration

The right meeting cadence fosters better communication and collaboration among team members, leading to smoother project execution and idea sharing. Spontaneous meetings are difficult to prepare for and not everyone can attend with short notice – the chaos often results in miscommunication and missing context which makes collaboration difficult.

Enhanced Decision-Making

A well-calibrated meeting schedule can facilitate timely decision-making processes, enabling teams to address challenges and make critical choices efficiently.

For example, if an issue pops up during a project that has regularly scheduled check-ins, the team members involved can address the issue and resolve it together during the next meeting instead of attempting to wrangle scattered, distributed individual workflows.

Increased Accountability and Alignment

The right meeting cadence can help ensure that everyone is aligned with a project’s goals and objectives, reinforcing accountability in teams and individuals.

For example, regular sync-up meetings for a big project help the team align around the same goal, preventing issues like certain team members working in a vacuum on unplanned or unnecessary tasks.

Reduced Meeting Fatigue and Burnout

A balanced meeting cadence spaces out meeting frequency, preventing meeting fatigue and burnout and ultimately contributing to higher job satisfaction and retention rates. Mindful meeting schedules reduce the amount of spontaneous meeting scrambling since team members know when they can expect to receive or provide updates, reducing overall work stress.

Consequences Of Wrong Meeting Cadence

An inappropriate meeting schedule can lead to reduced efficiency and effectiveness in the workplace, even contributing to interruptions in project workflows.

Meeting Fatigue

Meeting fatigue happens when the amount of meetings scheduled leaves participants with physical and mental exhaustion and they have no time to recover. The frustration and stress from having to attend unnecessarily frequent meetings contribute to burnout since team members have to fit individual work tasks into an already cramped meeting cadence.

Ineffective Decision-Making

Having an unsuitable meeting cadence makes it difficult to check in and address urgent issues quickly, causing further uncertainty and stress. A meeting cadence that is too infrequent for a big project means that decisions are delayed and team members are left out of the loop on important information.

Wasted Time and Resources

Meetings don’t just take up precious work time – they also occupy facilities and require some organization to run smoothly. Having the wrong meeting cadence takes up resources that can be better used elsewhere.

Low Morale, Increased Stress, and Burnout

Poorly chosen meeting cadences crowd the workday with redundant or unnecessary meetings when team members still have immediate and urgent tasks to complete. This situation contributes to increased stress and burnout, tanking team morale, affecting job satisfaction, and potentially causing increased turnover.

How to Pick Optimal Meeting Cadence For Your Meetings? 

Before you schedule your next meeting, use this step-by-step guide to make the most out of your meeting cadences.

Step 1: Define Meeting Objectives and Goals

Start by clearly defining the objectives and goals of your meetings. Understanding what you want to accomplish with each meeting will help you determine how often they should occur.

For example, a daily meeting cadence is perfect for checking in on workflow progress for an urgent project or for keeping track of who’s working on what right now. Meanwhile, a quarterly meeting schedule is great for touching base with a team member on their overall work performance. 

Step 2: Assess Work Nature and Team Dynamics

Consider the nature of your work and your team’s dynamics. Is the type of work you do fast-paced, with constantly changing requirements? Or does your team need more uninterrupted time to focus on creating a quality product? What is the size of your team and what kind of communication do they prefer?

A large team of developers will lose productivity if your meetings are too frequent or irregular, while a small marketing agency team will benefit from weekly or even daily check-ins to calibrate workflow and responsibilities in response to ever-evolving client needs. 

Step 3: Gather Team Feedback

After meetings, seek input from your team members regarding their meeting preferences. It’s likely that they understand their availability, workload, and whether the current meeting frequency effectively aligns with their needs, and they can help you with these insights.

Team feedback allows you to facilitate an environment and meeting cadence that lets them to do their best work. For example, some meetings can be done away with or made asynchronous because the project requires more individual focus and less active collaboration.

Step 4: Research Industry Standards

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel – research industry standards and best practices for meeting cadences in your field, as this will provide valuable benchmarks and insights to help you make an informed decision.

For instance, daily standups in Agile normally have participants plan the next 24 hours during a meeting that lasts no longer than 15 minutes. 

Following industry standard meeting formats can be handy for calibrating meeting cadences since they were likely formulated after trial and error. You can always adjust and adapt them to better suit your team’s needs later.

Step 5: Test and Adjust

As you get into the flow of your meeting cadence, experiment with it to better align with your assessments and feedback. You may not find the perfect schedule at first or your team’s needs may change over time, so be open to adjusting as needed to ensure that it serves your team’s goals and remains effective. 

Common Meeting Cadences

Here, we’ll cover some examples of common meeting cadences so you can find what’s right for your team. Ideally, a recurring meeting should be shorter the closer it is to the next meeting.

Daily cadences are great for small teams of 10 people or less, where the purpose of the meeting is to check in, provide work updates, and discuss any issues that might be preventing progress. 

Meetings that work great with daily cadence: 

• Daily standups
• Daily reflections
• Daily team check-ins

Weekly or Bi-Weekly 

For more involved work status updates, a weekly or bi-weekly meeting cadence is enough to keep everyone in the loop. This cadence is also good for larger, more distributed teams as it takes up fewer work hours overall. 

Meetings that work great with weekly cadence: 

• Retrospectives
• Department team meetings

Monthly meetings work best for instances where work requirements or circumstances don’t change frequently, or when the participants or projects involved have goals that may not be as urgent but are still important. 

Meetings that work great with monthly cadence: 

• Leadership meetings
• Company-wide updates or announcements

Quarterly meetings are great for long-term goals and high-level views, where they function as a checkpoint for feedback and strategy assessment. They are usually more substantial and involve reporting, analysis, and discussion.

Meetings that work great with quarterly cadence: 

• Town hall meetings
• Strategy meetings
• Performance evaluations
• Skip level meetings

Yearly 

Annual meetings usually involve big-picture views in evaluation and planning, taking place at the end of the year. They’re most commonly used to reflect and review the efforts of the past year.

Meetings that work great with yearly cadence: 

• Compliance reviews
• Budget reviews
• Annual planning meetings

Case Study: How Optimal Meeting Cadence Helped Zapier

With more than 250 team members distributed across 23 countries, it was difficult for Zapier to implement standups across time zones. These meetings would often go past the 15-minute mark, leaving participants overwhelmed and worn out by the time they were done.

Work productivity was also dropping since team members had to take time out of their day to attend the scheduled daily standup meeting, interrupting workflows and time meant for individual tasks.

The daily meeting cadence was still relevant and necessary to fulfill its intended purpose, but Zapier opted to shift from a synchronous meeting format to an asynchronous one. This way, everyone could still take part in the meeting by providing and receiving work status updates, but it would be done at a time that best suited each participant.

Here’s how they did it: They combined Geekbot’s meeting facilitation features with Slack’s response threads , where Geekbot would automatically prompt team members with questions about their workday at a scheduled time. 

Once a team member’s daily standup entry was completed, it would be published in a dedicated channel for everyone else to see. Other team members could then hold conversations about that specific daily standup entry in its response thread while the rest of the team continued about their day.

Over time, it was clear that this was the solution Zapier needed to save the team from the chaos of trying to coordinate synchronous daily standups with a globally distributed team. 

Not only did they free up resources like time and energy that could be used elsewhere for team members, but they also used tools like Slack and Geekbot that would automate the process and facilitate the meeting, reducing the friction involved for employees and leadership alike. 

Geekbot’s integration with Slack meant that Zapier team members could quickly and easily access team communications when needed, as they would be stored in a central but separate channel from typical work interaction. 

Slack’s integration with essential apps like Google Workspace, GitHub, and the like also meant that transferring information relevant to daily standups would be a simple and speedy process.

Zapier’s flexibility in adjusting to the needs of their team helped them find a solution that would successfully accommodate their work schedules while still keeping everyone in the loop in an easily accessible way. 

While both synchronous and asynchronous communication would have worked for a daily standup, Zapier’s unique needs and the information-giving nature of daily standups meant that an asynchronous meeting format with workspace tool integration and automation was a much better solution for them.

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Frequently asked questions

How to prevent meeting overload or too few meetings.

To prevent overload, ensure that each meeting has a clear purpose and contributes to team goals. Regularly assess the necessity of each meeting and adjust the cadence accordingly. Avoid unnecessary meetings and promote efficient communication outside of formal gatherings.

What are common meeting cadences for teams?

Common meeting cadences include daily stand-up meetings, weekly team or project updates, bi-weekly progress reviews, and monthly strategic planning sessions. The specific cadence should align with your team's objectives and workflows.

How can I determine the ideal meeting cadence for my team?

The ideal meeting cadence depends on your team's needs and goals. Start by evaluating your team's communication requirements, project timelines, and individual work styles. Experiment with different schedules, gather feedback, and adapt to find the right balance.

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How to Implement a Meeting Cadence

• What kinds of meetings are needed?
• Who are the key people that should be included, or invited as optional for visibility?
• What is the best time in the week to meet and how often?

Meeting Cadence for Remote Teams

• Regularly scheduled meetings to keep everyone connected, moving forward, and on task
• Heading off issues early, and having the right people present to address solutions and options in real time
• Allowing the team to report on ongoing progress, identify issues, and contribute ideas and feedback related to specific work items
• Offering help to people who are stuck or need advice on how to best overcome conflict and resolve issues

Meeting Cadence Template

• The list of attendees
• The date and time
• The purpose and goal of the meeting
• The topics discussed
• The decisions made or that need to be made and by whom

Tips for Establishing Meeting Cadence for Project Teams

• Define recurring meetings with a frequency schedule and a set length of time — usually 30 to 60 minutes.
• Include an agenda that you share out beforehand to hit all points and keep attendees engaged.
• Set a meeting format and share it out before the meeting, so presenters are prepared and decision makers are ready.
• Invite leads or key players only and make it known they need to share out information to their teams instead of inviting others.
• Determine who will be taking notes and sharing them out with everyone, and when.
• Don’t run over time and try to end discussion a few minutes early, so there’s time for questions. This allows overscheduled attendees to log off and on to their next meeting in time.

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What Is a Meeting Cadence and How to Set the Right One for Your Team

Table of Contents

The old saying “ If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” couldn’t be more relevant when it comes to meetings. Meetings are a necessary but often dreaded part of workplace communication, especially when they are unplanned.

But, there is a way to hold better meetings — meeting cadences .

Meeting cadences are the backbone of effective and productive meetings that won’t leave you bored out of your mind or scrambling to pick up when an unplanned call comes through. 

In this blog post, we’ll cover the following questions:

What is a meeting cadence?

• What should you ask yourself before setting a meeting cadence?
• What are the benefits of setting meeting cadences?

We’ll also cover the most common meeting cadences, and give you some tips to help you set the right cadence for your team.

Let’s start.

A meeting cadence is a predetermined schedule on which meetings occur within a team or organization. It outlines the frequency, timing, and length of meetings. The most common meeting cadences are daily, weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly.

A structured meeting schedule ensures regular communication and collaboration between team members and promotes efficiency and productivity. A meeting cadence helps teams:

• Focus on their goals, 
• Track progress, and 
• Foster collaboration .

The Director of Business Operations at GoPromotional, Jessica Bane Thompson , believes the structure that meeting cadences offer is essential:

“ Setting a meeting cadence is critical to optimizing communication and collaboration within an organization or team. To achieve this efficiently, a structured approach is essential. This will allow you to strike the right balance between getting on the same page and getting actual work done .”

Questions to ask before setting a meeting cadence

The right meeting cadence is different for every team. It depends on the needs of individual team members, teams as a whole, and the organization.

Therefore, setting a meeting cadence can involve some trial and error. Before settling for a certain meeting cadence, there are some variables you should consider. 

Here are some questions to ask yourself before deciding on a meeting cadence.

Question #1: What is the purpose of this meeting?

Firstly, think about the goals you have for this meeting. Is it for project updates, brainstorming, team building , or something else? Depending on the goal of the meeting, you can more closely picture how often you should be having it.

Define the purpose of the meeting, and you’ll have a clearer idea of what the ideal meeting cadence should be.

Question #2: How long does the meeting need to be to cover the agenda?

When you’ve outlined the goals for this meeting, think about how much time (realistically) you’ll need to go over the agenda.

If you conclude that the meeting will run for too long, consider a more frequent meeting cadence. Keep in mind that shorter, more focused meetings are usually more productive than drawn-out ones.

Conversely, if the meeting takes your team only a few minutes, it may be a good idea to do it less frequently. Meeting every day for only a couple of talking points may be overwhelming and unnecessary.

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Question #3: Who needs to be invited?

Every now and then, it’s a good idea to review the list of participants for any meeting. 

Roles in the organization can change, and people can end up attending meetings they don’t contribute to. According to the The Cost of Unnecessary Meeting Attendance report, 46% of employees report having too many unnecessary meetings on their calendar. The report also reveals that 53% of survey respondents feel like they can’t decline meetings even when they aren’t critical to the agenda.

Furthermore, if the meeting grows too crowded, you can think about splitting up people into smaller groups for more engaging and productive meetings .

In the words of Jessica Bane Thompson, an inclusive but focused list of participants is crucial:

“Carefully select participants to ensure that key stakeholders are present, but avoid overloading meetings with unnecessary attendees. Inclusive but focused attendance is crucial for productive outcomes.”

So, when you think about a meeting cadence, make sure to review the list of participants for the meeting and think about whether everyone needs to be invited.

Question #4: Is everyone available for this meeting?

When you’ve curated the list of participants, make sure to check whether everyone is available.

Check for any conflicting schedules, such as meetings that are already scheduled. 

If you work in a multicultural working environment , you may even have team members in different time zones. 

Do your best to accommodate these differences to make it easier for everyone to attend the meetings.

💡 Pumble Pro Tip

If you work in a team where team members are across different time zones, you know how difficult it can be sometimes, especially when it comes to setting up meetings. If you want to learn more about how to manage working across time zones, read our blog post:

• Best team practices when working across time zones

Question #5: Can this meeting be an email?

Another factor to consider is if the meeting is necessary at all. 

Think about whether the goals of the meeting could be achieved through some means of asynchronous communication , such as:

• Shared documents, or
• Team communication app .

Our contributor, Jessica Bane Thompson, agrees that sometimes meetings aren’t necessary:

“You need to discern which topics necessitate a meeting and which can be effectively communicated through email or other asynchronous means. This distinction ensures that meetings are reserved for discussions that truly benefit from real-time interaction, while routine updates and information sharing can occur via written communication. ”

Not all discussions require a meeting, and asynchronous communication can be an effective and productive way to keep everyone in the loop.

Virtual meetings are an excellent tool for synchronous team communication. However, they do have some drawbacks. To learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of virtual meetings, read our blog post:

• Advantages and disadvantages of virtual meetings

Question #6: Can this meeting be consolidated into another?

If you have two or more meetings with the same team, or about the same goals, you should consider combining them into one to prevent duplicating efforts and holding more meetings than necessary. 

For example, imagine your team has a short, weekly check-in meeting on Monday, where everyone talks about their plans for the week. Then, you have another meeting on Wednesday to talk about any issues and problem-solve together. 

In this case, you can consider blending these two and holding one meeting where team members talk about their plans, as well as any issues they have. For any additional and urgent issues during the week, you can communicate asynchronously, or hold urgent meetings if necessary.

However, you should still be mindful of the combined duration and availability for this type of meeting. 

Meeting cadence examples

There are many ways you can structure your meetings, but a few stand out as the most logical and practical. Here are a few meeting cadences you can consider.

#1: Daily cadence

A daily meeting cadence requires the team to meet every day. 

Typically, a daily cadence is used to provide regular communication within a team that requires frequent, real-time updates . 

For example, a team working on tight deadlines or fast-paced projects may need daily cadence to address issues and collaborate more effectively . 

Daily meetings serve to keep team members:

• Productive, and 
• Accountable.

Daily meetings are most effective when they are:

• Focused, and
• Purposeful.

However, daily meetings are not without downsides.

Daily meetings, even when kept short and to the point, add up to a significant amount of time over the week. Furthermore, they can disrupt workflow and hinder productivity. 

Team members can also experience meeting fatigue with repetitive updates that make meetings feel redundant. 

To mitigate some of the downsides, consider if daily meetings are truly necessary, and if they are, ensure that they are:

• Well-structured,

Furthermore, if your team needs to have daily meetings, it’s a good idea to have them either at the beginning or end of the workday to try to prevent some of the aforementioned problems.

Time spent in meetings has been rising for years and is expected to continue on this path. In 2023, it’s estimated that the number of meetings will increase by around 11%. If you want to find out more interesting statistics related to meetings, follow the link below:

• Meeting statistics you should know (2023)

#2: Weekly cadence

A weekly meeting cadence refers to meetings that occur on a weekly basis. These meetings are usually aimed at:

• Discussing ongoing work,
• Sharing non-urgent updates, and
• Setting goals for the week ahead.

Weekly meetings are best suited for teams that don’t require constant communication . A weekly cadence provides a rhythm for regular discussions that are not urgent and span a more moderate timeframe.

For example, a weekly team check-in can be a great way to share updates and ask questions . It helps keep everyone informed about the team’s progress.

A weekly planning meeting is also a good example of a weekly meeting cadence. In this kind of meeting, the team plans and assigns tasks for the upcoming week, allocates responsibilities, and sets goals.

A weekly meeting cadence ensures that the information flow is steady, but team members aren’t overwhelmed with meetings. 

#3: Bi-weekly cadence

A bi-weekly meeting schedule provides a less frequent but still regular opportunity for communication within teams.

This meeting cadence is suitable for teams that don’t require daily or weekly meetings but still need regular communication. 

For example, a team working on a project that requires individual, focused work, with little or no need for collaboration, may benefit from bi-weekly meetings.

Meeting every other week strikes a nice balance between regular updates and focused work periods.

#4: Monthly cadence

A monthly meeting cadence provides a more extended timeframe for discussions, planning, and reviews.

This meeting cadence is usually reserved for bigger departments with more participants . 

For example, a marketing team may consist of a number of smaller teams that meet weekly, while the entire marketing team can come together on a monthly basis. 

Another example of monthly meetings is leadership meetings, where managers across teams and departments meet to discuss goals and make high-level decisions.

Monthly meetings provide an opportunity for: 

• Long-term planning, 
• Data analysis on a larger scale, and 
• Discussions of broader topics.

#5: Quarterly cadence

A quarterly meeting cadence is a schedule of meetings occurring once every 3 months. Quarterly meetings usually align with the 4 fiscal quarters of the year.

These meetings and their longer timeframe are helpful with:

• Comprehensive reviews of results,
• Strategic planning for the future, and
• Assessments of performance.

A meeting commonly held on a quarterly basis is a quarterly business review meeting. This type of meeting is held to:

• Review financial performance, 
• Assess progress toward annual goals, and 
• Make plans for the next quarter.

Another example of quarterly meetings are board meetings, where the board of directors of a company meets to discuss and review performance and results.

The quarterly meeting cadence offers enough time to analyze performance and plan the next steps.

#6: Yearly cadence

Annual meetings are best suited for the big-picture discussions . These meetings often focus on:

• Long-term planning,
• Assessment of results for the previous year, and
• Celebrating wins.

Although smaller companies may hold all-hands-on-deck meetings more frequently, it’s usually a once-a-year occurrence for most. It’s an opportunity for the leaders to reflect on the year behind and celebrate achievements with the whole company. 

In today’s remote work culture , many remote companies also opt to hold team-building events once a year to gather all employees and strengthen their relationships. 

Furthermore, many remote companies will encourage annual office days for teams to foster teamwork and build relationships.

A yearly cadence is also beneficial for:

• Safety training,
• Budget reviews, and
• Compliance reviews.

Yearly meetings are beneficial for long-term reflection and goal-setting across the organization.

5 Tips on how best to set a meeting cadence

Setting a meeting cadence and facilitating productive and effective meetings can sometimes feel overwhelming. 

Here are some valuable tips to help you have better-planned meetings.

Tip #1: Prepare a clear agenda for the meeting

Every meeting should have a clear purpose — an agenda with goals and objectives that need to be covered in the meeting.

A meeting agenda is a compass that keeps everyone on track, ensuring that allocated time is spent productively. Moreover, an agenda allows participants to come to the meeting prepared, and it also sends a signal that their time is respected. 

With clear topics and expectations for the meeting, an agenda ensures that no time is wasted.

Additionally, when you have a clear agenda for a meeting, you can better assess what meeting cadence will be suitable.

A thought-out agenda transforms drawn-out and unproductive meetings into dynamic sessions of meaningful dialogue and action.

Meeting agendas are important for productive meetings. To learn more about how to create a virtual meeting agenda, read our blog post:

• How to write a virtual meeting agenda: Templates, tips, and examples

Tip #2: Assign roles and responsibilities

A planned-out meeting also requires clear roles and responsibilities.

The meeting organizer ensures that the meeting runs smoothly. They are responsible for creating an agenda, inviting participants, and running the show behind the scenes.

A facilitator will run the meeting and make sure it stays on track by:

• Presenting the agenda, 
• Going over the topics, and 
• Asking questions. 

In some cases, the organizer is also the facilitator.

A timekeeper is responsible for keeping track of time during the meeting. They follow the agenda and make sure that each item is given its allotted time.

A note-taker captures the most important talking points and preserves the essential information for reference and accountability. Having a designated person to write concise meeting minutes makes it easier for the whole team to look back on relevant information later.

When setting a meeting cadence, the roles and responsibilities of team members have to be taken into account. Are the same team members going to have the same roles every time? Can all team members fulfill their responsibilities? For example, if the appointed facilitator cannot attend this meeting twice a week, are you changing the cadence or the facilitator?

Meeting roles are vital for maintaining order, efficiency, and productivity , so make sure all participants are taken into consideration when you set the meeting cadence.

If you want to learn more about meeting roles and responsibilities, click the link below to read our article:

• 5 Meeting roles you need to assign for more productive meetings

Tip #3: Be open to feedback

While you’re trying to set up a perfect meeting cadence, you need to be prepared for and ask for feedback from your team .

When your team speaks up about their preferences, such as making changes to the meeting cadence, it’s an opportunity to fine-tune your team’s workflow.

Openness to feedback fosters a culture that:

• Values everyone’s input,
• Trusts each team member, and
• Adapts to different needs.

It’s the difference between a rigid, one-size-fits-all type of approach and a transparent and adaptive approach.

In the context of meeting cadences, feedback is an essential tool for gauging the needs of the team. 

It ensures that the meeting cadences align with your team’s goals, leading to more productive and effective meetings.

Tip #4: Change cadence when necessary

Being open to feedback means you will sometimes need to change the set meeting cadence.

As projects evolve and priorities realign, it’s important to remain flexible to change. For example, a new, high-priority project may require a meeting two times a week, when it was previously a weekly occurrence. Or, if you want your team to engage in deep work for a period of time, scaling back on meetings may be helpful.

The optimal meeting cadence is a moving target , so be prepared to make adjustments to ensure the desired results. 

Being willing to adjust schedules ensures that meetings are not just a routine responsibility, but a powerful tool for productive and effective communication .

Tip #5: Set a predictable schedule

Whatever meeting cadence you choose, make sure to maintain the same timing. In other words, if you choose a weekly meeting, set it on the same day and time every week. 

This will ensure that team members know when they have meetings, and they can plan their time accordingly. 

The regularity also reduces the chances of scheduling conflicts, as team members know their schedule beforehand. 

Jessica Bane Thompson agrees that a predictable schedule is the way to go :

“Establishing regular meeting days and times creates a routine that enables participants to plan their work schedules around these commitments. This predictability not only ensures that essential discussions occur consistently but also respects the time and productivity of team members.”

Why you should set a meeting cadence

Setting a meeting cadence provides several benefits that enhance team communication , collaboration, and productivity. 

Here’s why establishing meeting cadences is important.

Benefit #1: Meeting cadences provide structured communication

Set meeting cadences provide a predictable schedule for team communication .

These regular meetings, at a set time, create an opportunity for team members to: 

• Engage in meaningful discussions, 
• Share updates, and 
• Collaborate. 

A meeting cadence encourages focused and purposeful conversations and leads to productive meetings that help team members achieve their goals.

Furthermore, team members expect and prepare for meetings, which aids with general or meeting anxiety many people feel with unplanned meetings.

Meeting cadences also ensure a consistent flow of information, preventing miscommunication and information gaps.

Additionally, scheduled meetings promote accountability, as team members know they are expected to report on progress and address issues.

Meeting cadences provide the structure needed for teams to communicate effectively.

Benefit #2: Meeting cadences improve accountability

Another benefit of setting meeting cadences is improved accountability. This is especially true for weekly or bi-weekly meetings that focus on evaluating progress in teams.

The regular gatherings create a sense of responsibility — team members know they are expected to report on their progress and address issues. 

This accountability ensures that team members:

• Focus on their responsibilities,
• Meet deadlines, and
• Produce good results consistently.

The improved accountability will ultimately drive the overall productivity and success of the team.

Accountability is a big challenge in remote teams. To learn more about how to achieve accountability in remote settings, read our blog post:

• How to achieve work-from-home accountability

Benefit #3: Meeting cadences enhance collaboration

The structure that meeting cadences provide also enhances team collaboration .

Teams come together at regular intervals to share insights and engage in collaborative discussions.

This consistent interaction facilitates the exchange of ideas, information, and feedback, fostering collaboration between team members.

Scheduled meetings also enable teams to plan and coordinate their efforts. Team members can collaborate and work together toward a common goal when they have an opportunity to effectively and regularly communicate.

Benefit #4: Meeting cadences increase team engagement

Increased team engagement goes hand in hand with collaboration and improved communication in teams.

The regular schedule of meetings creates a sense of routine and involvement in the team. Team members feel connected and informed. 

This increases engagement, which not only improves team dynamics but also enhances motivation and commitment. Ultimately, this leads to a more productive and cohesive team that nurtures collaboration.

If you’re interested in learning more about engagement and why it’s so important in the workplace, along with interesting statistics about employee engagement, follow the link below:

• Employee engagement statistics you need to know in 2023

Benefit #5: Meeting cadences reduce ad hoc meetings

Another notable advantage of setting meeting cadences is that it reduces the need for ad hoc meetings. 

With a meeting cadence set in place, team members can better plan and allocate their time, knowing when they can expect updates. 

For example, an impromptu team meeting to notify team members of a non-urgent update may not be necessary if they already have a planned meeting for the day after.

Ad hoc meetings can be disruptive — they interrupt workflow and derail productivity. Instead, team members can meet at scheduled times, ensuring that these meetings are timely and organized. 

Unfortunately, unplanned meetings can also trigger symptoms in team members who suffer from mental health issues.

Ultimately, no one likes to hear the dreaded meeting ringtone when they least expect it, so setting a meeting schedule should be standard. 

Benefit #6: Meeting cadences provide consistent updates

Consistent updates are another benefit of meeting cadences.

A set meeting cadence allows team members and leaders to be regularly informed about developments, changes, and issues in the team.

With consistent updates, team leaders gain a clearer picture of the status and progress of projects and tasks. Consistent communication also allows leaders to swiftly address any issues and have more informed decision-making.

The consistency of regular meetings ensures that no critical information slips through the cracks, by providing a steady flow of information.

Benefit #7: Meeting cadences cultivate relationships

Meeting cadences also benefit the interpersonal relationships between team members.

The regular interactions create a space for team members to connect on both a professional and personal level. Over time, these interactions build rapport, trust, and a deeper understanding of each other.

As team members become more comfortable sharing ideas and concerns, their relationships strengthen.

Meeting cadences offer a structured opportunity for team-building, enabling teams to not only work well together but also foster a positive work environment based on interpersonal connections.

Meetings can involve messages or quick video \ audio calls — try Pumble, for better team communication.

Pumble helps you find the right meeting rhythm for your team 

If you’re trying to build a productive team of effective communicators, then establishing a meeting cadence should be at the top of your to-do list. 

A consistent schedule empowers teams to function more effectively — as do the right tools.

With Pumble, you’ll be able to set the perfect meeting cadence, share it with your team ,and watch as it helps your team members:

• Focus more on their goals,
• Achieve goals faster,
• Track progress, and
• Collaborate better.

With features like dedicated channels where you can share every meeting cadence and video conferencing that allows you to include your entire team in the meetings, you’ll quickly see the effects Pumble can have on your team’s productivity. So don’t wait — try Pumble for free today!  

Milica Vucicevic is a communication author and researcher at Pumble, focused on team communication in remote work environments. Through her posts, you’ll learn more about professional communication, and tools and techniques for better team communication. As a remote worker herself, she relies on her experience when writing, and implements her findings in her own professional life. When she’s not writing blog posts, you can find her enjoying the great outdoors, replenishing her energy for her next quest for knowledge.

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What is a Team Cadence Meeting?

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You can find an introduction to Team Cadence Meetings in Chapter 17 of Where the Action Is . These resources will help you plan, run, and troubleshoot the specific Team Cadence Meetings your team needs.

Team Cadence Meetings are used to keep teams aligned towards a common goal, to keep everyone informed, and to ensure work momentum.

Questions Answered

• Since our last team meeting: What’s been done?
• What still needs doing? What’s changed?
• What do we need to focus on next?
• The Weekly Team Meeting
• The Daily Huddle
• The Shift-Change Meeting
• A Regular Committee Meeting
• A Working Session
• Ensure group cohesion.
• Drive execution.
• Clarify immediate next steps.

Work Outcomes

• Clarity about what everyone is doing.
• Help solving anything preventing work completion.
• Information about circumstances affecting the planned work.
• Visibility into significant victories or setbacks.
• Documented decisions and action items.

Human Outcomes

• Increased trust.
• Connection to the group’s shared mission.
• A sense of belonging and of being valued by other team members.
• An appropriate sense of urgency to get work done.

Meeting Agenda Templates and Guides

Glossary of meeting terms, general term, cadence (of team meetings), job embeddedness theory, standing meeting, one phrase close, silent meetings, stand-up meeting, virtual icebreaker, weather report, write, read, discuss.

How to set the right status meeting cadence—without overwhelming your team

Discover 6 factors to consider when setting status meeting cadence—and how doing more outside these meetings makes them more efficient.

Table of Contents

Stretching over 13,000 miles, the Great Wall of China is one of the largest construction projects ever, taking over two millennia to complete. Why? Well, as the name suggests, it’s pretty big. 

One thing’s for sure: it didn’t take two thousand years because people were stuck in endless meetings, talking about work instead of doing it.  

Regular project status meetings help keep your team and project on track, but too many meetings can lead to fatigue and burnout. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing though: Using the right tools and async techniques lets you find a middle ground where you do more outside of meetings, make the ones you do have count, and give your team back more time to make progress. 

Sounds good, right? In this post, we’ll walk you through the factors to bear in mind when setting status meeting cadence. We’ll also outline how Switchboard lets you run more effective meetings—or even cancel them altogether.   

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6 things to consider when setting status meeting cadence  

The frequency of project status meetings depends on the nature and complexity of your project and your team’s needs. Weekly meetings are often the norm as they provide a good balance between staying updated and giving people time to actually get work done. However, the cadence can vary depending on a range of factors. 

Let’s take a look at those now.

1. Your project   

When setting the cadence for status meetings, try to tailor it to the specific needs and characteristics of your project. The frequency can vary from monthly meetings to weekly or even daily depending on factors like the stage and pace of work.  

Here are a few things to think about:

• How complex is the project? 
• What phase is it in?
• Are there any imminent deadlines or high-priority milestones? 
• Are there any major curveballs that require you to pivot? 

“If there's a ton of different moving parts, you probably want to meet more frequently, just so everybody's hearing everything.” Jordan Hirsch , CEO, Lead Trainer & Coach, FishTree .

How often you need to meet can also vary throughout the project lifecycle. For example, during critical phases like kick-off, you may need more frequent meetings to address urgent issues and proactively deal with bumps in the road until you’re off to a smooth start.   

Later, as the project transitions to business-as-usual and the need for intensive coordination reduces, meetings can be less frequent. Now, the project manager is more focused on maintaining momentum and addressing any emerging issues, so a bi-weekly or even monthly meeting may be enough. 

Ultimately, the cadence should be designed to let you run more effective status meetings , ensuring effective communication, collaboration, and decision-making throughout the project without overwhelming the team with too-frequent meetings.

2. Your team 

When determining status meeting cadence, your team’s size, needs, and dynamics are also important. 

It can be easier to stay aligned and get visibility on what everyone’s doing on a small team that works closely together. That means shorter, less frequent meetings can be effective. For larger teams, you might need longer meetings to cover everyone’s agenda items. If so, you may want to limit meeting frequency to avoid overwhelming people (more on this later). 

Either way, remember that not every team member needs to be present every time: If you’re regularly holding meetings that aren’t relevant to everyone, try splitting into smaller groups for more targeted, productive discussions. Also, only invite those people who are directly involved in or affected by agenda items. This lets you run better project meetings as it helps keep real time discussions relevant and your whole team engaged. 

You should also be mindful of your team’s workload and the project phase . “If people are really stressed about hitting a deadline,” says Hirsch, “then even though you need that status update, maybe it has to wait a day, or a few days, for people to get through their work. Otherwise, they're not going to really be present at your meeting. They're going to be thinking about the clock ticking, how this is time out of their workday, how they need to do other things.” 

Your team’s location can also influence meeting frequency: Remote teams may welcome more frequent check-ins than in-person ones that have other opportunities to build connections. Remember, though, that frequent meetings can be disruptive and challenging to coordinate when people are spread out across time zones. Again, it’s a matter of finding the right balance.

Hirsch also highlights how trust can reduce the need for constant communication: “At the beginning of a new team, trust is lower. Maybe because people don’t know each other yet. Then, you need more frequent communication. Once trust is established, you need less. Over time, it's been shown that high trust teams communicate less frequently because they trust that others are doing their thing. They don't need that input quite so often, so meeting cadence can decrease as the project goes on." Of course, this assumes that you’ve created the right conditions for effective cross-functional collaboration . 

3. Your meeting goals 

Next, ask yourself why you’re meeting and what you need to achieve . Once you know that, you can assess what content you need to cover and who needs to be involved. The answers to these questions will help you determine the meeting length and, therefore, the frequency. 

Create a project status meeting agenda with items prioritized by order of importance. Are you tackling a complex project with constant changes that require regular brainstorming? Or are you primarily focused on tracking and reviewing task progress? Understanding why you’re meeting will help you determine whether more or less frequent meetings are warranted. Or if you even need a meeting at all, which we’ll get into later. 

‍ Once you’ve run a few meetings, reflect on whether you’re achieving your goals. Do you struggle to get through everything because there’s not enough time? Are you leaving crucial agenda items unaddressed? If so, you may need to meet more frequently. If, however, you’re struggling to fill the agenda, you can probably scale back.

4. Meeting duration 

When it comes to regular meetings, you need to find the balance between duration and frequency. 

There’s no hard-and-fast rule, but the longer your meetings, the more spaced out they should be . By contrast, if meetings are short and sweet, you can probably get away with holding them more frequently. Witness the daily standup, which is usually 15 minutes long.

You need to get this right as frequent long drawn-out meetings can drain people’s energy and eat into time for actual work, which affects productivity and progress. If you’re scheduling 1+ hour meetings every week, ask yourself whether it’s really the best use of your team’s time. Could you share information beforehand and make the meeting more concise? If you really do need that time to get through everything, consider taking it to a bi-weekly meeting instead. 

As mentioned, drafting an agenda will help you determine the duration and, therefore, frequency. Try to assess the time required for each item and timebox each one so you stay on track. If you’re meeting in Switchboard, you can use the meeting timer to ensure people stick to their allotted time for contributions.

5. Can you do more outside the meeting?   

The more you do before and after the meeting, the shorter and more focused you can make it. Reading off tasks on a spreadsheet or using the time to gather statuses are two reasons status meetings become a waste of time . Instead, they should be dedicated to collaborative problem solving and topics you need the whole team to weigh in on. 

Share agendas, materials, and statuses async before the meeting so people can get up to speed and prepare. That way, they’ll come ready to work when the meeting starts. This means you can use valuable time for discussion rather than updating people. 

Hirsch recommends evaluating alternative means of communication : If you’re already covering 90 percent of the meeting topics in your project management tool or messaging app, maybe you don’t need to meet as often. Of course, you should establish feedback loops so any urgent issues that arise between meetings or scheduled updates don’t slip through the cracks. 

A Switchboard room can be used in place of a meeting. Start by creating a Google Doc or pulling up your project management app in your project room. Everyone commits to adding and reading updates and materials shared in the room by a certain deadline, so you don’t need to do it in the meeting. If anyone needs to discuss something, they can start a comment thread on any item in the room and tag teammates to respond. If discussions get complex, just hop into a call in the room to straighten things out instead of going back and forth in endless threads.

Pro tip: Establish internal communication guidelines for asynchronous communication and working and share them in your Switchboard room so everyone can always find them and refer back.

6. Experiment and get feedback 

Status meeting cadence isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it thing. While consistency in meeting schedules is beneficial for planning and getting your team into a familiar routine, you shouldn’t be afraid to experiment with different meeting cadences. Start by setting up what you believe your client, team, and project need. Then, if it’s not working after a few weeks, switch it out. 

Get regular input from your team to assess how useful the meeting is and whether the cadence is appropriate. Do they lack visibility on key items or would they prefer more time for focus work? As the team leader and facilitator, the final decision is in your hands. However, being transparent and communicating openly helps build trust and shows you have their back. Let them know in advance about any planned adjustments to the format or cadence, and that it’ll be up for discussion after a trial period. 

During meetings, read the room to see how engaged team members are . If people are mentally checked out or the meeting isn’t yielding action items, consider reducing the cadence. The goal of these meetings is to benefit your project, team, clients, and company. If you’re not achieving that, it’s time to change things up. 

Status meeting cadence: Pick the right one for your project and team 

Setting the right cadence for your status meetings is a delicate balancing act: You need to keep your direct reports informed and the project on track without taking people away from their work.  

To choose a meeting cadence, think about factors like meeting goals and duration, project complexity and stage, and team dynamics and needs. Do people work well together with little oversight or do you need more frequent check-ins? Sometimes, the smartest decision is to set them free to get work done. Whatever you choose, get feedback and play around with the frequency till you get it right. 

When you meet in Switchboard, you get dedicated project rooms that save your work . This lets you share materials and statuses outside the meeting so you can save valuable time for group discussions, brainstorming, and strategizing. When you do need to meet, everything is already organized in the room, so you can work side by side on anything without sharing screens or waiting for your turn to contribute.

Move faster with fewer meetings. ‍ Switchboard saves your work and makes everything multiplayer, so you can do more in–and in between–meetings.  Sign up free

Frequently asked questions about status meeting cadence 

What is meeting cadence .

Meeting cadence is how often you hold a meeting. For example, daily standup meetings are short and, as the name suggests, daily meetings. Project status update meetings tend to be longer and have a weekly meeting cadence, though this meeting rhythm may vary. Large, whole-company meetings like all-hands meetings tend to have a monthly cadence, while business reviews, board meetings, or strategic planning may be a quarterly meeting. 

How do you determine meeting cadence? 

You can determine the right meeting cadence based on the needs of your project, client, and team. If you’re running a complex project that’s in a critical phase, you may need to meet more frequently to keep everyone aligned and spot roadblocks. If, however, too frequent meetings are preventing your team from making progress, consider reducing them. Factors like meeting duration also affect cadence: short, snappy meetings can be held more often. Longer ones should be more spaced out to avoid overwhelming people. 

How often should status meetings be held for effective team communication? 

How often you hold status meetings will depend on the complexity and phase of your project and your team’s size, needs, and dynamics. Well-established teams and projects that are running smoothly are likely to need fewer recurring meetings, maybe bi-weekly or monthly. Others may benefit from the standard weekly team meeting cadence. 

Either way, try to communicate async as much as possible. For example, by sharing updates and materials in your Switchboard project room. This lets you save team meetings for topics the whole group needs to weigh in on rather than boring status updates. 

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Cadence Meeting

This guide will walk you through the essential elements of use cadence meeting to keep your attendees aligned and engaged.

Cadence meetings are a powerful tool for organizations to establish a rhythm of communication, alignment, and accountability. These regular gatherings, often held weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, provide a structured forum for teams to synchronize efforts, track progress, and drive results. In this comprehensive guide, we'll explore the significance of cadence meetings and how to make them a valuable asset for your organization.

Use Lark Meetings to turn meetings into true collaborative experiences.

What is a cadence meeting?

Understanding cadence meetings.

A cadence meeting is a scheduled, recurring gathering of a team or department within an organization. These meetings serve as a consistent and predictable touchpoint for team members to discuss goals, review key performance metrics, and address challenges. Cadence meetings aim to foster alignment, collaboration, and accountability.

Goals of a cadence meeting

Driving alignment and accountability.

The primary goals of a cadence meeting include:

• Alignment: Ensuring that team members are on the same page regarding goals and priorities.
• Accountability: Holding team members responsible for achieving objectives and addressing impediments.

Who should attend a cadence meeting?

Key participants.

For a successful cadence meeting, consider involving:

• Team Members: Those directly responsible for achieving the team's objectives.
• Team Leads or Managers: To facilitate discussions and ensure alignment.
• Stakeholders (As Needed): Depending on the agenda, stakeholders with a vested interest in certain topics may be invited.

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Topics, agenda, and structure of a cadence meeting

Structuring the meeting.

A well-structured cadence meeting typically includes the following key components:

• Welcome and Opening Remarks: Setting the tone, objectives, and expectations.
• Review of Key Metrics: Discussing key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics.
• Discussion of Priorities: Addressing current goals, projects, and challenges.
• Problem-Solving and Decision-Making: Identifying and resolving obstacles.
• Action Item Assignment: Assigning tasks, responsibilities, and deadlines.
• Progress Updates: Sharing progress on ongoing initiatives.
• Feedback and Open Discussion: Encouraging input and addressing concerns.
• Closing Remarks and Next Steps: Summarizing key takeaways and action items.

How to run a cadence meeting?

Step-by-step guide.

Running a productive cadence meeting involves careful planning and execution. Follow these steps for an effective cadence meeting:

• Preparation: Develop a clear agenda, identify key metrics, and prepare relevant materials.
• Communication: Share the agenda and meeting details with participants in advance.
• Timeliness: Start and end the meeting on time to respect participants' schedules.
• Facilitation: Facilitate discussions to ensure all agenda items are covered effectively.
• Active Participation: Encourage active participation and contributions from all team members.
• Decision-Making: Make decisions collectively and assign action items with clear responsibilities.
• Documentation: Assign a note-taker to document meeting minutes, action items, and key takeaways.
• Follow-Up: Share meeting minutes promptly and track action item progress for accountability.

Elevate Team Productivity with Effective Meeting Minutes Management | Lark Blog

How often should you hold cadence meetings?

Meeting frequency.

The frequency of cadence meetings varies based on the organization's needs and the nature of the work. Common cadence meeting frequencies include:

• Weekly: Suitable for teams requiring frequent alignment and tracking.
• Bi-Weekly: Common for teams with moderate project cycles.
• Monthly: Ideal for teams with longer-term objectives and projects.
• Quarterly: Occasional meetings for larger-scale reviews and planning.

Key differences between cadence meetings and similar meetings

Understanding distinctions.

Cadence meetings have unique characteristics that distinguish them from other types of gatherings:

• Regular Frequency: These meetings occur at predefined intervals, establishing a rhythm of communication.
• Emphasis on Metrics: Cadence meetings often include a review of performance metrics and KPIs.
• Action-Oriented: The focus is on driving action, accountability, and problem-solving.

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Common pitfalls of cadence meetings

Avoiding mistakes.

To ensure the success of cadence meetings, be cautious of these common pitfalls:

• Lack of Agenda: Meetings without a clear agenda can become unfocused and unproductive.
• Lack of Engagement: Failing to engage participants actively can lead to disinterest.
• Ineffective Follow-Up: Neglecting to follow up on action items and decisions can hinder progress.

Factors for a successful virtual cadence meeting

Navigating virtual communication.

In an era of remote work, virtual cadence meetings have become necessary for many organizations. Consider these factors for hosting successful virtual cadence meetings:

• Technology: Utilize reliable video conferencing and collaboration tools to facilitate online meetings.
• Engagement Tools: Incorporate interactive elements to keep remote participants engaged.
• Documentation: Share digital meeting materials and minutes promptly.

Typical takeaways from a cadence meeting

Measuring success.

Successful cadence meetings result in tangible takeaways:

• Alignment: Team members leave with a shared understanding of goals and priorities.
• Accountability: Action items are assigned

with clear responsibilities and deadlines.

• Progress Tracking: A clear view of progress on ongoing initiatives.

Questions to ask in a cadence meeting

Fostering meaningful discussions.

To drive meaningful discussions during a cadence meeting, consider asking these questions:

• **Are we on track to achieve our goals and objectives?
• **What challenges or obstacles are hindering our progress?
• **What decisions need to be made collectively during this meeting?
• **What action items should be assigned, and who will be responsible for them?
• **Is there any feedback or input that team members would like to share?

Tools to enhance cadence meetings

Leveraging collaborative tools.

Consider incorporating collaborative tools to enhance your cadence meetings:

• Scheduling Tools: Use scheduling apps to automate meeting invitations and reminders.
• Virtual Meeting Platforms: Host virtual cadence meetings, allowing remote team members to participate fully.
• Agenda and Collaboration Software: Utilize software for agenda creation, document sharing, and collaborative note-taking.

Let's explore three real-world scenarios of successful cadence meetings in various contexts:

Scenario 1: Sales Team Weekly Cadence Meeting

Brief Content : A sales team conducted a weekly cadence meeting to review sales targets, lead generation, and customer feedback. The meeting facilitated alignment, enabled rapid decision-making, and accelerated sales growth.

Detailed Content : The meeting began with a review of the previous week's sales performance, including revenue generated, leads generated, and customer feedback. The team discussed strategies for reaching monthly targets and identified potential obstacles. Action items were assigned to individual team members, specifying responsibilities and deadlines. The cadence meeting concluded with a sense of purpose and clarity for the upcoming week.

Scenario 2: Project Management Bi-weekly Cadence Meeting

Brief Content : A cross-functional project management team held a bi-weekly cadence meeting to track project progress, address issues, and align on priorities. The cadence meeting improved coordination and accelerated project timelines.

Detailed Content : The meeting opened with a review of the project's status, including milestones achieved and potential roadblocks. Team members provided updates on their respective tasks and areas of responsibility. Discussions centered on resource allocation, problem-solving, and risk mitigation strategies. Action items were assigned, and a shared project timeline was updated. The cadence meeting fostered cross-functional collaboration and ensured that the project remained on track.

Scenario 3: Marketing Department Monthly Cadence Meeting

Brief Content : A marketing department conducted a monthly cadence meeting to review campaign performance, marketing strategies, and budget allocation. The cadence meeting improved transparency and alignment within the team.

Detailed Content : The meeting commenced with a review of the previous month's marketing campaigns, analyzing the effectiveness of each campaign and ROI. The team discussed upcoming campaigns, marketing strategies, and budget allocation for the following month. Key decisions were made regarding campaign priorities and resource allocation. The cadence meeting concluded with a shared understanding of marketing objectives and a well-defined plan for the upcoming month.

Tips for do's and don'ts

Best practices and pitfalls to avoid.

Follow these do's and don'ts to ensure productive and effective cadence meetings:

Faqs for cadence meetings

1. What is a cadence meeting?

• A cadence meeting, also known as a recurring meeting, is a regularly scheduled gathering within an organization that follows a predetermined rhythm, such as daily, weekly, or monthly, to discuss ongoing matters, set priorities, and maintain communication.

2. What is the primary purpose of a cadence meeting?

• The primary purpose of a cadence meeting is to ensure consistent communication, align team members, track progress, and make data-driven decisions based on recurring updates.

3. How do you determine the frequency and duration of cadence meetings?

• The frequency and duration of cadence meetings depend on the team's objectives and the nature of the topics being discussed. They can vary from daily stand-ups that last 15 minutes to weekly planning sessions that may take an hour or more.

4. Are there specific roles or responsibilities associated with cadence meetings?

• In cadence meetings, participants often have assigned roles, such as facilitator, timekeeper, or note-taker, to ensure that the meeting runs smoothly and effectively.

5. How can cadence meetings contribute to team productivity and alignment?

• Cadence meetings help teams stay informed, set priorities, and address challenges promptly, resulting in improved alignment and productivity. They create a rhythm for work and decision-making.

6. What are some common pitfalls to avoid in cadence meetings?

• Common pitfalls include going off-topic, not following the established agenda, and allowing the meeting to become routine without adding value. Effective facilitation and adherence to meeting guidelines are essential.

7. Can cadence meetings be conducted virtually for remote teams?

• Yes, cadence meetings can be conducted virtually, enabling remote team members to participate and ensuring consistent communication, regardless of physical location.

Cadence meetings are a cornerstone of effective teamwork and communication within organizations. By establishing a regular rhythm for discussions, updates, and decision-making, cadence meetings help teams stay on track, align their efforts, and drive productivity. Properly conducted and well-organized cadence meetings can contribute significantly to an organization's success.

A Game Changer for Cadence Meeting: Empower your team with Lark Meetings

In the fast-paced and dynamic world of modern business, effective communication and collaboration are crucial for success of Cadence Meeting. Here we introduce Lark Meetings to serve as a centralized hub for all communication needs.

Transform your meetings into collaborative endeavors

Leverage the potency of in-call document sharing, intelligent meeting minutes, and mobile-optimized features to enhance productivity collaboratively, irrespective of your location or schedule.

Seamlessly collaborate in real-time, across any device

Share live documents instead of just screen views. Participants can navigate and edit simultaneously within the video call window, even while on the move.

Shift your focus to engagement, not note-taking

Lark Minutes automatically converts video meetings into transcripts, facilitating easy viewing, searching, and collaborative editing. Stay in the loop asynchronously, even if you can't attend the live meeting. Lark Minutes for meeting minutes support translation into 10+ different languages.

Break language barriers in communication

Lark Meetings provide real-time translation for subtitles, allowing individuals from diverse backgrounds to express themselves in their native languages. Ensure every voice is heard, regardless of geographical location. Live subtitles currently support translations from English, Chinese, and Japanese to 10+ different languages. See more translation feature in Lark.

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2024 Stockholder Meeting

Notice of 2024 annual meeting of stockholders.

Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2024

Time: 11:00 a.m. (Central Time)

Virtual Meeting Website: www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/CBRE2024

Record Date: March 28, 2024

Your Vote Matters – How to Vote:

Visit www.proxyvote.com . You will need the 16-digit number included in your proxy card, voter instruction form or notice.

Call 1-800-690-6903 or the number on your voter instruction form. You will need the 16-digit number included in your proxy card, voter instruction form or notice.

Send your completed and signed proxy card or voter instruction form to the address on your proxy card or voter instruction form.

Via webcast During the Annual Meeting

Visit www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/CBRE2024 . You will need the 16-digit number included in your proxy card, voter instruction form or notice. Online access begins at 10:45 a.m. (Central Time).

• Elect the 11 Board-nominated directors named in the Proxy Statement;
• Ratify the appointment of KPMG LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024;
• Conduct an advisory vote on named executive officer compensation for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023; and
• Transact any other business properly introduced at the Annual Meeting.

Your vote is important, and you are encouraged to vote promptly whether or not you plan to virtually attend the 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

We hope that you can attend the Annual Meeting. Regardless of whether you will attend via our live webcast, please complete and return your proxy so that your shares can be voted at the Annual Meeting in accordance with your instructions.

Important Notice Regarding the Availability of Proxy Materials for the 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on Wednesday, May 22, 2024:

Our Proxy Statement and 2023 Annual Report are available free of charge on our website or www.proxyvote.com .

We believe that this allows us to provide you with the information that you need while lowering the costs of delivery and reducing the environmental impact of the Annual Meeting.

Annual Meeting Materials

2024 Proxy Statement

2023 Annual Report

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