5 meeting invite templates

It seems a typical working day is jumping from one meeting to another. And the global statistics proves that fact. For example, in December 2020, Zoom had over 300 million active daily users (Business of apps), while Google Meet - over 100 million (The Verge), and Microsoft Teams - over 75 million (Windows Central).

Sometimes people are nervous before an important event, feel uncertain, or just not prepared enough. Hence, it’s quite important to turn meetings into a positive experience for each employee, into a necessity, which ensures productiveness, idea and experience sharing, and building working relationships.

A business meeting invitation should encourage people for fruitful collaboration, not instill fear and stress. 

It's beyond question that creating a persuasive meeting invitation requires effort, practice, and time. Let’s look at the reasons why well-prepared meeting invites entail effective communication.

The survey conducted by the Muse shows an average worker attends about 60 meetings per month, where half of the gatherings are a complete waste of time. 

A thorough organization is essential for work effectiveness and reaching goals. A well-prepared invite that includes all the details of the gathering - the date, time, purpose, and meeting agenda - is already half of success. Moreover, when people receive an invitation letter requesting a meeting with straightforward instructions concerning their roles and responsibilities, they come prepared and ready to work on the issue.

If email recipients accept a meeting invite, this means they sign an informal contract. Since then, they are expected to attend the event. 

Set clear expectations, so attendees will not just show up, but also actively engage in the discussion. Detailed instructions for each participant will highlight their importance and significance for the team. This, in turn, will ensure they fulfill the duties.

People all over the world lack real communication. A meeting invitation email means another chance to have a chat with your colleagues, establish good relationships, and keep in touch while working remotely. 

If an invitation is addressed to an employee personally, with their name on top and a couple of words not automatically generated. This will illustrate a personal touch and build rapport and trust between the sender and receiver.

Before creating a perfect meeting invitation, let’s examine some typical errors of this process.

Did you know that 47% of people decide whether to open an email only by reading its subject line? That’s why, you’d better think twice before writing a title of a meeting invitation email. Put an effort into composing a concise subject line - describe the meeting purpose in a couple of words, this would be much more effective than a plain “sync”, which has no bearing with the gathering topic.

Although you may want to include all the meeting details in your letter, most people don’t want to waste another half an hour reading a long invitation description, trying to understand what it’s all about. They are more likely to skip it and choose a shorter one. Therefore make the description concise and understandable. But remember to include the most essential things: the meeting location, date, agenda, purpose, and the host. And don't forget about the difference in time zones!

Most modern business meeting platforms require a personal account and a password to join a meeting. Receiving an invitation letter to a conference will make the participants doubt about accepting it. What is more, there are cases when you and other attendees are worried about data security, then try services like Whoosh or Zoom, which offer the latest web protection tools.

When you receive a meeting invitation, you check to see if you can enter it into the calendar. Yet, it would be rather difficult to do if there is no exact meeting date and time mentioned. Unfortunately, such cases still happen, so make sure you’ve included this important information.

Always leave a chance to ask questions about upcoming event details. Other participants may want to ask for additional information: who will be present, whether they need to be prepared, or anything related to the topic.

A typical meeting invite is short and simple, consisting of about 100 words. However, the creation of good examples needs much practice. We’ve prepared a checklist of all the necessary parts the invite should include.

Other participants should understand what kind of a meeting they are requested to enter. Therefore always create a clear and meeting-specific subject line, such as:

Plan meetings carefully, taking into account the busy hours and different locations of each employee. Along with writing time and date in the meeting invite title, duplicate them in the main body.

As it was mentioned earlier in the article, if other people know the purpose of an event, they’ll be better prepared and know what to expect. A well-set goal means a successfully arranged meeting!

It'll be quite helpful to enumerate the major points of an upcoming event. Knowing this information, the participants may come up with some questions or generate ideas for further discussion.

Add a professional email signature at the end of a meeting invitation (you can prepare an invitation template in advance). Include your full name, position, and a company name/company logo unless you’re sending an email message only to your team members.

Knowing the basic structure and style of a meeting invite, let’s look at some samples of emails for meeting invitations. You can adapt each of them for your personal needs.

Type

Example

Recurring meetings (weekly/daily briefings)

It’s the most common type of meeting, organized using a predictable agenda and being ideal for making an invitation template for future use.

Good morning [name],

Today is the time of our weekly meeting, we’ll be dealing with [this] and [that]. Please, prepare a short summary of the work done during the week.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them. My email: [contact info]

Best regards,

[signature]

One-on-one meetings

Although the format often depends on the attendees and the relationships between them, the scheduling process of such a meeting can be quick, using the following template.

“How do you do, [name]?

I’d like to discuss with you [this] and [that]. 

If you have something to share with me too, prepare some notes. How about quick sync at [time] in [place]?

Kind regards,

[signature]

Webinar/presentation

Being long-lasting events, presentations need a clear agenda to make everyone familiarize with the main points of discussion.

Hello everyone,

[date], [time] our company holds a conference on [topic]. Have a look at our agenda:

If you have any questions, contact me or [name]

See you there!

[signature]

Team get-together

It’s a less formal event, where team members can talk about everything happening in the company.

Hey team!

Good news for all of us - [this] and [that].

Let’s meet at [time] in [place] to discuss everything in detail.

Looking forward to seeing you all!

[signature]

Decision-making meetup

The topic may vary from new software installation to new hires. Try highlighting the question to consider and the possible solutions to choose between.

Good morning [names],

Today we need to make a decision on [topic], please make sure you read [this] and [that], come prepared to negotiate over:

See you soon,

[signature]

Stop copying automatically created invites from Google Calendar! Build your own, personal invitations, which make other people understand their value and importance for you and the whole company. Prepare concise descriptions, include all the necessary details, set a clear agenda and goals. This all will highlight your request and make others accept it without any hesitation!

In case you haven’t got any time on creating your own invite, you may try Whoosh, where a smart personal assistant is at your service. It’s capable of scheduling events, taking into account various information of other attendees, from the working hours to the time zone. Visit our website where you can find our super convenient app!