Master the art of the meeting follow-up message

Whether you take them from home, in the office or asynchronously, meetings can make a world of difference to any team’s workflow—when they’re done right.

But however effective a meeting was, a good follow-up message can make it even better. A follow-up message provides a written record of everything discussed and accomplished during a meeting. Not sure how to write one? You’re in the right place.

Why do you need a meeting follow-up message?

One Gartner study found that the average digital worker spends about eight hours a week in meetings—a full day’s worth of meetings.

In our meeting-heavy corporate world, it’s all too easy to miss critical discussion points. Jam-packed calendars and important personal engagements might force you to leave early from certain meetings or skip them altogether. Sending a follow-up message after a meeting helps clarify objectives and establish accountability. It also provides a record for teammates who couldn’t attend.

If you had to miss a meeting (or, let’s face it, zoned out a little), a follow-up message can bring the whole team up to speed by documenting notes, listing action items, assigning stakeholders and planning future meetings. A follow-up also gives you a chance to gather feedback on the meeting itself.

On the other hand, skipping the follow-up can leave your team vulnerable to misunderstandings, miscommunications and missed deadlines. Let’s nip those misses in the bud by learning to craft a meeting follow-up message.

What should you include in a meeting follow-up?

Corporate communication revolved around email for years, but times have changed. Now intelligent productivity platforms like Slack are at employees’ fingertips, and asynchronous communication is easier than ever.

Sure, you can do a lot more with Slack than simply message your coworkers. Features like Slack Connect help you build bridges with people outside of your company, and add-ons like Elevate let you track and manage opportunities through Salesforce. But when it comes to meeting follow-ups, let’s stick to the basics.

Follow up by dropping a note via direct message or in a Slack channel. If your team meets using Slack huddles, you can even deliver your follow-up in a DM or channel connected to the huddle. Or you could record a clip for teammates to watch at their convenience.

Here’s what your message should include:

A thank-you

Showing some appreciation can go a long way: a study from the American Psychological Association found that more than 90% of employees who feel valued at work are motivated to give their best performance.

A bulleted recap of the discussion

Research shows that people view keeping minutes as a marker of a “good” meeting. Your meeting recap should only include a few highlights. Nowadays, there are many AI-powered note-taking tools that provide reliable meeting summaries. You can integrate your favorite one into Slack.

Action items

In your recap, be sure to include action items and assigned stakeholders, with deadlines. Documenting these details keeps people accountable and helps you execute projects on time. If you’re a Slack user, you can at-mention specific people in your follow-up message to get their attention.

Ask for feedback

Collect and implement feedback from attendees to ensure that your meetings make good use of the team’s time. Follow-ups provide the perfect opportunity to gather thoughts and suggestions. At Slack, we use polls to collect feedback after all-hands meetings.

Tips for writing an effective follow-up message

Now you know what a follow-up needs—but what makes a follow-up good?

Clarify responsibilities

First things first: Know who’s responsible for sending each meeting follow-up. If you have a designated note-taker for the meeting, for example, ask them to send out the follow-up message as well.

Follow up quickly

Send your messages promptly after each meeting, preferably within a day.

Pick the right platform

Decide where your meeting follow-ups will most effectively reach your audience: email? A channel? A multi-person direct message? At Slack, we always suggest sharing in a channel so participants can continue conversing about the meeting afterward.

Know your audience

Who needs to stay on top of this particular meeting and who doesn’t? Make sure anyone who needs the meeting’s inside scoop can access your meeting follow-ups. Likewise, avoid cluttering large channels with follow-ups that apply to only a handful of people.

Start a post-meeting dialogue

Your team’s discussion can continue even after the meeting ends. If your teammates have agreed to hammer out certain details asynchronously, start those conversations in your follow-up note. You can also ask your team to share ideas or concerns that might come to mind after the meeting.

In Slack, you can thread messages to keep conversations organized.

Examples of meeting follow-up messages

Find a good follow-up template to help keep your messages consistent and comprehensive. We’ve provided some example templates below to get you started.

Whatever template you choose, make sure to customize it so it’s tailored to your organization, team, product, mission and audience.

Template for teammates

@channel Thank you for your time [today/meeting date]. We covered a lot of ground thanks to your attention and input!

Here’s a summary of our discussion for your reference:

• [Summarize key discussion points]
• [Bullet points are your friend!]

I’ll thread this message with a link to our meeting minutes and a list of our action items, including stakeholders and deadlines for each item.

Let’s regroup on [next meeting date] to check in on our progress and discuss [next meeting topic]. I’ll send out an event invite shortly.

In the meantime, feel free to add any questions, ideas or feedback to this thread.

Thanks again!

Template for clients or customers

Hello, @[customer Slack ID]! I’m following up on our earlier conversation regarding [your company/product].

It was great talking to you [today/meeting date]. I appreciate your taking the time out of your day to discuss [your company/product].

I’ll thread this message with a summary of our chat from [today/meeting date] and the information you requested. I’ve done my research on your organization, and I’m confident we can be of value to you. [Your company] has demonstrated success working with organizations like yours and helping them overcome their pain points.

I’d be happy to hop on another call to provide you with more details and continue discussing our potential partnership. Would [meeting date and time] work for you?

Thanks again for your time, and feel free to ping me with any questions.

Pick the right tool for delivering meeting follow-ups

Like a good meeting, an effective follow-up promotes communication, keeps everyone updated and tracks progress. Following up helps your teammates and clients foster trust, accountability and support—all critical ingredients for strong working relationships.

Slack’s platform was built to serve those relationships. Contact our sales team to learn how we can help you collaborate better.