Writing an event decision-needed summary
Several questions are waiting on your chair or committee, and each one is blocking something different.
The short answer
A decision-needed summary lists every open decision on one page in the same format: the question, the options, a recommendation if you have one, who decides, the date it is needed by and what it blocks if it slips.
Put it at the top of the status report, or send it on its own before a meeting, so decisions are made instead of discussed again.
What makes a decision ready to ask
A decision is ready when the question is specific, the options are written down and someone has authority to choose. If any of those is missing, the next step is to fix that, not to put it on the agenda.
Decisions that depend on facts you do not have yet belong in a separate line: information needed before this can be decided, with an owner.
The fields for each decision
| Field | What to write | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Question | One sentence that can be answered with a choice. | Vague questions get vague answers. |
| Options | Two or three real options with the main trade-off of each. | Shows the decider what they are choosing between. |
| Recommendation | Your preferred option and the reason, or none if unsure. | Saves time, but keep the decider free to choose otherwise. |
| Decider | A named person or committee, not the team. | Stops a decision being everyone's and no one's. |
| Needed by | A date tied to the milestone it affects. | Turns urgency into a fact. |
| If it slips | What is delayed or what extra cost or risk appears. | States consequences without drama. |
| Status | Open, decided, deferred, with the date. | Lets the same list be reused next week. |
How to order the list
- Sort by needed-by date, earliest first.
- Move a decision up if several other tasks wait on it.
- Keep the list short. If more than six decisions are open, ask which can be delegated to a named person with limits.
- Record decided items in the decision log, then remove them from the next summary.
Getting decisions made
- Send the summary two or three working days before the meeting, with any attachments the decider needs.
- Ask for a reply on the easy ones in writing, so meeting time goes to the hard ones.
- At the meeting, take each decision in date order and record the answer and who said it.
- Update the summary the same day and send it to everyone affected.
- If a decision slips past its date, say so in the next leadership summary with the consequence.
Pitfalls
- Listing a topic, such as the venue, instead of a question.
- Giving only one option, which turns the request into an approval stamp.
- Leaving out the consequence, so the decider cannot judge urgency.
- Asking a committee to decide something that needs a specialist answer first, such as a legal or privacy point. Ask the competent party first and present their answer.
Worked example · Fictional example
A fictional seminar organiser's three decisions
Fictional organisation and figures, written to show the level of detail that is useful.
The secretariat of the Persatuan Fiktif Akauntan Komuniti asks its chair to decide three things. First: keep the seminar at one day or extend to a day and a half, needed by the committee meeting because the venue hold lapses after it.
Second: approve a reserve speaker, needed by Friday as the programme goes to print the following week. Third: choose between two registration platforms, needed within two weeks. For each, options and trade-offs are in two lines, and the first is marked: recommend one day, because the extra half day has no confirmed speakers.
Use this yourself
Decision-needed table
Copy this table and add a row per open decision. Delete a row once it is in your decision log.
| Question | Options and trade-offs | Recommendation | Decider | Needed by | If it slips | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Example: one day or a day and a half? | A: one day, simpler. B: 1.5 days, more content, extra cost to confirm. | A, no confirmed speakers for the extra half day | Chair | Committee meeting date | Venue hold lapses | Open |
Handle it in-house, or bring in help?
Your team can usually handle this when
- Decision-makers answer promptly when the question is clear.
- There are only a few open decisions at a time.
- One person is trusted to prepare the options neutrally.
Outside planning help earns its fee when
- Decisions go round several committees and nobody owns the sequence.
- The same questions are re-opened at every meeting.
- Options need research, quotes or specialist input before a decider can choose.
Want decisions prepared and chased for you?
A conference project lead can turn your open questions into decision requests with options and deadlines, take them to the right decider, and record outcomes in a decision log. You keep the decision itself. Send the questions currently waiting and who has to answer each.
Questions organisers ask
Should we always give a recommendation?
Give one when you have enough information. If you do not, say so and list what is missing. A weak recommendation presented as certain is worse than none.
What if the decider keeps deferring?
Record each deferral with its date and consequence in the next report. If the delay is damaging, ask whether the decision can be delegated within set limits.
How is this different from the decision log?
The summary is the forward-looking list of decisions still needed. The decision log is the record of what was decided, by whom and when.
Can the summary go to the whole committee?
Yes, but address each decision to a named decider so people know which ones are theirs.
Related resources
Content record: Draft. Written from the cited sources and checked by automated rules; not yet independently reviewed.