Wrap Your Meeting Up Right

You've had a great meeting. A lot has been accomplished, and important decisions have been made. It's time to call it a day. But people are tired and anxious to leave. Especially following an all–day meeting, the tendency is to want to vacate the meeting as quickly as possible. Leaving immediately is not a good idea, however. Taking the time to conduct a formal close to your session will leave your employees with a lasting impression of the meeting's accomplishments and decisions, as well as a pat on the back for their contributions.

A solid closure to an important meeting accomplishes the following:

Gives participants a complete sense of the amount of work achieved.
Reviews and celebrates progress made and recaps critical information.
Promotes an understanding of the meeting's principal objectives.
Provides participants with a feedback vehicle, allowing them to voice their questions, concerns, related ideas, etc.
Gives the meeting facilitator a vehicle to address and diffuse negative emotions, concerns, discomforts, or fears the group may have.
Allows facilitators to change or improve future meetings based on feedback.
Lets participants revisit/review any action plans that were agreed upon.