Meeting Timer

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Give each agenda item a length, run the meeting item by item, and finish with a record of where the time actually went.Learn more ▾Show less ▴
Most timers answer "how long is left?". A meeting timer answers a more useful question: "where did the hour actually go?" That second question is what turns a habit of running over into something you can fix. If the same item overruns every week, its planned length is wrong, and a record makes that obvious in a way that memory never does. The tool is built for whoever is chairing. Advancing is manual, overruns are allowed to show, and nothing is rounded away in your favour.
?An optional name for the meeting. It appears at the top of the copied report, so a report pasted into notes says which meeting it came from.
?Choose which clock is shown large: the whole meeting, or just the item you are on.
?Choose whether the large number counts down the time left or counts up the time spent. The smaller line always shows the other one.
Total remaining
0:00
0:00
Agenda with planned time, actual time and the difference between them

Space starts and pauses. Left and right arrows move between items. Click any row to jump to it.

Saved agendas?Save this agenda under a name so you can load it again next time. Saved agendas stay on this device and never include your recorded times.
?Download the agenda as a file to move it to another device or share the plan. The file holds the plan only, never your recorded times — but turn names are often people's names, so they travel in the file too. ?Load an agenda from a file you exported earlier. This replaces the whole current session — the agenda, the meeting name, and any times already recorded.

    No saved agendas yet. Name the current one above to keep it for next time.

    A shared link carries the plan only — never your recorded times. Turn names are often people's names, so they travel in the link too.

    Only need one big countdown? Use the Visual Timer
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    About This Tool

    This timer runs a whole agenda instead of a single countdown. You list the items, give each one a planned length, and step through them as the meeting happens. What makes it different is what it keeps. Alongside the plan it records how long each item really took, so the meeting ends with a report you can paste straight into your notes.

    How to use it

    1. Press Edit and add your agenda items, giving each one a length in minutes.
    2. Press Start when the meeting begins, then Next as you finish each item.
    3. Copy the report at the end to see planned time against actual time.

    How to Use

    1. Press Edit and add your agenda items, giving each one a length in minutes.
    2. Press Start when the meeting begins, then Next as you finish each item.
    3. Copy the report at the end to see planned time against actual time.

    Methodology

    Every agenda item gets a timebox — the term used in Scrum for a fixed maximum length. The timer counts down inside that timebox while recording the real elapsed time separately, so the plan and the outcome are never mixed up. Time is measured against your device's clock rather than by counting ticks, which means a slow or background tab cannot make the record drift. When several people share one item, its time is divided evenly between the turns so the parts always add up to the whole.

    Understanding Your Results

    The last column is the point of the tool. A minus means the item finished inside its planned time; a plus means it ran over, and by how much. The colours are a quick read, not the answer: green while there is room, amber as the end approaches, red once the planned time is spent. Use them alongside the numbers. The total line tells you whether the meeting held overall. A meeting that ends on time but has three items deep in the red usually means the agenda needs changing, not the discussion.

    Practical Examples

    A daily standup for six people: make one item of 15 minutes and give it six turns. Each person gets 2:30, and afterwards you can see who ran long and by how much. A one-hour review: 10 minutes of context, 30 for the walkthrough, 15 for discussion and 5 to close. If the walkthrough takes 45 minutes, the report shows exactly which items paid for it.

    Sources: Scrum Guide

    Getting a useful record

    • Name every item. A report full of "Agenda item 3" is no help a week later. • Let items run over rather than cutting them short to keep the numbers tidy. The overrun is the useful part — stopping everything at the buzzer tells you nothing about how long the work really needs. • Use turns when several people speak in sequence. Splitting one timebox evenly beats trusting the room to self-regulate. • Copy the report into your notes before closing the tab — clearing browser data clears the record too. • Share the link beforehand so everyone can see the plan and how long each part should take.

    Sources: Lucid Meetings

    All calculations are performed locally in your browser. No data is sent to any server.

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    Frequently Asked Questions

    What does a meeting timer do that a normal countdown does not?
    A countdown times one thing. A meeting timer runs the whole agenda: every item has its own planned length, and you move between them as the meeting happens. It also records what actually happened. When the meeting ends you get a line per item showing the planned time, the real time, and the difference between them — which an ordinary timer cannot tell you.
    What happens when an item runs over its time?
    Nothing is cut off and nothing advances by itself. The countdown passes zero, turns red and keeps counting as a negative number, so you can see exactly how far over you are. Only you decide when to move on. This is deliberate: a timer that jumped ahead on its own would make the record of the meeting wrong, and that record is the point of the tool.
    What is a Go Around?
    A Go Around is a meeting format where each person speaks in turn on the same topic, without interruption. It is also known as a round robin. In this timer you turn an agenda item into a Go Around by giving it more than one turn. The item's time is then split evenly between the turns, and each turn is timed separately, so a round of updates gives everyone the same share.
    Can I send my agenda to other people?
    Yes. The share menu creates a link that carries the whole agenda — item names, planned lengths, turn counts and turn names — so anyone opening it starts with your plan already loaded. The link carries the plan only. Recorded times, which item you are on, and whether the timer is running are never included, so sending someone your agenda never sends them a recording of your meeting.
    What happens if I close my laptop during a meeting?
    The timer notices and asks instead of guessing. When the device wakes it pauses and tells you how long it was asleep, with buttons to count that time toward the current item or discard it. A tab that is merely in the background is treated differently: the meeting genuinely carried on, so that time is counted in full without asking.
    What do the green, amber and red colours mean?
    They follow the signal a meeting timekeeper traditionally gives a speaker. Green means there is comfortable time left, amber means the end of the item is approaching, and red means the planned time is spent. Amber appears when about a fifth of the item's time remains, but never earlier than two minutes before the end — otherwise a long item would sit in amber for so long that the colour stopped meaning anything.
    Is my meeting data private?
    Everything stays in your browser. Your agenda, the recorded times and the meeting title are saved on your own device so a refresh does not lose them, and nothing is sent anywhere. There is no account and no sign-in. If you clear your browser data the agenda goes with it, so copy the report out if you want to keep it.
    Can I use it for a standup, a retrospective or a one-to-one?
    Yes — those are built in as starting points, along with sprint planning, a sprint review and an interview. Choosing one replaces the agenda with that structure, which you can then rename and re-time. The lengths follow the published guidance where it exists. The Scrum Guide sets the Daily Scrum at 15 minutes and gives maximum lengths for planning, review and retrospective; the retrospective preset follows the five phases described by Derby and Larsen.
    Can I show the timer to the whole room?
    Yes. The fullscreen button enlarges the countdown and the current item so they can be read from across a room or on a projector, and hides the agenda table and controls. If you only need one large countdown and no agenda, the visual timer is the simpler choice. Use this one when you want the whole agenda tracked.