Five great things to do after virtual meetings

It doesn’t matter how well a virtual meeting is run or how much travel expenses are saved by running it, if the desired outcome of the meeting is not achieved in a timely manner. Meetings often miss the mark because action items aren’t complete and expected deliverables don’t meet deadlines. To avoid wasting money in labor and valuable company time, the meeting leader must take responsibility for follow-up. Below are five things a virtual meeting leader may want to incorporate into their post-meeting responsibilities to ensure success.

1. Survey attendees immediately to improve. The survey can be a quick email survey of key questions with 3-4 answers that attendees can select. This survey must be submitted within one hour of the meeting end time. Why do this survey? If you’re testing a virtual meeting tool for team use, a short survey of meeting members will provide valuable feedback. The feedback can help the organization decide if the tool is worth buying or if they need to keep looking for a tool with additional features or that is easier to use. If the tool is already the company standard, asking different types of questions can help the meeting leader become better at facilitating future virtual meetings.
2. Submit meeting minutes or a web link to the minutes within 24 hours of the meeting ending. Make sure everyone’s action items are included in the minutes, as this will be the first thing attendees will look for. Action items should be listed using the 3Ws: Whose I will,Than have to do, and When must be done by. Also include a reminder of the date and time of the next meeting, if there is one, so everyone can check to make sure they have it on their agenda. The meeting call details do not have to be in the minutes because they need to be sent to the intended participants a day or two before the actual meeting.
3. Use a single location for all group data related to ongoing projects or teamwork. This single location can be a secure server file, a team blog, or an internal forum used to record information that group members can review at any time between meetings. This single location can also be useful for storing all links to team documents on a company server or website. Don’t put passwords in these places no matter how secure the site is expected to be.
4. Send a reminder of the action items and any other required information a few days before the next meeting, This will allow everyone time to take their actions and report back to the meeting leader before the next meeting, meaning less time should be spent reviewing actions during the virtual meeting. If someone is having trouble meeting their due dates, this will give them an opportunity to discuss resources and other options with the team leader. Any new documents or presentation material can also be provided for advanced preview via email attachment or by providing a link for online review and/or download.
5. Plan the next meeting to be even better than the last. The meeting leader can improve each meeting by using what has been learned from previous meetings. In addition, the leader can review the documentation for the tool used to conduct virtual meetings to find out if there are potentially useful features that are not being fully exploited, such as in-meeting polls, slideshows, video, or webcam options. and record information or make changes to the screen. Additionally, both the meeting leader and team members may want to research articles and tips to better facilitate virtually, encourage more participation in the meeting, and develop guidelines for meeting behavior.

Using and understanding the five tips above should help meeting leaders have more effective virtual meetings, because the leader is responsible for more than just what happens in the meeting. To be truly successful, most meetings will spill over into work outside of meeting start and end times. Therefore, the meeting leader must take the lead for meeting resources and be willing to help meeting members also understand their responsibilities for future success.