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.