Wrap Up a Meeting Like a Pro: 9 Positive Note Strategies

We’ve all been in meetings that are a little dull. A great way to spice up any meeting and to keep your team members engaged is to make sure that you’re finishing the discussion on a positive note. This is going to leave you and your colleagues feeling energized and motivated even after the meeting has come to a close. 

While there are many different approaches to finishing your meeting in a great way, the first rule of thumb is definitely to finish on time. Wondering how to end on a positive note and in an effective way? Fellow has you covered. Keep reading to learn more about effective meetings that finish on a high. 

• Add a shoutouts section
• End with a motivating stat
• Review and summarize action items 
• Ask a fun question at the end
• End with a cheer 
• Play a quick game 
• End with a meditation or breathing exercise
• Give them a fun riddle
• Ask attendees to rate the meeting

9 ways to end every meeting on a positive note

While there are many ways that you can end your team meeting on a positive note, we’ve picked out 9 unique ways to do so. Check out these ways that you can end your team meeting on a positive note:

1 Add a shoutouts section 

Building up your employees professional esteem through acknowledging their good work and through congratulating them is going to feel motivational for them. This is also going to encourage this standard of performance in the future. Thank your employees for the hard work they’ve put into their tasks and give praise where it’s been earned. Shoutouts show your employees their work and efforts are both noticed and valued. Make sure that you’re also encouraging the rest of the team to give their colleagues shoutouts because this is going to build a stronger team morale and encourage collaboration amongst the group. 

Example of shoutouts to share with your team:

• “Great job on acting quickly and resolving XYZ issue!”
• “Thanks for stepping in and providing answers for our client.”
• “I’ve noticed you put in extra work for this, I appreciate it.”

2 End with a motivating stat 

Statistics are usually boring but when you’re dropping an interesting and relevant one at the end of the meeting, they actually work pretty well. This is similar to sharing a fun fact or some positive news, which is thought provoking and interesting. Statistics are hard facts, which make them that much more interesting and that much more valuable, too. If you’ve heard something or read anything interesting in the last week, think about sharing it with your team. Chances are, if you found it interesting, they probably will as well! This is especially valuable when the statistic is related to the work that you and your team are doing. When we read about empirical studies and research in business, it teaches us something well worthwhile. You can even rotate employees sharing a motivating statistic so that everyone is taking their turn to share their knowledge. 

Examples of interesting statistics:

• A study found that ⅓ of respondents never heard about asynchronous meetings.  
• A recent survey by Stanford showed that 55% of US workers want a mixture of home and office working.

3 Review and summarize action items 

Reviewing and summarizing action items from previous meetings is positive because it’s typically very productive. It’s a great idea to make sure that you are aware of the status and progress of action items so that you can keep on top of what needs to get done. The team coming together to be on the ball with your workload is positive in that it is productive. There’s no better feeling than when you leave a meeting feeling organized and when you have a clear idea of exactly what needs to be accomplished next in order to meet the team goals. Knowing the action steps and order in which things need to be completed is going to set you and your team up for success.

Action items to include in your meeting agenda:

• Assigning decision to specific attendees with due dates
• Feedback on experiments done throughout the week 
• Reviewing any content needed

4 Ask a fun question at the end 

Questions are thought provoking so it’s another great and engaging way to end your team meeting. Effective meetings leave you wanting more and leave participants feeling engaged and involved. One way to ask a fun question at the end of the meeting is to leave people to respond at the opening of the next meeting where the whole team can share their answers. You can also rotate responsibilities with asking ice breaker questions for virtual meetings so that everyone has a turn. The question can be professional but it’s also an amazing way to get to know your teams better on a personal level if you ask a question that isn’t work related. 

Questions to ask in your next meeting:

• What was something you learned this week?
• What was an unexpected win from last week?

5 End with a cheer 

It might feel really awkward at first, but if you can laugh through the discomfort, a team cheer can be really effective for bonding with your colleagues. Business consultant, entrepreneur and author Cameron Herold, actually recommends getting into a huddle with your team for a positive team building experience with your team. He says, 

“No matter how strange or embarrassing it seems at first, make sure everyone cheers at the end of the huddle. This will feel awkward at first, but everyone will grow to love it.

The power of a good cheer will get people pumped to take on the workday. It works at sporting events, doesn’t it? Try it and you’ll see your staff leave the huddle pumped and on a much more positive note. Huddles are a good thing, so make sure it feels like it!”

6 Play a quick game 

We’re all after a team that understands how to work together, communicate, and solve problems effectively. A great way to establish these sought after team qualities in any company is to take the time to play team-building games or exercises that foster a strong bond along the way. Games and exercises are strategic and enable everyone to use their team building, problem solving and strategic skills. A lot of teams actually engage in games with their teams because it simply brings people together. At Fellow, we play a quick game of trivia at our weekly Friday meeting and we’ve found that it really engages and strengthens our team synergy. If it works for us, why not try it out?

Games to try with your team:

• Two truths and a lie
• Escape rooms
• Trivia

7 End with a meditation or breathing exercise 

Maybe your team isn’t so keen on playing a game or taking part in a team huddle or cheer. If you’re looking for something a little more mellow, mindfulness and meditation practices have become much more popular to engage in business practices. Taking a few minutes at the end of your meeting to come back to your breath or to practice some gratitude is a valuable use of time. This is going to leave the group feeling calm, content and ready to take on the rest of the day. Taking a moment to de-stress as a group will show that you prioritize your team’s wellbeing and will actually make the team feel closer to one another. It’s important to find time during the day to decompress and so ending your meeting with some mindfulness is a great way to encourage your team to take some time for themselves in a safe and supportive group environment. 

Ways to incorporate mindfulness:

• A guided video 
• Playing calming music for a few minutes
• Taking a few deep breaths

8 Give them a fun riddle to answer in the next meeting 

Riddles are another fun way to engage your team and leave people wanting more as they leave the team meeting. It’s a great way to get the conversation going and you can even ask your team members to come to the next meeting to see who was able to solve the riddle. This is another activity where you can rotate which person brings a riddle to the next meeting so that everyone is engaging and taking a turn. You can even use this as a team building exercise and ask everyone to see if they can come up with their own riddle. This is a chance for some really good laughs around the table!

9 Ask attendees to rate the meeting 

Rating the meeting can be a little risky but it certainly gives an honest review. If you’re looking to see how much people are enjoying the meeting, this is a perfect way to gain a clear understanding. From there, you can create an average rating and brainstorm ways in which you can improve. This is a great opportunity to ask your team members to share some ideas which might improve the quality and to make sure that everyone’s voice is being heard. Make sure that you set some time aside for this so that you and your team are still ending the meeting on time.

Expert advice 

Ending each meeting on a positive note is really important to bring your team closer together and build morale. If you’re thinking about how to end a meeting on a positive note, consider which one of the methods we’ve mentioned will work best for your team and for your company culture. You can mix and tailor approaches to personalize them for your team or you can ask your team members which approach they might favour. As always, it’s a pleasure seeing you on the Fellow blog. If you found this article interesting, helpful, or both, be sure to pass it along to a friend or a colleague. We’ll see you next time!