According to the Flowtrace’s State of Meetings report, most executives spend 16 full workdays per year sitting in meetings.
However, around 67% of these meetings are unproductive, and nearly 92% of professionals admit to multitasking during them.
If you’re a C-suite leader looking for better ways to manage your calendar and make every meeting count, the answer isn’t better meeting software. It’s finding an executive assistant who actually knows how to streamline meeting prep, agendas, and follow-ups.
Great EAs schedule your meetings and make sure each one earns its spot on your calendar.
TL;DR – How Can an EA Streamline Meeting Prep, Agendas, and Follow-ups?
When a skilled EA takes control of your meetings, you get back hours every week.
Before:
- Your EA screens requests and says no to meetings that should be emails
- They build agendas that focus on specific decisions you need to make
- Only invite people who actually need to be there
- Send materials three days early so everyone shows up prepared
During:
- Your EA captures what got decided and who’s doing what
- They track deadlines so you don’t have to
- Filter out the noise and focus on what matters
After:
- You get clean summaries within two hours while it’s still fresh
- Your EA follows up before deadlines, so work stays on track
- They connect what happened in Monday’s meeting to what you need for Friday
Instead of wasting time in unproductive meetings, you walk away with clear action and real progress.
Want this level of support without the overhead of a full-time hire? ProAssisting provides experienced executive assistants who handle your entire meeting lifecycle and more.
Their ProAssistants respond within an hour during business hours and are available after-hours when the unexpected happens. See how ProAssisting can help.
Why Most Meetings Fail Before They Even Start
The numbers tell a brutal story.
As per the same Flowtrace report mentioned in the beginning, only 37% of workplace meetings use an agenda. The average employee spends 392 hours per year in meetings.
But the real problem starts before anyone joins the call.
When executives schedule their own meetings, they’re juggling six things at once. They send a calendar invite without context.
They forget to attach the deck (maybe the deck isn’t prepared yet). Half the attendees don’t need to be there, and the other half who should be there are missing. Nobody knows what decisions need to be made.
Then everyone shows up confused, the meeting goes long, and nothing gets resolved.
One experienced developer on a Reddit discussion about meeting waste put it bluntly:
- “Most meetings end up being frustrating, scattered, or downright useless because they’re poorly run. Running effective meetings seems like a lost art these days. They usually involve too many people, start late, lack structure or purpose.“
Another executive, u/Healthy-Bonus-6755, added that:
- “80% of meeting time is taken up by people who just talk endlessly and can’t stay on topic. If a meeting does not have a defined goal with a good mediator, then it’s worthless.”
Great executive assistants can serve as mediators. They fix this by treating meeting prep like project management. They start with the end goal and work backward.
- What decision needs to be made?
- Who needs to be in the room to make it?
- What information do those people need beforehand?
A high-level EA doesn’t wait for you to tell them all this. They know your priorities well enough to figure it out themselves, ask clarifying questions once, and handle the rest.
What Good Meeting Support Looks Like
Most people think meeting support means sending calendar invites. Real meeting support happens in three phases: before, during, and after.
Before the Meeting
A top EA acts as your gatekeeper and strategist.
They screen meeting requests and decline the ones that could be an email.
For meetings that matter, they build agendas with specific outcomes, invite only decision-makers, and send background materials three days ahead.
As discussed in “The 29-Hour Work Day,” effective EAs learn your preparation patterns and get ahead of them.
For a board meeting, an executive might tell their EA: “I’ve got to have a prep meeting with my direct reports to get all their KPI data before this date. I always get the KPI data a week and a half before the board meeting.”
Once an EA knows this rhythm, they automatically coordinate prep meetings and data collection without being asked.
During the Meeting
Your EA captures the decisions and who’s doing what. Not every word that gets said. Just what got decided, who owns the next step, and when it’s due.
For your internal meetings, your EA joins to take notes and track commitments. For external meetings with clients or investors, they stay available if you need them, but don’t interrupt the conversation.
After the Meeting
Speed matters here.
A Zoom-commissioned Morning Consult survey shows that 54% of employees want post-meeting summaries and action items, but only 39% get them.
A strong EA sends meeting notes within two hours with clear action items, owners, and deadlines.
This follow-through separates an average executive administrative support from a true partnership. When your EA owns the full meeting lifecycle, nothing falls through the cracks.
It’s why performance reviews for executive assistants should measure meeting management as a core competency.
How High-Level EAs Streamline Meetings Start to Finish
The best executive assistants treat every meeting like a mini-project.
Here’s how:
They Protect Your Time Ruthlessly
Before any meeting lands on your calendar, your EA asks:
- Does this need to be a meeting?
- Could this be handled via email instead?
Research shows 55% of remote employees think most meetings could have been an email. Your EA should be the filter.
For meetings that do happen, they limit attendance.
We’ve seen that meetings with eight or more people are ineffective. Your EA should push back when someone tries to invite the entire department.
They Create Reusable Frameworks
Smart EAs build templates for recurring meetings: staff meetings, board meetings, client check-ins.
These templates include standard agenda structures, recurring attendee lists, and document templates for pre-reads and follow-ups.
For example, a quarterly board meeting might have a checklist that runs from four weeks out to the day of the meeting, covering everything from gathering KPI data to coordinating with other assistants to booking the conference room.
Once this framework exists, the EA just works through it each quarter without reinventing the wheel. This systematic approach is part of how top EAs set and achieve goals that directly impact executive productivity.
They Manage the Invisible Work
Your EA handles:
- Scheduling across time zones
- Finding conference rooms
- Setting up video links that work
- Coordinating with other assistants
- Rescheduling when conflicts arise
- Sending reminders
This invisible work takes hours every week. When your EA owns it, you get that time back.
They Prep You Without Over-Prepping You
The goal is to give you exactly what you need, when you need it.
For a 30-minute meeting, that’s a five-bullet email an hour beforehand.
For a board meeting, it’s a detailed brief the night before. Great EAs learn your style through repetition.
How EAs Turn Meetings into Action Items
A meeting without follow-through wastes everyone’s time. This is where great EAs deliver massive value:
- They Own the Action Item Tracker: During the meeting, your EA captures every commitment made. Then they turn those notes into a clean action item list: what needs to happen, who owns it, and when it’s due. That list goes out within two hours.
- They Follow Up Before Things Slip: A great EA doesn’t wait until the deadline. They follow up a few days before to make sure work is on track. If someone’s running behind, your EA finds out early and either helps them get unstuck or brings it to your attention.
- They Connect the Dots Between Meetings: If the sales forecast impacts the budget conversation, they make sure you have those numbers before Friday’s meeting. If a decision from Monday affects Wednesday’s discussion, they add it to the agenda. This connecting work makes you look like you have perfect recall.
The technique varies by EA, but the goal stays the same.
In a Reddit discussion about taking meeting minutes, u/lmcdbc shared their approach:
- “I just type notes like a maniac. I don’t worry about typos or anything – I just capture as much as I can. I will type something all in capital letters if I have a question about the content.“
Another EA, u/mdouk, shares:
- “What helped was switching from verbatim notes to a strict structure: decisions, action items, due dates, and risks only. Everything else I let go.”
This takes experience and practice, but it keeps your meetings productive by cutting out the noise and only capturing what you can actually act on.
How to Collaborate with Your EA to Improve Meeting ROI
Even the best EA needs the right information and authority to succeed.
That’s why you should:
- Share Your Priorities Openly: Your EA needs to know what you’re trying to accomplish. When they understand your goals, they make better judgment calls about which meetings matter. This is especially important for managing a CEO’s schedule effectively.
- Give Them Decision-Making Authority: Your EA should be able to say no to 80% of meeting requests without asking you first. Start small and let them make minor decisions. As they prove themselves, give them more authority over your calendar.
- Provide Feedback Consistently: If your EA schedules a meeting that shouldn’t have happened, tell them why. If they nailed the prep, let them know what worked. This real-time feedback helps them learn faster than any onboarding document.
- Include Them in Your Thought Process: When you’re deciding which projects to prioritize, loop your EA in on your reasoning. If you tell your EA you’re trying to land three specific clients this quarter, they’ll prioritize meetings with those companies. Without that context, they’re just managing a calendar.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Here are some commonly asked questions regarding EAs and meetings:
Can an EA Lead the Entire Meeting Prep Process?
Yes, and they should. A skilled EA handles everything from initial scheduling to post-meeting follow-up.
They’ll check in with you on key decisions, but they own the execution.
Is There a Standard Template for EA-Led Meeting Notes?
There’s no universal template, but the best meeting notes share common elements: meeting date and attendees, key decisions made, and clear action items with owners and deadlines.
Your EA should adapt the format to what works for your team. Consistency matters more than format.
How Detailed Should Meeting Prep Be for a C‑Level Executive?
It depends on the meeting. For a routine staff meeting, a simple agenda might be enough.
For a board meeting, you’ll want detailed prep, including background on attendees and key data points. Start with more detail and let your EA dial it back based on your feedback.
What’s the Best Way to Share Meeting Summaries With a Team?
Email works for most teams, but action items should be impossible to miss. Many EAs use a template with action items at the top, followed by decisions and notes.
For recurring meetings, some teams prefer a shared document where notes accumulate over time. Your EA can help determine what works best.
Conclusion
The best meeting support doesn’t come from better software. It comes from partnering with someone who treats your time like the asset it is.
ProAssisting pairs you with US-based executive assistants who have 5+ years supporting C-suite leaders at companies like J.Crew, Fidelity, and Oracle.
They handle everything from meeting prep to follow-through for 50-80% less than hiring in-house. Plans start at $3,300 monthly with no long-term commitment, no equipment costs, and no benefits to manage.
The ProAssistants are proactive, capable, and versatile. They reduce your workload from day one while building a legacy of knowledge about your business.
Schedule a free consultation to see if ProAssisting is right for you.
