Before you start: Some options depend on your company’s configuration. Calendar sync requires a connected calendar integration, AI transcripts require additional settings, and booking links are only available when enabled for your company.
Find your meetings and follow-ups
Open 1-on-1 from the main navigation.
The Overview brings together your meetings and follow-up tasks. You can see meetings happening today, upcoming conversations, and people who need attention.
Use the sidebar to move between:
Overview - Get an overview of your 1-on-1s and tasks.
Meetings - Browse and search your meetings.
Tasks - Follow up on actions from your conversations.
Templates - Create and manage reusable agendas.
Calendar, when available - View your schedule in a calendar.
Meeting statuses help you distinguish drafts, upcoming meetings, meetings that have been held but not completed, and completed meetings.
Create a meeting
Select the plus icon beside the 1-on-1 heading.
Search for and select the person you want to meet with. Your direct reports are listed separately.
The meeting opens, ready for you to schedule and prepare.
You can start working on the agenda before choosing a meeting time.
Schedule the meeting
You can choose a time yourself or, where available, let the employee book a suitable slot.
Choose a time yourself
Open the meeting and select Schedule meeting.
Choose the date, start time, and duration.
Select Schedule.
To change an existing booking, select its scheduled time or use Reschedule from the meeting menu.
The employee is notified when you schedule or reschedule a future meeting. If calendar sync is enabled, Aboard also adds or updates the event in your selected calendar. Video-conferencing details can be included when enabled in your meeting preferences.
Let the employee choose a time
If Send booking link is available:
Open the meeting and select Send booking link.
Set Bookable from — the first day the employee can book.
Choose Bookable for — how long the booking window stays open.
Set the Lead time and meeting Duration.
Select Send link.
The employee can choose a slot based on your calendar availability.
The form explains when the invitation will be sent. For bookings further ahead, Aboard sends the link a week before booking opens rather than immediately.
Aboard reminds the employee before the window closes and lets you know if it closes without a booking or the employee declines the available dates.
Prepare the agenda together
Open the Agenda tab and choose how to get started:
Pick a template - Use a prepared agenda.
Copy previous agenda - Reuse an earlier agenda with the same person, when available.
Start from scratch - Write a new agenda.
The agenda uses a document-style editor:
Click in the page to start writing.
Type / to insert headings, lists, tables, images, and other blocks.
Use the + button in the floating toolbar for the same options.
Use the formatting controls for bold text, italics, and links.
The manager and employee can contribute to the shared agenda. Changes are saved automatically, and both participants can work in the agenda together. Once the meeting is completed, the agenda becomes read-only.
Bring performance reviews into the conversation
If your company uses Performance reviews, managers can add a review directly to the agenda and discuss it with the employee.
Choose a project and review round, or share the project’s available reviews as a list. The shared review appears in the employee’s portal as part of the agenda.
You can control how much peer feedback is included. No peer feedback is the default.
Adding a review to the agenda shares it with the employee through that meeting. Removing the block stops that sharing; it does not delete the original review.
Use the meeting tools
The meeting toolbar gives you quick access to:
Private notes
Keep your own manager notes and reminders. These are separate from the shared agenda and are not displayed to the employee.
Tasks
Create follow-up tasks, assign an owner, and add a due date. Use tasks to make agreed next steps easy to track.
Comments
Discuss the meeting with the employee without adding everything to the agenda or summary.
Comments now notify the people involved in the conversation, helping participants keep track of replies.
Goals
Open the employee’s goals alongside the meeting to discuss progress, priorities, and development.
Set preparation reminders
Both managers and employees can choose when to receive a reminder to prepare for an upcoming 1-on-1.
Choose 1, 2, or 3 working days before the meeting, or select Off. Days the person does not work are not counted.
Managers can update this under Meeting preferences → Reminders → Remind me before a 1-on-1. Employees can adjust it in the employee portal’s 1-on-1 settings.
Reminders can also appear in connected Slack and Microsoft Teams workspaces. In Slack, you can snooze a reminder when the snooze option is available.
Write a summary
Use the Summary tab to record the main discussion points, decisions, and outcomes.
For meetings without active transcription, the Summary tab becomes available once the scheduled start time has passed.
If the meeting is being recorded, transcribed, or summarized automatically, the tab remains unavailable while that processing is in progress.
Optional: AI transcripts and summaries
For supported video meetings scheduled through Aboard, the meeting assistant can create:
A transcript.
A meeting summary.
Suggested follow-up tasks.
This requires the company calendar integration, calendar sync, video conferencing, and the relevant Aboard AI features to be enabled. Managers also need to enable Transcribe video meetings in their meeting preferences.
Review AI-generated content before completing the meeting. For the full setup, see Aboard meeting assistant.
Complete the meeting and choose whether to share the summary
Once the scheduled meeting has started:
Select Mark as complete.
Choose whether to enable Share summary with employee.
Select Complete.
If you share the summary:
The employee receives it by email.
It becomes available on the meeting in the employee portal.
A meeting without summary content can still be completed, but there is no summary to share.
Completed meetings are locked for editing. Completing a meeting does not automatically share its summary; you must choose to share it.
Create reusable templates
Templates help you prepare consistent agendas without starting over each time.
Open 1-on-1 → Templates.
Select New template.
Add a name and, optionally, a description, icon, colour, and department.
Enable Private template if it should only be available to you.
Add the agenda content in the editor. Changes are saved automatically.
You can edit, copy, or delete templates from their menu.
Adjust your meeting preferences
Select the cog icon beside the 1-on-1 heading to open Meeting preferences.
Depending on your company’s setup, you can manage:
Default meeting duration.
Availability, gaps between meetings, and booking lead time.
Preparation reminders.
The Attention threshold, which flags direct reports who have gone too long without a 1-on-1.
Calendar sync and the destination calendar.
Automatic video-conferencing links.
Video-meeting transcription.
Save your preferences when finished.
For calendar setup, see Sync your 1-on-1s with your calendar.
Archive, restore, or delete a meeting
Open the meeting’s three-dot menu to:
Archive the meeting to keep its record without leaving it among your active meetings.
Restore an archived meeting.
Delete the meeting permanently.
Deleting a meeting is different from removing its scheduled time.
