Online meetings are helpful not only for discussing important business subjects but also for closing deals.
That is why following up properly after setting up an online meeting is essential. Proper follow-up will ensure that all the actions discussed in the meeting are completed and set a professional tone for all future online meetings.
Here’s what you need to do to follow up on your online meeting correctly.
Check If There Are Any Questions About the Online Format of the Meeting
Online meetings are new to many people. So they could still have questions after attending their first Internet-based meeting. Some people consider it a talk to strangers, not colleagues or acquaintances. In this case, give them a chance to discuss whether they enjoyed this kind of meeting or if there are any concerns regarding its format. Also, ask if anything can be done to improve this meeting in the future. By keeping an open discussion with your colleagues regarding online meetings, you can ensure that the format will adapt to the needs of your team.
Send A Recording Of The Meeting To The Participants
Several online meeting software applications allow the meeting to be recorded. If you choose to register for the meeting, remember to tell your participants they are being recorded and let them know that a meeting recording will be made available after the meeting. If your online meeting software doesn’t do this automatically, upload the recording of your appointment online and share the link with your participants no later than 24 hours after the meeting,
Make Sure That Your Participants Have Detailed Meeting Notes
Whether you assigned a dedicated note-taker before the meeting or took the notes yourself, please send them to the participants and any presentations shared during the session. Since all the meeting material is already online, you could make this task easier by putting all the documents in a collaboration tool.
Share A List of Agreed Actions
List all the actions discussed chronologically, prioritizing what needs to be done soon. Also, assign an owner who will see the work done by the deadline. If the deadline arrives and you have not seen the job, a check-up with the owner to know that it will still be done. As the meeting organizer, you must ensure that participants see the online meeting as necessary as a face-to-face meeting.
The following listing will help you to create a plan for your meeting.
Keep it clean
Just because you have learned how to upload videos to the Internet or use Photoshop doesn’t mean you must try to impress your colleagues with an over-the-top meeting agenda. Good agendas focus on the content and keep your meeting participants from distracting them with fancy fonts or colorful pictures. Learn to create professional word processor documents and keep your plan accessible to the eyes by using a simple font such as Arial or Times New Roman, font size 10 to 12, and a clean background.
Let your participants know how they can connect to the meeting.
Even if you have already sent details on how the attendees can connect via VoIP or dial-in, it’s good to include that information again on the agenda. If this is the first time you meet online, having details on how log-in works is also a good idea. You should let attendees know if registering for the online meeting tool is necessary and if they need a headset or regular phone to connect. This way, your meeting will be completed on time. Also, let your IT team know that the meeting will take place, and include their contact details so if there are any IT-related questions, your attendees know where to go for help.
Include discussion topics in chronological order.
As with any meeting agenda, it is essential to include topics in the order they will be discussed. But the web conferencing format lets you go one step further. If your meeting has a presentation, you can include links so participants can familiarize themselves with its contents before the meeting. You can create a workspace in an online collaboration tool so the attendees can pitch in on further discussions they think are necessary for the forum.
Add hyperlinks
If any portion of the meeting needs prior knowledge from your participants on a specific area, include a hyperlink to a relevant website that can teach more about the subject you will be discussing. Alternatively, you can even send hyperlinks to internal documents from your company for easy reference. If, for example, you would like your attendees to read a specific report in the system, all you have to do to link it is press CTRL+K and then choose the path to the document. It will show on the agenda in link form. Remember that this only works if all attendees are on the same internal system.
Include participant details
Include details such as the participant’s name, position, and e-mail address so all attendees know who will attend the meeting. Also, let your participants know who will speak during the web conference. Many online meeting tools need webcam capabilities, so it could be challenging to understand who a presenter is when speaking.
Make time for a Q&A
This is more important than face-to-face meetings, as participants can raise their hands to interrupt the speaker and ask questions. This is only sometimes possible in an online forum, so making enough time for a Q&A session is crucial.
Schedule The Next Meeting
If the subject discussed in the meeting needs further discussion, schedule the next meeting promptly. Consider all the feedback you received regarding the meeting format to make your next meeting even better than the previous one.
As you can see, the steps above are similar to the ones you’d take when following up on a face-to-face meeting. However, you must ensure that your team does not think it is any less important because the meeting happened online than face-to-face. This is why knowing how to follow up on an online meeting will not only bring your team closer together. Regardless of how dispersed it may be, it will also ensure that online discussions are seen as efficient, ensuring they are here to stay.