Meeting & Communications
Best Practices Hub

With 600+ employees across 40+ states, effective communication and coordination are essential to eMoney’s remote-first success. Every message and meeting is an opportunity to collaborate better. With intention, preparation, and respect for each other’s time, we can continue to build a culture that is productive, connected, and people-first.

This hub brings together the best practices, tools, and resources you need to work smarter, stay aligned, and make meetings and communication more meaningful.

Jump to a specific section using the links below.

Tips for Reinforcing Effective Meetings | Meeting Agendas | Preparing for and Scheduling Meetings

Hosting and Attending Meetings | Recording Meetings | Meeting Recaps and Action Items | Resources

Tips for Reinforcing Effective Meetings

We’ve compiled helpful tips and talking points for anyone leading a meeting. You’ll find guidance on setting expectations, modeling effective behaviors (including camera use), keeping people engaged, preparing effectively, and supporting clear communication during and after meetings. It’s designed to help you successfully adopt the habits and best practices highlighted throughout this hub.

>> Download Tips for Reinforcing Effective Meetings

Meeting Agendas

Agendas help make meetings more productive by clarifying the purpose, guiding the discussion, and keeping everyone on track. A clear structure helps teams collaborate better and follow through on decisions.

>> Download this document for tips on building an effective agenda, best practices, and things to avoid.

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Preparing for and Scheduling Meetings

Great meetings start with great preparation. Before scheduling a meeting, ask yourself: “Could this be handled through email, Teams, or a quick update instead?” Allowing people to respond when they have time helps reduce meetings and improves productivity.

>> Creating the agenda

Use the Word template or Microsoft Loop to create your agenda and include objectives, goals, agenda items, and action items.

• Agenda Template (Word)
  • TIP! Share your agenda with “Copy link” from OneDrive and give all attendees edit access to make meeting recaps more collaborative.
    • Click here for instructions on how to share OneDrive files.

>> Identify any pre-read materials

• Share any context, data, or background documents that will help attendees come prepared –  allowing meeting time to focus on discussion, decisions, and next steps.

>> Invite intentionally

• Identify key stakeholders and assign one team proxy to attend if multiple team members are involved.

>> Be time-aware

• Consider time zones and rotate recurring meetings to balance convenience across teams.

>> Choose the right duration and build in breaks

• When scheduling meetings, aim to build in short breaks so everyone has time to reset.
• Try using the 25/50 rule: end 30-minute meetings at 25 minutes and hour-long meetings at 50 minutes. These small buffers help people switch gears, stay focused, and show up more engaged for the next conversation.
  • TIP!: Outlook can automatically shorten your meetings by 5 minutes – which is a proven way to reduce stress.

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Hosting and Attending Meetings

Whether you’re leading or participating, these best practices help keep meetings productive and inclusive.

>> Start on time

• Respect participants’ schedules.

>> Encourage participation

• Pause for questions and check the chat often.

>> Cameras on

• Facetime matters – even virtually. Seeing faces enhances connection, engagement, and communication.

>> Use mute mindfully

• Remember to unmute before you speak (we’ve all been there!) or remain muted if there’s background noise.

Recording Meetings

We know meetings look a little different for everyone and sometimes it’s not always clear when recording is helpful (or when it’s not). To help, PX created a guide that includes some simple, practical guidance to help take the guesswork out of it so we can balance clarity, collaboration, and respect for everyone in the [virtual] room.

>> Download the Recording Internal Meetings Guide

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After the Meeting (Recaps)

Keep momentum going by closing the loop clearly and quickly!

>> Share a brief recap

• The recap should include:
  • Key decisions made
  • Major discussion points
  • Action items and owners
  • Next steps or follow-ups

• TIP! Consider using Microsoft Copilot Chat to save time writing meeting recaps!
  • Upload the meeting transcript or your meeting notes into CoPilot and use a prompt similar to the example below:
    • “Using my meeting notes, please draft a recap email to include key decisions made, major discussion points, action items and owners, and next steps/follow-up”

>> Post or share meeting materials

• Upload recordings, transcripts, and decks in a central, accessible place, when needed.

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Resources

All the resources listed below are linked above in their respective sections but for ease of acceess, we’ve included a list below!

• Tips for Reinforcing Effective Meetings
• Agendas
  • Meeting Agendas Overview
  • Microsoft Word Template
  • Microsoft Loop Agenda Instructions
    • Teams
    • Outlook
• Instructions for Automatically Shortening Meeting Times
• Recording Internal Meetings Guide
• Blue Ocean Brain Resources
  • From Structure to Success: Defining the Meeting 
  • A Guide to Holding Successful Meetings  
  • Video: Three Meeting Hacks to Keep Things Moving 

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