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Can you recall what happened in your last online meeting? Most of what happens during a meeting is lost within a few hours. When you have one video call right after another, the effect is worse.
At the end, you not only feel horrible, but it’s like the meeting never happened.
Tasks aren’t remembered, decisions have to be made again, and no one changes anything.
How to end an online meeting
Meetings are difficult enough, so don’t let them suffer from the “this meeting never actually happened” effect.
Your goal is to make the most of every digital meeting. Even if you prepared well, and there was a great discussion, it doesn’t matter if nothing changes. You just have to go through all that hard work again.
If you can end an online meeting well, capturing everything that needs to happen, you will be far beyond your peers in meeting effectiveness.
Here are seven ways you can end an online meeting that will make people glad they came.
1. Make a highlight reel of the most essential parts of the meeting
Here’s the link to the video recording for everyone.
No one is touching that link. Never.
Instead, create a highlight reel. You can use a tool like CLIPr to get an automated clip of what happened. It will let you use AI to search a video for specific terms – just like you would search for words in a document.
Or, create your own video summary at the end and summarize all the main points. Post that video to a shared channel, and you are an instant hero.
2. Create a story spine
Creating a story spine takes the highlight reel concept a step further by weaving all the meeting elements together in a narrative that includes:
- Problems, challenges, and opportunities facing the team before the meeting
- Activities conducted during the meeting that addressed those issues
- Decisions that were made resulting from the activities that took place during the meeting
- Potential outcomes of those decisions
It looks like this:
Before our meeting, we [weren’t sure if we should sponsor the big event]. So we had a meeting to [decide]. As a team we, [looked at the potential rewards]. Because of that we decided to [consult the other product teams to get their experience]. If you want to see our notes, they are here [link]. If you have questions, contact Sharada.
3. Shift to breakout rooms post-meeting
Remember the conversations you had with your co-workers while walking back to your desk after a meeting? For some people, it was more than just small talk. Post-meeting conversations functioned as an informal way for everyone to decompress and digest what took place during the meeting.
Those walks back to the desk can be replicated digitally by dividing everyone into smaller groups and creating breakout rooms. Besides giving everyone a chance to go over the most significant events of the meeting, breakout rooms also offer a chance to build stronger connections.
4. Add all action items/commitments to a shared project management board
Every task should be captured and assigned to someone. Many people find it pedantic for someone to assign them a task, so ask ahead of time and create an agreement on if this is ok or not. Make sure everyone is clear on who is responsible for the completion of each task.
5. Update all strategy documents and working agreements with new decisions
Were any critical decisions made during the meeting? Solidify their importance by updating relevant strategy documents and working agreements, and send everyone links to the revised copies.
6. Start asynchronous discussions
Not everything has to be decided right in the meeting. You may want to give people more time to think about the issues and continue the discussion asynchronously.
Keep the flow of ideas going by starting discussion threads. This is also an excellent way to engage only the people who are relevant to the discussion while still keeping everyone informed.
7. Schedule any follow-up meetings
Another great way to close a meeting is to immediately schedule follow-up meetings and to provide preliminary agendas and any additional resources, if required.
Most things don’t require a synchronous discussion, but for those that do, creating the time and agenda right away means you keep the momentum moving forward.
How you close a meeting might be more important than the meeting itself
Not everyone likes meetings, but they are a key collaboration. They are also very expensive in money and time and shouldn’t be wasted.
Closing the meeting with the right tools and information is essential to improving information recall, increasing productivity, and inspiring everyone to take action on any changes that took place.
Try one of these options in your next meeting and see how everyone reacts.
Can you recall what happened in your last online meeting? Most of what happens during a meeting is lost within a few hours. When you have one video call right after another, the effect is worse.
At the end, you not only feel horrible, but it’s like the meeting never happened.
Tasks aren’t remembered, decisions have to be made again, and no one changes anything.
How to end an online meeting
Meetings are difficult enough, so don’t let them suffer from the “this meeting never actually happened” effect.
Your goal is to make the most of every digital meeting. Even if you prepared well, and there was a great discussion, it doesn’t matter if nothing changes. You just have to go through all that hard work again.
If you can end an online meeting well, capturing everything that needs to happen, you will be far beyond your peers in meeting effectiveness.
Here are seven ways you can end an online meeting that will make people glad they came.
1. Make a highlight reel of the most essential parts of the meeting
Here’s the link to the video recording for everyone.
No one is touching that link. Never.
Instead, create a highlight reel. You can use a tool like CLIPr to get an automated clip of what happened. It will let you use AI to search a video for specific terms – just like you would search for words in a document.
Or, create your own video summary at the end and summarize all the main points. Post that video to a shared channel, and you are an instant hero.
2. Create a story spine
Creating a story spine takes the highlight reel concept a step further by weaving all the meeting elements together in a narrative that includes:
- Problems, challenges, and opportunities facing the team before the meeting
- Activities conducted during the meeting that addressed those issues
- Decisions that were made resulting from the activities that took place during the meeting
- Potential outcomes of those decisions
It looks like this:
Before our meeting, we [weren’t sure if we should sponsor the big event]. So we had a meeting to [decide]. As a team we, [looked at the potential rewards]. Because of that we decided to [consult the other product teams to get their experience]. If you want to see our notes, they are here [link]. If you have questions, contact Sharada.
3. Shift to breakout rooms post-meeting
Remember the conversations you had with your co-workers while walking back to your desk after a meeting? For some people, it was more than just small talk. Post-meeting conversations functioned as an informal way for everyone to decompress and digest what took place during the meeting.
Those walks back to the desk can be replicated digitally by dividing everyone into smaller groups and creating breakout rooms. Besides giving everyone a chance to go over the most significant events of the meeting, breakout rooms also offer a chance to build stronger connections.
4. Add all action items/commitments to a shared project management board
Every task should be captured and assigned to someone. Many people find it pedantic for someone to assign them a task, so ask ahead of time and create an agreement on if this is ok or not. Make sure everyone is clear on who is responsible for the completion of each task.
5. Update all strategy documents and working agreements with new decisions
Were any critical decisions made during the meeting? Solidify their importance by updating relevant strategy documents and working agreements, and send everyone links to the revised copies.
6. Start asynchronous discussions
Not everything has to be decided right in the meeting. You may want to give people more time to think about the issues and continue the discussion asynchronously.
Keep the flow of ideas going by starting discussion threads. This is also an excellent way to engage only the people who are relevant to the discussion while still keeping everyone informed.
7. Schedule any follow-up meetings
Another great way to close a meeting is to immediately schedule follow-up meetings and to provide preliminary agendas and any additional resources, if required.
Most things don’t require a synchronous discussion, but for those that do, creating the time and agenda right away means you keep the momentum moving forward.
How you close a meeting might be more important than the meeting itself
Not everyone likes meetings, but they are a key collaboration. They are also very expensive in money and time and shouldn’t be wasted.
Closing the meeting with the right tools and information is essential to improving information recall, increasing productivity, and inspiring everyone to take action on any changes that took place.
Try one of these options in your next meeting and see how everyone reacts.
