Appendix B

After the Meeting, What Then?

After the meeting is over, the leader or program coordinator has several factors to consider:

  Will there be future meetings to conduct? How can I do better?

  Should I prepare and distribute a summary of the meeting? To whom?

  What follow-up is necessary?

Planning Future Meetings

In chapter 12, all meeting leaders are encouraged to evaluate a meeting immediately after it's over. The leader can use any combination of the three sources for evaluation: self-evaluation by the leader, reactions from the participants, and reactions from a trained observer. The purpose of this postmeeting evaluation is to obtain suggestions for improving future meetings and begin to plan for better meetings in the future.

Sometimes the meeting problems should be called to the attention of the right people. For example, if visual aids were not working properly, the problem should be called to the attention of the audiovisual person and the problem corrected. If the meeting room was not properly prepared, this should be called to the attention of the person responsible so it doesn't happen again. If the temperature was too hot or too cold, this fact should be communicated to the proper person so that future meetings will be held under ideal temperature conditions.

Summarizing the Meeting

The leader should consider whether a written summary is desirable. In fact, the decision should probably be made before the meeting is held. Either the leader or a designated secretary can take appropriate notes during the meeting to be used as the basis for the summary. If a secretary prepares the summary, it should be checked by the leader before reproduction and distribution.

A summary should be prepared and distributed if

  The people who attend the meeting want a summary either for their files or for clarification of what happened.

  The people who did not attend want to know what happened.

  The leader wants the participants to have a summary—perhaps decisions were reached and assignments given.

  The leader wants to communicate to those who didn't attend.

  The leader wants a written record of what happened.

“The horror of that moment, ” the king went on, “I shall never, never forget!”
“You will though, ” the queen said, “if you dont make a memorandum of it.”

The queen was probably right. The king will forget unless he writes it down on paper.

This quote was taken from perhaps the most famous book on communication in the English language, Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The situation is a telling comment on something that frequently happens after a meeting. Ideas are not put on paper and, thus, are lost or forgotten. Therefore, follow-up summaries are important.

The length of the summary depends on the amount of detail that is wanted or needed by those who attended. In general, it should be a relatively brief description of objectives, accomplishments, and assignments. Sometimes, supplementary materials can be added.

Table B-1 shows a suggested format for a follow-up summary.

Following Up the Meeting

If decisions were reached on action to be taken, the leader should follow up to see that the appropriate action is taken. If assignments are given in the meeting, the leader should confirm these in writing to the persons involved. Also, the leader must follow up to see that the assignments are done.

Table B-1. Follow-up Summary Sheet.