Along with a wealth of technologies and products, Amazon has given the modern business world a range of innovative solutions to age-old problems. In the digital workspace, perhaps none better encapsulates this inventiveness than the Amazon 6-pager. This modern reimagining of traditional memos constitutes one of the best practices for hybrid meetings.
What is an Amazon 6-Pager?
The Amazon 6-pager is a six-page-long memo. Over the course of a 60-minute meeting, attendees are given 20 to 25 minutes to read through the document, make notes, prepare questions, and reconvene to offer their responses. Take a look at how you can write an Amazon 6-pager below.
The Amazon 6-Pager Structure
Introduction
The introduction to an Amazon 6-pager should provide an outline of the idea being pitched or described to the meeting attendees. It should contain a precise statement of both content and the general direction of the presentation. This section should be as succinct as possible to avoid overloading the reader, yet also contain relevant details and contextual information.
Goals
This part of the Amazon 6-pager format should start with the goals you’re proposing in bold text and be organized into bullet points, if necessary. Accompanying each goal should be a single explanatory sentence, along with a timeframe encompassing the status quo and the projected target. Include a calculation showing the difference between these two points.
Tenets
Included in this section are leadership principles and tenets of sustainable, ethical, or profitable business practices. These tenets have informed your thinking and could prove useful in achieving your desired outcomes.
State of the Business
This covers the hard data describing where your company or department currently stands. This information should be updated as close as possible to the time of the meeting for accuracy.
Lessons Learned
An Amazon 6-pager template includes a frank discussion of past successes and failures relevant to the overall topic and goals. It addresses insights and metrics gained over previous operations. Everything under discussion has already occurred, so there can be no room for misinterpretation or missing information.
Strategic Priorities
Next, it’s time to outline how you’ll go about achieving the goals you laid out at the beginning of the document. The Strategic Priorities section usually makes up the bulk of an Amazon 6-pager. It involves, firstly, a section describing your predictions regarding the topic under discussion. This is followed by the combination of data from the preceding two sections, with recommendations for the actions you propose to take to reach your goals within the expected timeframe.
Appendix
Lastly, a 6-pager should contain an appendix to give readers a chance to review the resources and data on which you relied and to refine their own thinking in response.
Improving Hybrid Meetings with Amazon 6-Pagers
Structuring Meetings with Amazon 6-Pagers
One reason why 6-pagers have seen wider adoption as hybrid meeting solutions is that their structure closely aligns with the actual course of events in both in-person and hybrid meetings.
When meeting attendees arrive or log in, they know to expect a document with a fixed period of time in which to read it. Afterwards, they can raise questions, offer comments, and express opinions on which direction to take next. As such, a 6-pager effectively functions as an agenda while encouraging participants to stick to the schedule without significant variations.
Creating Amazon 6-Pager Templates in Convene in Teams
There are several 6-pager templates and variations on the same theme freely available online. However, because every 6-pager should fit neatly within the context of your business, it’s wise to base each memo on the latest developments and discussions among your team. The challenge of this task can be significantly reduced with the help of platforms like Convene in Teams (CiT), a meeting management platform designed for Microsoft Teams.
Through CiT’s Agenda Builder, meeting administrators and participants can gather data and ideas during virtual and hybrid meetings. It allows them to quickly compile the information into a comprehensive Amazon 6-pager ready for editing and publication within minutes of a meeting’s closure.
CiT also includes:
- A drag-and-drop function enabling meeting administrators to assign files to individual agenda items;
- Real-time editing with Office Online;
- One-click meeting publishing to circulate key documents and alert invitees quickly;
- Last-minute editing to rectify errors and inaccuracies prior to finalization.
Not only can these features save substantial amounts of time otherwise spent on drafting and refining the document, but you can source the latest data from every department or attendee to create an up-to-date document for further use.
Make Amazon 6-Pagers a Key Company Resource with Convene in Teams
If you’re ready to make Amazon 6-pagers a part of your pathway to success, Convene in Teams is available to streamline the process. The Agenda Builder incorporated into this comprehensive meeting management suite makes it possible to draft memos or meeting agenda in real-time.
Learn more about CiT’s many valuable features and how they can help you generate high-value memos and reports like the Amazon 6-pager. Contact our team today!
Audrey is a Content Marketing Specialist at Convene, in charge of managing the production of quality content on the company’s website. A communication major keen on marketing, Audrey has been constantly seeking approaches to create tailored content—may it be about governance, digitalization, boards, or meetings—fit for the stakeholders. When not strategizing on the next ebook to produce, Audrey finds solitude in reading make-you-ugly-cry novels and listening to self-improvement podcasts.