Business

How to Write a Concise and Thorough Meeting Memo?

By Ryan Bradman | August 27, 2022

Table of Contents

The proper event announcement and invitation – from a routine rally with department employees to a conference – influence the success of the gathering. However, writing a concise yet succinct meeting memo that will inspire people to attend is a real art. We prepared essential tips for writing a perfect memo that will draw attention to your event and won’t irritate recipients.

What’s a Meeting Memo?

If you haven’t guessed yet, a memo for the meeting announcement is an invitation and a brief description of an event a recipient is expected to attend. This short letter lets the recipient know who will attend the meeting and what to expect.

Is Meeting Memo That Important?

Of course, a Google Calendar invite will also work, but the effect will be different. A meeting memo signifies that you respect the recipient and want to prepare them for the meeting as much as possible. Moreover, it shows the importance of their presence and contains important information that the recipient needs to grasp the purpose and content of the meeting and not forget the time and place.

The main purposes of writing memo meetings can include

Notifying the invitee of the very fact of the meeting;
Confirmation for the recipient of the fact that they were invited (you won’t get a lame excuse that you haven’t been notified);
Informing the invited person about the place and time of the planned event as well as about the main objectives and format of the meeting.

In a world where time is money, choosing which meeting or event to attend and how to prepare for it makes a huge difference. A proper meeting memo can help you gather more people for an online webinar or conference or give stakeholders a general idea of an upcoming meeting.

Key Components of Meeting Memos

When putting together an event announcement, you should make sure you include the following elements:

The location of the meeting. If the gathering is in an online format, you should notify the recipient of the platform or business app you will be using (Whoosh, Google Meet, Webex) and leave a download link. If it is a physical location, you can link and pin it on the map;
Date and time of the event. Here you should take into account different time zones if it is an international conference or remote employees;
Outline the purpose of the event. You can inform about the purpose of the event in the header of the letter, making it eye-catching;
Give a brief description of the event or a short agenda. The important thing is not to overdo it or make the recipient feel like they’ve already been to the event just by reading the memo;
Designate the role of the invitee. They can be a speaker, a listener, an active participant, etc. If the invitee is a speaker, specify the time of their presentation. This will help them prepare;
If it matters, specify the dress code or the need to bring certain props;
Leave contacts for the organizer so the recipient can contact you if they have any questions;
If the number of attendees at the event plays a major role in the organization, ask the attendee to confirm or decline their participation;
Additional information (seating charts for guests or a list of names of famous speakers, for example).

How to Write a Concise and Thorough Meeting Memo?

When writing a meeting memo, you should pay attention to the structure and formatting, tone of voice of your company, target audience, size, and proofreading.

Structure and Formatting

Forget the canvasses of text that immediately make you want to close the email and not continue reading it. It’s depressing and intimidating. Use subheadings and bullet points, and bold or underline the main points. If this is a mass mailing with an invitation to a conference, you should consider engaging a designer to create an email template that will construct the right design to match your company’s identity.

Tone of Voice

Every company has a voice that speaks to its customers or employees (the HR brand is responsible for this). If you are a young startup that is used to communicating with everyone as best friends, then both the client and the colleague will find a formal meeting memo disturbing. Similarly, using an emoji to invite a multinational corporation’s stakeholders to a meeting will be inappropriate.

Audience

The tone of voice is more about mood and attitude, while your audience can influence the choice of speech patterns and typical words. If you’re a company hosting cryptocurrency conferences, your meeting memo may differ in the terminology used in a letter for newbies and real pros.

Size

Don’t write a novel or even an essay. Your meeting memo should be short but succinct. Use punchlines, don’t go into unnecessary detail, and take care of your recipients — save them time to read the message.

Language

To avoid awkward and ridiculous situations, we recommend proofreading your memo several times before sending it. First, you can correct grammatical, punctuation, and lexical errors. Secondly, it will help you notice typos or edit those fragments that seem inappropriate to you.

Following our simple tips will simplify your life and help make your meetings and conference attendants more engaging.