How To Run a Level 10 Meeting: Best Practices and Examples

Meetings get a bad rap — and a lot of them deserve it. It can be hard to concentrate, and half the time, the final takeaway is that the rendez-vous really could’ve been an email. 

But a Level 10 Meeting? This structured, high-impact meeting style keeps teams focused and efficient.

If you’re tired of disorganized or time-wasting meetings, you’re in the right place. Let’s break down how to run a Level 10 Meeting so your team always walks away feeling ready to tackle the week.

What is a Level 10 meeting?

A Level 10 meeting is a weekly team meeting designed to keep your business running smoothly and your team fully aligned. The name comes from the goal: By the end of the meeting, everyone should feel like it was a 10 out of 10 use of their time. No fluff — just quick problem-solving, clear priorities, and actionable next steps.

The structure is simple. It’s a 90-minute meeting with a set agenda that covers seven key elements to drive meaningful progress. It’s a core piece of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), a business framework that helps companies scale efficiently. 

Whether you’re leading a startup, a small business, or a fast-growing team, Level 10 meetings cut through the chaos and help you focus on what really matters.

Pros and cons of Level 10 meetings

Like any structured approach, Level 10 meetings have strengths and weaknesses. Here’s what makes them effective — and where they might fall short.

Pros

• Better problem solving: The structured agenda tackles pressing issues head-on, leading to faster, more effective solutions.
• Goal-oriented: Every meeting aims to keep the team focused on long-term priorities instead of getting lost in day-to-day distractions.
• Increased accountability: Regular check-ins make it clear who is responsible for what, reducing miscommunications and the chances of someone dropping the ball.
• Boosted team alignment: Since Level 10 meetings leave no stone unturned, everyone stays on the same page and makes better progress toward the team’s shared objectives.

Cons

• Limited discussion time: Level 10 meetings are run on a tight schedule, so you can’t always deep dive into complex issues. But you can always schedule a follow-up discussion to explore issues in more detail.
• Heavy prep required: Team members must come prepared with updates, issues, and progress reports. The prep can be time-consuming, but it often pays off with better productivity and efficiency.
• Inflexibility: The rigid format of these meetings may not work well for highly creative or free-flowing teams that thrive on open-ended brainstorming. Level 10 meetings work better for those who need structure to stay aligned and accountable.
• Potential for meeting fatigue: Holding the same structured meeting every week can feel repetitive or unnecessary. You can get around this by refreshing the agenda periodically and ensuring discussions stay relevant.

The Level 10 meeting agenda

A Level 10 meeting follows a tight, 90-minute structure to make sure every minute is well spent. Here’s how each section of the agenda contributes to a focused, productive discussion:

1. Segue or check-in

Start with a quick personal and professional check-in to set a positive tone. This isn’t just small talk — it helps build team cohesion and engagement. Keep it brief, about five minutes, and focus on wins, updates, or anything else that’s noteworthy.

Example: “Let’s go around and share one win from the past week.”

2. Scorecard review

The scorecard tracks key performance metrics that matter to your business. In this section, team members quickly review numbers, identify trends, and flag any areas that need attention. The goal is to spot issues early and ensure accountability.

Example: “Sales leads are down 15% this week. Let’s add this to the issues list so we can discuss solutions.”

3. Objectives or rock review

“Rocks” or objectives are your company's biggest priorities for the quarter. This part of the meeting is your chance to check progress, celebrate completed goals, and identify any blockers. The focus should be on whether you’re on or off track to meet key objectives — and how to course-correct effectively if you’re off track.

Example: “Marketing’s lead generation campaign is on track, but the product update is delayed. What do we need to do to get back on schedule?”

4. Headlines

This section covers important news like team updates, big wins, client feedback, or anything that impacts the company. Don’t skip this step. It keeps everyone in the loop and avoids overlooking critical information.

Example: “Great news — our biggest client just renewed for another year, and they’re increasing their contract by 20%.”

5. To-do list review

In this section, each team member goes through their assigned action items from the last meeting. The goal is to mark tasks as done or address why they weren’t completed, pretenting tasks from slipping through the cracks.

Example: “Last week, we agreed to finalize the budget proposal. Finance, did you complete that?”

6. Identify, discuss, solve (IDS)

This is the heart of the meeting. The team prioritizes issues, talks through them, and decides on concrete solutions. The point is to resolve problems efficiently rather than just discussing them endlessly so your team can move on to bigger and better things.

Example: “Customer support wait times are up. What’s causing that, and how can we fix it?”

7. Conclusion

Finally, wrap up the meeting with a recap of new action items and determine whether you need to share any information with the wider company or other teams. Then, ask everyone to give a quick rating of the meeting on a scale of 1–10. This helps you refine your meeting process. Over time, ratings should steadily climb.

Example: “Before we go, let’s confirm action items and do a quick rating. How valuable was this meeting for you today?”

Level 10 meeting template

How much time should you spend on each part of the meeting? Here’s a quick example agenda for a 90-minute meeting that you can use as a template or tweak to serve your team’s needs:

1. Segue/check-in — 5 minutes
2. Scorecard review — 5 minutes
3. Rock review — 5 minutes
4. Headlines — 5 minutes
5. To-do list review — 5 minutes
6. IDS — 60 minutes
7. Conclusion — 5 minutes

How to run a Level 10 meeting: 5 best practices

If you’re running a meeting soon, here’s how to make sure everyone rates it a 10 out of 10:

1. Use an AI meeting assistant

An AI-powered meeting assistant helps your team focus on the conversation. By automating administrative tasks like these, you eliminate distractions and keep the discussion productive. 

Otter.ai handles note-taking, transcription, and task tracking to make follow-ups easier and ensure nothing gets lost. Plus, having an AI-generated summary on hand helps everyone stay accountable for action items.

2. Start and end on time

Level 10 meetings thrive on structure. When meetings start late or run over, they lose momentum and participants lose engagement. In contrast, sticking to the 90-minute timeframe forces efficiency and productivity.

If a topic needs more time, schedule a follow-up rather than letting it derail the agenda. This reinforces the idea that these meetings are high-value, results-driven sessions — not just another meeting that could have been an email. Starting and ending on time is just plain polite, too, as it shows you respect everyone’s time.

3. Stay focused

With a set agenda, it’s easy to stay on track — but only if you commit to discussing one issue at a time. The IDS section is where focus matters most. Stick with a single problem until there’s a resolution before moving on. If a side topic pops up, write it down for later rather than letting it hijack the meeting. This prevents the meeting from spiraling into an unproductive free-for-all.

4. Ask everyone to participate

A great Level 10 meeting isn’t a monologue. It’s a team discussion. Make sure every participant contributes by updating their scorecard metrics, reviewing their to-dos, or providing input during IDS.

If certain voices dominate while others stay quiet, actively invite input from those who haven’t spoken yet. When everyone is engaged, the meeting becomes more dynamic and well-rounded, and you solve problems more effectively.

5. Keep the energy up

That 90 minutes is a good chunk of time, so keeping the energy up is key to maintaining engagement. Focus on brevity during the less vital sections of the meeting, and don’t be afraid to inject some enthusiasm (or even office humor) into the discussion. Quick-paced transitions also keep things from feeling sluggish.

Take your meetings to Level 10 with Otter

Level 10 meetings are all about staying organized and productive — and Otter is the perfect tool to help you elevate every session. With Otter, you can effortlessly capture meeting notes, summarize key discussions, and generate action items in real time.

Ready to take your meetings to the next level? Try Otter today and boost your team’s efficiency one Level 10 meeting at a time.