If your team is remote, you already know what a pain meetings can be. Half the time is spent just figuring out what you’re supposed to talk about. That’s where automated meeting agendas come in—they keep everyone on the same page (literally) and cut down on the wasted back-and-forth. If you’re using Letsdive to run your meetings, the good news is you can automate a lot of that agenda busywork. The bad news: it takes a little setup, and not every feature is as magical as the marketing says. Here’s how to get it running without losing your mind.
Why bother with automated agendas?
Let’s be real—most people hate meetings because they’re messy, meandering, and too long. Automated agendas won’t fix every problem, but here’s what they actually help with:
- Consistency: Every meeting starts with a real plan instead of “So, what’s up?”
- Accountability: It’s clear who owns which topics or follow-ups.
- Time-saving: No more scrambling to find last week’s notes or copying the same template over and over.
Of course, automation isn’t going to magically make your team care about meetings. But it does handle some of the grunt work so you can focus on the conversation.
Step 1: Get your team into Letsdive
Before you start setting up anything, make sure your team is actually using Letsdive. If half the group still lives in email or Slack, automated agendas won’t help.
What you need: - Everyone signed up and invited to your workspace. - Basic permissions sorted out (who can create meetings, who can edit agendas).
Pro tip: Don’t try to force Letsdive on a team that’s never used it—run a pilot with a smaller group first. You’ll catch mistakes before things get messy.
Step 2: Set up your recurring meetings the right way
Automated agendas work best with recurring meetings (think weekly standups, team check-ins, 1:1s). Here’s how to set those up in Letsdive:
- Create a New Meeting Series
- Go to the Meetings tab.
- Click “New Meeting” and pick “Recurring.”
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Set the cadence (weekly, biweekly, whatever fits).
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Add Your Team
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Add everyone who should be in the loop. Don’t invite your entire company unless you like chaos.
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Pick a Template (or build your own)
- Letsdive offers basic templates (standup, retro, 1:1). They’re fine, but generic.
- If your team always discusses the same stuff, make a custom template with your usual sections—updates, blockers, wins, random questions.
What works: Recurring meetings keep things predictable. Templates save you from reinventing the wheel.
What doesn’t: Don’t expect the default templates to fit your process exactly. They’re decent starting points, not magic.
Step 3: Automate agenda generation
Here’s where the automation actually comes in. Letsdive lets you set up agendas that automatically populate for each meeting, so you’re not copying and pasting every week.
- Configure the Agenda Template
- Click into your meeting series and open the “Agenda” tab.
- Add the sections you need (e.g., Announcements, Team Updates, Discussion Topics, Action Items).
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For each section, you can set prompts, assign default owners, or leave it open for anyone to add items.
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Enable Agenda Automation
- Find the automation or “auto-generate agenda” setting (usually a toggle or checkbox—if you can’t find it, look for “auto-add topics”).
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Decide if you want recurring topics (show up every week) or rolling topics (carry over unfinished items).
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Integrate with Other Tools (optional)
- Letsdive can pull in tasks from tools like Jira, Asana, or Trello. This is handy if your meetings often revolve around these.
- Set up integrations under Settings > Integrations.
- Be picky—don’t connect everything unless you want a cluttered agenda.
Honest take: Automation handles the basics, but you’ll still need to tweak things. Expect to spend a few minutes each week double-checking the agenda before the meeting.
Step 4: Let your team add their own topics (without chaos)
Even with automation, meetings get better when everyone can add their own agenda items. The trick is making it easy—but not a free-for-all.
- Open Agenda for Contributions
- Enable the setting that lets participants add topics before the meeting.
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Set a deadline (e.g., 24 hours before) so you’re not surprised mid-call.
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Encourage Use—but Set Ground Rules
- Tell your team what kinds of items belong on the agenda.
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Ask them to add context, not just “Discuss project.”
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Review and Prioritize
- Before the meeting, go through the agenda and group similar topics.
- Mark anything that can be handled offline.
What works: Shared agendas mean fewer “any other business?” moments.
What doesn’t: If no one adds topics, you still end up with a useless meeting. Remind folks until it becomes habit.
Step 5: Use automations for reminders and follow-ups
Automated agendas are great, but they don’t help much if no one remembers to look at them. Letsdive tries to help with built-in reminders.
- Send Pre-Meeting Reminders
- Enable automatic reminders (via email, Slack, or both). You can set these to go out a day or an hour before.
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Reminders should include a link to the agenda.
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Automatic Action Items
- Letsdive can automatically turn agenda items into action items during or after the meeting.
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Assign owners and deadlines right in the app.
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Follow-up Emails
- Set Letsdive to send a summary email with notes and action items after the meeting.
- Make sure these don’t end up in spam or ignored—if they do, tweak your process.
Pro tip: Don’t overdo notifications. Too many pings and people start ignoring them. Aim for just enough to keep things moving.
Step 6: Actually run your meetings from the agenda
This sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many teams set up automated agendas and then ignore them. Here’s how to get value from the system:
- Screen-share the agenda during the meeting.
- Stick to the timeboxes. If a topic isn’t finished, roll it to next time.
- Take notes right in Letsdive. No more lost docs or mystery action items.
- Review action items before closing. Assign owners while everyone’s still paying attention.
What works: Having everything in one place means less confusion and better follow-through.
What doesn’t: If you let the meeting drift, no tool will fix that. Be ruthless about staying on track.
What to skip (or watch out for)
Letsdive has a lot of features—some useful, some just noise. Here’s what you can ignore (at least to start):
- Over-complicated integrations: You don’t need every tool connected. Start with one or two, see what actually helps.
- Gamification features: Some teams love badges and streaks. Most grownups roll their eyes.
- Too many templates: More choice isn’t always better. Pick one and refine it over time.
If something feels like extra work, it probably is. Focus on the basics until they’re working smoothly.
Keep it simple, tweak as you go
Automated meeting agendas in Letsdive are a means to an end, not the goal itself. Don’t get sucked into endless tweaking or fancy features. Start small: set up a recurring meeting, build a basic template, get your team in the habit, and adjust as you learn what works for your group.
Meetings won’t ever be perfect, but they can be less painful—and that’s a win.