How to Use Ninety's Meetings Tool

The Meetings Component® is one of the Six Key Components® of EOS® (Entrepreneurial Operating System®). Mastering it means holding intentional, structured meetings on a consistent schedule so your teams stay aligned, solve Issues quickly, and drive accountability every week. Ninety's Meetings tool is built around that principle, giving every team in your organization a single place to run any meeting: from a weekly Level 10 Meeting® to a two-day annual planning session.

What is the Meetings tool?

The Meetings tool powers every team meeting in your Ninety account. It provides pre-built agendas for each stage of the EOS process, a live agenda timer, real-time collaboration during meetings, automatic recap emails after each session, and a searchable history of every meeting your teams have held.

All your other Ninety tools — Rocks (your 90-day priorities), the Scorecard, the Issues list, To-Dos, and Headlines — connect directly to your meeting agendas. When you open a meeting, the data your team has been entering all week is already there.

Meetings in Ninety are tied to teams. A team member must be assigned to a team to access or join that team's meetings. The only exception is Owners, Admins, and Implementers/Coaches, who can view all non-private teams in the account without being assigned as members.

The Meetings Component in EOS®

EOS describes the Meetings Component as one of the hardest components for companies to master, and one of the most valuable once they do. The foundation is the Meeting Pulse®: a consistent rhythm of well-run meetings at every level of the organization.

For most teams, the cornerstone of that pulse is the Level 10 Meeting®, a 90-minute weekly meeting that follows a fixed agenda. The name comes from the goal: meetings run so effectively that every attendee would rate them a 10 out of 10. Gino Wickman identifies five keys to a strong Meeting Pulse: 

• Meet on the same day.
• At the same time.
• Using the same agenda.
• Starting on time.
• Ending on time.
   

The Level 10 Meeting is designed first for leadership teams, but any team at any level of the organization can run one. Department-level teams typically shorten their sessions to 60 minutes. 

Meeting types in Ninety

Ninety includes pre-built agendas for every major meeting in the EOS process. You don't need to build these from scratch; they're available in your account from day one.

Level 10 Meeting (weekly). The standard 90-minute weekly meeting for leadership and department teams. It follows the same seven-part agenda every week: Segue, Scorecard, Rock Review, Customer/Employee Headlines, To-Do List Review, IDS® (Identify, Discuss, and Solve), and Conclude.

Quarterly Session. A half-day or full-day session held at the end of each quarter to review prior performance, reset Rocks for the coming 90 days, and resolve key Issues. Available on Accelerate and Thrive plans.

Annual Planning Session. A two-day session held once per year to review the prior year, recalibrate your V/TO® (Vision/Traction Organizer®), set Rocks for the next quarter, and address the Issues standing in the way of your long-term vision. Available on Accelerate and Thrive plans.

Focus Day®. The first major session in the EOS Process® is designed to equip your leadership team with foundational tools and kick off a strong meeting pulse.

Vision Building® Days. Two sessions are held 30 days apart after your Focus Day. These sessions are used to complete the first iteration of your V/TO and align your leadership team on vision before entering the 90-Day World®.

Custom agendas. In addition to the default EOS session agendas, Owners, Admins, and Implementers can create custom agendas for any meeting type your organization runs. Including Same Page Meetings®, State of the Company meetings, departmental check-ins, or Tiger Team sessions. Teams on the Accelerate or Thrive plan can build agendas from scratch; teams on the Essentials plan can customize their weekly Level 10 Meeting agenda.

How the Meetings tool connects to other tools

Each section of the default Level 10 Meeting agenda pulls live data from a Ninety tool. Here's how they connect.

Scorecard. The Scorecard Review section of the Level 10 Meeting displays your team's weekly Measurables. Any metric that falls off track during review is added to the Issues list for discussion during IDS.

Rocks. The Rock Review section shows the status of each team member's quarterly Rocks. Off-track Rocks are flagged as Issues rather than discussed immediately, keeping the early sections of the meeting moving.

Issues/IDS. The Issues list feeds the 60-minute IDS block, the most important section of the Level 10 Meeting. Team members vote on and prioritize Issues before the IDS section begins, then work through them in order of priority. 

To-Dos. The To-Do List Review section shows all open To-Dos for the team. To-Dos created during the meeting are automatically saved with the recap.

Headlines. The Customer/Employee Headlines section displays any Headlines posted by team members during the week. Cascaded Messages from other teams also appear here.

My 90. Team members can review their personal Rocks, To-Dos, Issues, and Scorecard Measurables from My 90 before and after meetings.

Preparing for your meeting

Meetings run better when the data is up to date before the first agenda item. Here's what each team member should do before a meeting starts.

• Update the Scorecard Measurables for the current reporting period to ensure the Scorecard Review reflects accurate data.
• Set Rock statuses to On track, Off track, or Done so the team can quickly see where things stand.
• Mark any To-Dos complete or update their status or due date.
• Add Issues throughout the week as they come up rather than waiting for the meeting; the Issues list is the right place to capture anything that needs discussion, a decision, or a solution.
• Post any Headlines or announcements before the meeting so they're available during the Headlines section.
   

One person should be designated as the facilitator, who leads the agenda and keeps discussions on track. A separate scribe runs the Ninety software during the meeting: taking notes, creating To-Dos, marking Items complete, and advancing the agenda. Separating these roles keeps the facilitator free to focus on the discussion.

Who can do what

• Team Members (also called Managees) can start a meeting, join meetings, vote on Issues, take notes, create To-Dos, and mark items as complete. They cannot edit meeting agendas.
• Managers can do everything a Team Member can, plus edit and customize meeting agendas for their assigned teams, schedule meetings, and delete scheduled meetings.
• Admins have full access across all teams and tools, including company-wide agenda settings.
• Implementers/Coaches have access similar to Admins and are included in meeting recap emails by default.
• Owners have full access across the entire account, including all private teams, company settings, and billing.
• Observers can join meetings and participate in discussions, including the Segue and Conclude sections. They cannot start a meeting, act as a facilitator, or receive recap emails. The Observer role is free.

For a full breakdown of what each role can do across all tools, see User Roles and Permissions.

What's in the Meetings tool

Getting started

Meetings Tool Basics — Learn how to start and join a meeting, understand meeting ratings, use the meeting notes panel, and access past meeting recaps.

Scheduling Meetings — Set up recurring or one-time meetings for your team, integrate with Google Calendar, Office 365, or Teams, and manage your upcoming meetings list.

Level 10 Meetings®

Level 10 Meetings, Powered by Ninety— A complete guide to running the Level 10 Meeting in Ninety — scheduling, preparing, and conducting each section of the 90-minute agenda.

Running the Segue Section in Your Meeting — Track attendance, customize the segue prompt, and cycle through speakers during the opening Segue section of your Level 10 Meeting.

When to Use the Tangent Button — Give every meeting attendee a respectful way to signal when discussions drift off the agenda without relying on the facilitator alone.

Agendas

Create and Customize Your Meeting Agendas — Edit default agendas, build custom agendas from scratch, add tools and custom sections, adjust timing, and push agendas to all teams in your organization.

EOS session agendas

Preparing for Focus Day® — What to set up in Ninety before your first Focus Day session.

EOS Focus Day®, Powered by Ninety — How to start and run a Focus Day in Ninety, including the pre-built Focus Day agenda and what to accomplish during each section.

Vision Building® Days — Run your two Vision Building Day sessions in Ninety using the pre-built Day 1 and Day 2 agendas to complete the first iteration of your V/TO.

Quarterly Meetings on Ninety — Start a Quarterly Session, prepare your Scorecard and Rocks data in advance, and follow the built-in agenda to review the prior quarter and set the next.

Annual Planning Sessions on Ninety — Run a two-day annual planning session using Ninety's pre-built Day 1 and Day 2 agendas, including SWOT analysis, V/TO review, and Rocks planning.

Meeting features

Meeting Recap Email Notifications — Understand what's included in the automatic recap email, who receives it, and how to opt out of the recap for a specific meeting.

Printing Meeting Agendas — Generate and print a PDF of any of your team's meeting agendas, including current Rock statuses, Scorecard data, and the Issues list.

Frequently asked questions

Does Ninety record audio or video of meetings? Ninety does not record any audio or video. The Meetings tool captures structured meeting data, including Headlines read, Issues solved, To-Dos created, meeting notes, time spent in each agenda section, and meeting ratings. To record the audio or video of your meeting, use an external tool such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Google Meet alongside Ninety. You can share your Ninety screen during the call so the whole team follows along in real time.

Can I invite someone to a specific meeting without adding them to the team? No. Meetings in Ninety are tied to teams, so anyone who needs to join a meeting must be a member of that team. If someone only needs to attend without full access to the team's tools and data, assign them the free Observer role. Observers can join any meeting on their assigned teams, participate in discussions, including the Segue and Conclude sections, but they will not receive recap emails.

Why is my IDS section blank during a meeting? This happens when a custom agenda is missing the Issues Tool Section. Default Level 10 Meeting agendas include Issues automatically, but custom agendas require you to add it manually. To fix it: go to Meetings > Agendas > open your custom agenda > click Add Tool Section > select Issues > click Save Changes. If you're in a live meeting and the section is blank, click View Tool in that section to pull in the session's Issues list.

Who receives the meeting recap email? All paid team members assigned to the team that ran the meeting receive an automatic recap email after the meeting concludes. This includes Owners, Admins, Managers, Team Members, and Implementers/Coaches. Observers do not receive recap emails, even if they attended the meeting. If a team member isn't receiving recaps, confirm they are listed as a member of that team (not just in the company-wide directory) and that their role isn't set to Observer.

Why is the Save button grayed out when I try to schedule a meeting? The most common cause is a missing value in the start time field. The time field requires both hours and minutes to be entered. If the minutes field is blank, the Save button stays inactive. Enter a complete start time, including the minutes, and the button will become available.

Can I use an AI tool to automatically take notes during my meeting? Ninety does not include a built-in AI note-taker that listens to conversations and generates notes automatically. Any team member who has joined the meeting can type notes in the Show Notes panel, making it a collaborative effort rather than relying on a single scribe. If you want AI-generated notes, use an external transcription tool alongside your video conferencing software, then paste the transcript into Ninety's meeting notes after the session.

What happens if two people start the same meeting at the same time? Two separate meeting sessions are created, each with its own recap. This can cause ratings and recap emails to be attributed to the wrong team or sent twice. To avoid it, designate one person as the meeting starter before each session begins and have all other participants join using the Join Meeting button instead of Start a Meeting. If a meeting is saved under the wrong team, contact support to have it migrated.

Can I delete default meeting agendas? Default meeting agendas (such as Level 10 Meeting, Quarterly Session, and Annual Session) cannot be deleted. They can be edited to suit your team's needs. If you want to change how a default agenda is named in your account, go to Company Settings > Language and update the term there.

Learn more

Lead World-Class EOS Level 10 Meetings, Powered by Ninety — A practicing EOS Implementer's guide to running effective weekly Level 10 Meetings, including common pitfalls and how to get meeting ratings consistently above eight.

The EOS Quarterly Meeting: How to Operate in a 90-Day World — Why quarterly planning sessions are the backbone of traction and how to prepare your team to make the most of every 90-day cycle.

Annual Planning with EOS: How to Align Your Team for Success — A practitioner's guide to the annual planning session, including how to structure your two days and what to do with the outputs.

Gain Traction with IDS from EOS — A deep dive into the Identify, Discuss, and Solve process and how to make your team's 60-minute IDS block the most productive part of every Level 10 Meeting.