Use this checklist to prepare for a virtual team meeting to ensure the meeting is valuable for team members, especially remote team members.
Pre-Meeting
- Circulate a clear agenda with time allocations.
- Post draft documents in a central location and have all team members comment on them. At the meeting, only discuss areas of disagreement.
Start of Meeting
- Reconnect the team with informal discussion.
- Summarize decisions or actions taken at the last meeting.
- Clearly explain meeting goals.
During the Meeting
- Call on and obtain everyone’s input; do not rely solely on colleagues who volunteer information.
- Make the meeting engaging through the use of interactive technology, including instant-messaging and real-time polling and collaboration workspace tools.
- Have a team member take notes to send out after the meeting.
End of Meeting
- List out action items, such as task assignments and due dates; post them in a central location for the full team.
- Identify who will take notes at the next team meeting.
Between Meetings
- Employ electronic communications to share both formal and informal news with the team.
- Use automatic notifications of postings to a shared team Web site to keep members up-to-date on progress.
