What are the most effective ways to end a meeting on a positive note?

Meetings should make people feel good! There is often negativity on this topic because meetings are often poorly thought out & executed I focus on the experience & wanting a good relationship with every attendee I plan in advance, have 121s with attendees so they get to know me, see I am fair & trust me to be balanced & independent I ensure everyone has a voice, we're clear on the objectives, agenda items, responsibilities & outcomes As we progress each item, we agree on the follow up, & who is taking it forward. I ensure the meeting is relaxed & people feel comfortable, using humour if appropriate. This makes people feel positive, happy & they engage better I share actions post meeting, & take feedback on improvement to future sessions

Coming out of a meeting and feeling motivated to get on with any actions is crucial. Therefore, its important people feel part of the meeting, the invitation was sincere and that you belong there. In my experience the end is just as important as the beginning and the middle, it should never be opportunity to get out ASAP but an opportunity to reflect on actions, but most importantly appreciate each other, ensuring everyone is recognised and leaves feeling positive. A practice of equality, care and belonging weaved throughout pre/live/post meeting - it never ends in the room, what comes after is also valuable.

Meetings should end on the key take aways and action points for meeting along with the next course of action for all concerned.It should highlight progress made till now along with way forward.

Summarize key points and action items. Express gratitude for participants' contributions. Share a motivating or inspiring quote. Encourage open feedback and questions. Set clear expectations for the next steps. End with a sincere thank you and a positive tone.

Summarizing is key, but documenting any action items with the SMART method (Specific - Measurable - Attainable - Relevant - Time Based) and specific owners sets the tone of accountability. The final step is to enter actions into a trackable database so they don't fall off the radar.

During a memorable session, participants passionately explored a challenging topic. Instead of hastily concluding, I took a moment to highlight specific insights and contributions. Verbal appreciation, like "Thank you, Jack, for your keen observation," validates their input and fosters a valued environment. . From my experience, adult learners crave acknowledgment, which is what the public school system and the real world do not provide. That's why many learners are so reluctant to share their points of view unless the context is built properly. . In my session, a person will typically be acknowledged more than 50 times a day for their contribution. "Thank you!" is the magic.

We need to start strong and end stronger. So an icebreaker when we start in the beginning will help a lot. Following with structured ways and tangible outcomes, each participant will write down their ideas on sticky notes and explain them accordingly, so as a facilitator in the team, we can shout out their name on the ideas that had the highest vote and thank those who contribute the team to achieve the meeting's goals. Lastly, end stronger is the key point. So doing an action plan and letting each team member contribute on the part they need to focus on will let the team feel they are one team and each participant's contributions are well-appreciated.

Ask "What are You Proud Of?" Simply ask the group "From our time spent together today, what are you proud of?" This can be a group response with a few people responding. Or if you have a smaller group, give everyone around the table opportunity to respond. I love this question. It gives us good insight into one another and provides an open door for people to call out a positive in themself or the group.

Reviewing action items can easily be overlooked. Specificity is key. Using verbs to describe the action items is key because it helps to break down tasks further. Also making sure it's clear who is doing what, by when and what the follow up is.

Reviewing action items brings clarity. It's like setting mini-goals after meetings. By itemizing tasks, everyone stays on the same page and understands the way forward. . To make action items accessible and visible, use shared spreadsheets with editing rights being granted works. . In informal settings, verbal confirmations can work wonders, adding accountability. Follow-ups and reminders ensure meeting momentum translates to real-world progress.

A tangible action plan that follows each participant's contribution when ending the meetings is extremely important. There are plenty of tools such as Asana where the team can put the action plan committed by the participants in the meeting in a structured way to let the team lead or product manager follow the progress. So for the action plans, I'll also do a roadmap if it's necessary, and the person in charge of each action item will be great to review.

Remember the magic formula - Feedback equals growth. When you actively seek feedback, it sends a powerful message: "Your perspective is valuable." While quick pulse checks through surveys or polls can offer quantitative insights ("Rate today's meeting on a scale of 1-10"), the true treasures lie in qualitative feedback. Engaging in open-ended questions and casual post-meeting chats uncovers invaluable gems. These nuanced insights are often missed by simple ratings alone.

Specifically asked for what worked and what didn’t work (you can frame it differently). But make sure there is room for both types of comments so you know what to keep (and participants can celebrate what they enjoyed) and you know what to change (and participants can informé you of their frustration).

Send an anonymous survey to each of them and let them fill in and express their feelings when the meetings end and what they think it would be great if something changes for them. By then, tuned the next meeting accordingly and led them to success by facilitation.

I like having a feedback wall with 'What Worked Well' and 'Even Better If' sections. At the end, I would give two different coloured Post-it notes for participants to capture their thoughts and on the way out, they would add them to the wall.

One thing I've found work is to share a short quote at the beginning of a session that captures the purpose or intention, and then to come back to it at the end. It's an effective way of referring back to the purpose at the end of a meeting in an inspiring and uplifting way. For example, for an ideation session, a quote I like is: "Those who can imagine anything can create the impossible." Alan Turing

Let me share an experience from a meeting I chaired a few years ago. We delved into some challenging topics, and the atmosphere was undoubtedly contemplative. As we approached the conclusion, I recalled a profound quote - "Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much." Not only did it capture the essence of our discussion, but it also left everyone with a sense of optimism.

I'll propose to end stronger for each meeting. Other than the committed action plans, I'll arrange additional exercises such as high-five among the participants. Or even a quick sharing about the positive message experience how they think about these meetings and what makes them happy to work together. And also conducted a happy hour together since the team had achieved huge success in team alignment! Bravo!

I have a tradition of closing out my leadership meetings with a moment to share recognition and thanks. I call it "Going Forward with Gratitude". It's a few minutes for the team to give kudos and highlight accomplishments. It's really uplifting. We leave with a smile and feel more connected.

End with a game. Using movement or some shake off, can help participants leave the session feeling lighter, and more relaxed, despite the high level content that may have been shared. Some dance movement therapy or drama exercises can be valuable resources.

Um exemplo próprio de algo que utilizo quando estou facilitando eventos e tem funcionado bem até mesmo para trazer uma leveza é encerrar apresentando Kudo Cards que foram colhidos durante a sess?o. Kudo Cards é uma maneira de incentivar o reconhecimento entre as pessoas, e cá entre nós, quem n?o gosta de sair de uma reuni?o com o sentimento de ser reconhecido por algo ou alguma atitude?

I operate from the belief that all meetings should begin with a check-in and check-out ritual. It can be a breathing exercise, mindful grounding, a poem, a check-in question or activity...anything! People are coming from somewhere and likely heading into something else once you are done meeting. It's important to manage those transitions and to honor your time together, especially if you have working on challenging topics.

Kind of including all of the above, I like to end with everyone sharing something they appreciated, learned or will do differently based on the session. This helps summarize the session and also appreciate everyone’s thoughts and contributions at the same time. Best of all it is participant led. You just facilitate it step by step and can share your own insights about the group as the concluding thought

I’m not sure every meeting needs to end on a “positive” note. I think that as a facilitator, you have to be responsible of how you want people to walk out. And if the purpose of your meeting is raising awareness about a difficult situation, you might not necessarily need them to walk out smiling.

My perspective on ending a Virtual meeting on positive note is asking for 1-2 keytake aways from participants through chat or unmuting and to reiterate the point which is critical and is not of top of the mind for even 20% team members .The outcome matters and next we meet on XX date or a weekly tracker flash every monday For Face to face meetings : I would end the meeting with a post it on key learnings and bunching them together and at the end reiterate how the group learnings are impacting outcome through success stories and /or tracker

Ask participants to make note of one positive thing from the meeting. If virtual, have them all share in the chat. If face-to-face, ask them to share their note with 3 people. An exercise like this makes sure the positive ending is truly positive for them. If you, as the leader, share why you believe the session was positive, but don't give others an opportunity to think, they may disagree with you. That would result in a negative ending for them, even though you feel positive.

Be human. Bringing the conversation back to the present moment and acknowledging that there are humans behind each assigned task can help boost morale, trust, and productivity. If you start with some type of rapport building or a check in, you can end with one too.