A parking lot is a running list of topics, questions, and ideas that come up during a meeting but fall outside the scope of what you are there to discuss. Instead of letting those contributions derail the conversation or ignoring them entirely, the parking lot gives them a place to go.

It is one of the simplest and most effective tools for keeping a meeting on track.

Why It Works

Meetings go off track for a lot of reasons. Someone raises a great question that is related to, but not critical for resolving, the topic at hand. A tangent sparks a side conversation. A senior leader takes the discussion in a new direction and no one feels empowered to redirect.

The parking lot gives you a way to honor those contributions without losing your meeting. Instead of saying "that's off topic" (which may not feel comfortable) or letting the conversation spiral (which wastes everyone's time), you can say: "That's a great point. I'm going to put it in the parking lot so we can come back to it."

It does three things at once:

1. It validates the contribution. The person who raised it knows they were heard.
2. It protects the agenda. You can redirect without dismissing.
3. It creates a record. You now have a list of items that need follow-up, which means they are less likely to fall through the cracks.

How to Set It Up

Name that you'll be using a parking lot at the start of your meeting as part of your housekeeping. People need to know it exists and how it works before you say “I’m putting that in the parking lot.” A few options:

• In person: A blank flip chart page or section of the whiteboard labeled "Parking Lot." People can get up and write on it, or the facilitator can add items as they come up.
• Virtual: A dedicated section in a shared document, a pinned message in chat, or simply a list the note-taker maintains.

Then you actually explain what a parking lot is and how you’ll use it, “This is the parking lot, which is where I’m going to be noting down anything raised today that doesn’t fit into our agenda, but that we want to revisit.”

How to Use It During the Meeting

When something comes up that belongs in the parking lot, name it clearly and move on. Here are a few ways to do that:

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Example language:

• "I'm going to put that in the parking lot. It's a good question and I want to make sure we give it the attention it deserves."
• "That's related and I think it's its own conversation. Let me add it to the parking lot and we'll figure out the right time to come back to it."
• "I'm seeing some great contributions in the chat that are a bit outside our scope for today. I'm adding them to the parking lot and will follow up." </aside>

You can also invite participants to self-identify parking lot items. When the norm is set that a parking lot will be used, people will often flag their own contributions this way: "This might be a parking lot item, but..."

If you are not sure whether something is a parking lot item or a relevant contribution, you can ask the group: "I want to make sure we achieve our objective in the time we have today. Does this question feel like something we need to dig into in order to meet that goal?"

If yes, make space for it. If no, or if it is going to take more time than the meeting allows, it goes in the parking lot.